Logan: My hardest battle was to give my son gift of learning
Close-knit family in public spotlight
FOR most of his life, Scots rugby legend Kenny Logan hid the fact that he couldn’t read or write, and was frequently lumped with the ‘stupid’ tag – until at the age of 30 he came out as dyslexic.
Now married to TV sports presenter and Strictly Come Dancing star Gabby Logan, he has revealed how they lived secretly with fears that their 11-year-old twin son Reuben had learning difficulties, too, after he struggled at school and had anger management issues.
But after completing a ‘braintraining’ course similar to the one followed by Kenny, he is suddenly excelling in the classroom and the rugby field, hoping to one day foltration low in his father’s footsteps and play for Scotland.
Later this month, the retired internationalist will hold key talks with Scotland’s Education Secretary John Swinney to discuss the same course being implemented in Scottish state schools, to try to raise attainment levels across the country.
Last night, Logan, 44, who won 70 caps for Scotland until he retired from the national team after the 2003 World Cup, said: ‘Two-and-ahalf years ago, we were sitting down in tears saying we’ve got a real problem with Reuben.
‘It gave me a flashback to my own struggles at school and I felt sick for him. Every time you went to the school gates it was “Can I have a word?” He kicked someone today, he did this, he did that… Reuben’s a good boy but we became worried. He was disruptive and his concen- was poor in the classroom. We spent so much money going to see specialists, who all came back with different answers.’
When it transpired that Reuben had mild dyspraxia, affecting mental and physical co-ordination, Logan decided to try putting him through the ‘STEP’ course, backed by Microsoft and the Independent Association of Prep Schools.
Reuben’s life was transformed and Logan now wants to see other underperforming pupils in Scotland helped the same way. He hopes to persuade Mr Swinney to introduce the course, with cross-party backing at Holyrood, as a trial involving around 3,000 pupils from August this year. A few independent schools in England already use the system and the aim would be to target the bottom 20 per cent of children in Scotland who are under-achieving in numeracy and literacy, not just those with dyslexia.
The STEP programme works by having youngsters, aged seven to 13, work their way through hundreds of different cognitive exercises at their own pace, all aimed at stimulating the cerebellum, the area of the brain which deals with automatic simple tasks, such as sitting still in class or picking up a pencil.
By repeating the actions regularly, these basic actions are eventually assigned to ‘automatic memory’, freeing up children to concentrate on what’s actually being taught in the classroom.
‘Reuben is like a different child now,’ his father says. ‘He did the STEP course when he was nine and within six months we started to see this change in him.
‘Tell him something now, he processes it. He’s a good little rugby player who got a sports scholarship at his school.
‘The teachers are saying there’s a big difference in him. Last term he got “most academically improved” pupil – that from a kid who a year ago was struggling is incredible, and makes me a very proud dad.’
Logan recalls his own bad experiences at Wallace High School in Stirling, where he found himself labelled ‘thick’. He says: ‘Nobody’s thick. They may not be bright, but they’re not thick.
‘There’s a potential in every child and they’ve got to find it.’
He was in his late 20s and playing for Scotland when he met Gabby. She discovered his ‘secret’ three weeks after they started going out and persuaded him to seek help.
Two years later, he could finally read and write. He says: ‘My daughter Lois was really quite quick, while Reuben took a bit of time.
‘Now he’s come on in leaps and bounds, he gets really impatient when I’m reading slowly. I suppose, when you think about it, I’ve only been reading eight years longer than them.’
‘It gave me a flashback to my own struggles’