Dyslexia is no longer seen as a hindrance when it comes to educating young sufferers, but there is still a good deal of ignorance surrounding the condition.

Education reporter Haydn Lewis spoke to Evening Press graphic designer Elaine Brown and youngsters at St Oswald's School in Fulford to find out more.

"WE are dyslexic, but inside we can read and write."

Those were the words of ten-year-old Adam Brown, a pupil at St Oswald's School dyslexia unit in York.

Dealing with dyslexia can seem like a constant battle for sufferers, not just when they are young, but throughout their adult lives.

The Dyslexia Centre is an integral part of St Oswald's School in Fulford, and has been based there since March 1981. It provides specialist provision for ten children with significant levels of dyslexia from all over York and beyond, with children spending part of their lesson time in the unit and part in mainstream classes.

The centre is run by manager June Coates and her team of classroom assistants.

Mum-of-two Elaine Brown, 38, from Cornborough Avenue, in Heworth, is an artist as well as one of the Evening Press graphic design team.

Elaine and her ten-year-old son, Adam, suffer from dyslexia, and he is one of the youngsters in the unit at St Oswald's.

Elaine went along to St Oswald's to take the children for an art class and I caught up with Elaine, Adam and four other ten-year-old boys at the centre.

"All the way through school I really struggled with reading and writing, and was only diagnosed with dyslexia when I was at university," said Elaine, "Being 38 and getting through a degree, you learn methods of how to cope, but I still struggle.

"I think the unit at St Oswald's is fantastic and since being there Adam has come on in leaps and bounds." Adam said: "In this class, the small class, we can keep up. It's much easier than in bigger classes."

James Tee said: "You get more help in here than in the other classes."

I also spoke to other pupils.

James Edwards said: "Dyslexia is a complicated thing to know about, but if you spend your life trying to understand it, and helping dyslexic people like Mrs Coates does, you will find out they are good.

"Sometimes people treat you like you've got the common cold and don't want to play with you."

"Some people don't even know about dyslexia. They think you are stupid, but we're not," said Mitchel Jones.

James Nelson said: "That's just because they don't know as much as we know."

Mrs Coates said: "It's a case of showing our children that they have different skills or additional skills whilst on the other hand there could be young Leonardos among them."

While the St Oswald's unit caters for severe dyslexics and helps them with their literacy skills, less severe cases are catered for in mainstream education at schools across the city.

Mrs Coates said that with most schools having a dyslexia specialist on their staff, she felt there was sufficient coverage for the amount of dyslexics in the city. It is a similar picture in secondary schools, with Oaklands Secondary in Acomb having a dyslexia centre.

"While now we are full to capacity, that fluctuates, and people filter in and out all the time," said Mrs Coates.

Updated: 12:19 Wednesday, November 23, 2005