IN the move to make Wigan a dyslexia friendly borough -- a campaign started by Leigh businesswoman Shirley Longley -- an exhibition and lecture has been organised for next Tuesday.

Entitled "Dyslexia the Gift", the guest speaker will be Judy Capener, dyslexia support adviser at Salford College of Further Education, part-time lecturer at Manchester University and among other positions teacher of dyslexic students aged from five to adult.

Her talk entitled "Searching for the Positive Way Forward" will view the problem from pupils', parents' and teachers' perspectives and tell how the latest research will assist in early identification.

The event will be in the small hall at Parbold Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Parents and professionals will be welcome, and there will be exhibits from dyslexia associations in Wigan, St Helens, Liverpool and Southport and numerous other associated groups.

Shirley, now working under the umbrella of the Wigan and Leigh Dyslexia Association, says 42 teachers from 30 schools in the borough have signed up to take a special diploma course.

Expert Anne Slevin, who has arranged the exhibition, said teacher awareness, training and dyslexia friendly schools make sense. It is the most efficient way of dealing with the problem from day one when the child enters the school. She said: "There should be no need for a child to fail before any notice is taken, no need for parent teacher conflict and no need for school-authority conflict.

"Correct intervention and teaching, even simple acknowledgement and understanding of the problem is life changing and sometimes life saving."