1. Editorial

Terms 2 and 3 was a hectic time for both Sue and I. Sue travelled to Groote Island for assessments and later to Melbourne and Bendigo. I travelled to Sydney twice to carry out assessments and to Canberra to attend a Dyslexia Forum called by Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities. The Forum spent the day listening to presentations and discussing issues.

Professor Max Coltheart of Macquarie University was then asked to lead a working party to make recommendations to Bill Shorten on the action required to support dyslexic people in our schools, colleges and workforce. As a member of that working party I can report that we are working hard to come up with recommendations but if you as parents would like to forward me any thoughts on what you need or have needed in order to support your child I would be most grateful. Exactly how can the Commonwealth Government best help you as a family with a dyslexic child. We are reporting to the Disabilities sector not Education so we are not looking at reforming schools - we may get to that later. Your ideas would be appreciated.

I have included an article from the USA on Early Intervention. So many of the older children that I see have been struggling for years. The gains that can be made with early intervention far outweigh the issues of 'labelling'. Research shows that if a child is behind in reading in Year 3 they are still behind in Year 9. As some parents are hesitant about a full assessment for fear of overreacting; we are offering a short screening test that can advise you whether a full assessment is necessary. More details are available on our website or from myself by emailing me at dyslexiaservices@gmail.com. With the NAPLAN results due out next month I believe that any student whose scores are significantly below average or below the benchmark should be screened for dyslexia. When the UK adopted this procedure they found that over 50% of those children were dyslexic.

Now here we are at the beginning of our 8th year. Thank you to all of you and especially to those who keep me updates with progress. Some children who I worked with when they were in primary school are now in their final year at school.

Regards

Margaret

1.  Editorial -  A Very Busy Few Months

2.   Main Article - The Rose Report U.K.

3. The X Factor

4. Research - "No to Failure" Report

5. Inclusive Technology - Alternate Formats

6. Early Intervention 1.

7. Early Intervention 2.

8 . Townsville News

GOLDEN RULES

Sir Jim Rose's report on the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia was published on 22 June 2009.

You can read or download it here: Sir Jim Rose Report

It is long - 216 pages - but contains lots of information about dyslexia.

Response to Rose Report

SIR JIM ROSE PRESENTS FINDINGS OF REVIEW INTO DYSLEXIA

22 June 2009

- £10 MILLION INVESTMENT IN DYSLEXIA TRAINING AND 4000 SPECIALIST TEACHERS -

- “NO CHILD SHOULD BE HELD BACK” – BALLS

Education expert Sir Jim Rose has today submitted his review into the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties. Accepting Sir Jim’s recommendations, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has responded by committing £10 million to fund specialist teaching and support for schools and parents.

4,000 teachers will be funded to train in specialist dyslexia teaching over the next two years - one for every local group of schools.

Ed Balls asked Sir Jim Rose to examine how schools can best identify and provide for children with dyslexia. The Children’s Plan included a commitment to do more to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs - this extra investment will allow schools to deliver the high quality support children with dyslexia need. Sir Jim says all schools need access to three levels of expertise:

First: There should be up to date, accessible information about literacy difficulties available for all teachers so they can adjust their teaching for children with dyslexia

Second: There should be courses that enable schools to develop expertise in improving outcomes for children with literacy difficulties;

Third: Children who need intensive support should have access to a specialist teacher.

Ed Balls has today also commissioned further guidance and training for all schools on responding to children with literacy difficulties. Teachers will be encouraged to access an online course providing them with advanced skills to give extra support to those children who need it.

Sir Jim Rose said: “It hardly needs to be said that the ability to read well is key to success in education and an essential ‘life skill’. Responses to overcoming dyslexia and other literacy difficulties must be robust and part of a continued drive to develop literacy in all children, especially in primary schools. “I am very pleased that all of the recommendations of the review have been accepted. I hope they will help policy makers and providers to strengthen practice, and assure parents that provision for children with dyslexia will be as good as we can make it.”

Ed Balls, during a visit to Lyndhurst School in Southwark, will today thank Sir Jim for his comprehensive review and will accept every recommendation.

Ed Balls said: “The Children’s Plan contained a commitment to provide children with dyslexia the help and personalised learning they need in order to fulfil their potential. By acting on Sir Jim’s recommendations we will equip schools and teachers with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver the best education to children with dyslexia.

“No child should be held back by a special educational need. I have met many parents who have struggled to get the right support for their children. I am personally very committed to improving this support and making it more easily accessible to all children and parents who need it.

“Sir Jim’s recommendations mean that every child’s reading needs will be monitored, those who need extra help will receive one to one support, and children with severe literacy difficulties will have the help of a specialist dyslexia teacher.” Sir Jim’s final report makes 19 recommendations on: assessing and advancing children’s progress, improving support and guidance to schools and parents, and strengthening teaching expertise and intervention programmes.

Key recommendations in Sir Jim’s report are:

The Department should fund teachers to undertake specialist training in teaching children with dyslexia, to provide substantially improved access to specialist expertise in all schools;

The Department should commission online courses for teachers on selecting and using techniques for giving extra help with literacy;

The Department should commission clear guidance for parents and schools on the use and availability of literacy help;

Schools should evaluate their methods of delivering extra help with literacy and make sure they have the expertise required to deliver these; The Department should continue funding a helpline that provides advice to parents and people working in schools on dyslexia and literacy difficulties. Sir Jim’s report considered the views and experiences of both teachers and parents, and children and young people with dyslexia. Sir Jim also consulted dyslexia organisations, including No to Failure who have been trailblazing specialist dyslexia training and teaching in some schools. The Government will continue to work with the Dyslexia-Specific Learning Difficulties Trust on how best to implement all of Sir Jim’s recommendations.

A wealth of famous achievers from both past and present have the X Factor. In fact so many extraordinary people have 'suffered' from the ability to look at things differently, it's faintly ludicrous to still consider it as a sign of ignorance, laziness or inferiority.

So if you've got it yourself, don't be shy about it, you're in good company. John Lennon, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill did pretty well, despite this so-called handicap, along with today's modern achievers like Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver and Sir Jackie Stewart.

In UK and USA prominent people from all walks of life speak publicly about their dyslexia and act as role models for young dyslexics.

Where are the Australian dyslexics?

If you have any contact with any well known identity who is willing to step forward and talk about their dyslexia please let us know.

The British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Action, Patoss and Xtraordinary People worked in partnership to create maximum impact with this unique project which has been funded and supported by the Department for Children, Families & Schools (DCFS). The project ran from Spring 2007 to Spring 2009 and the final evaluation report is now published. The new Dyslexia-SpLD Trust has now been established, growing out of the 'No to Failure' project and hopes to continue the good work in collaboration with other organisations.

Please visit the website for more information: www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk

No to Failure - The Executive Summary

No to Failure - The Full Report

I have just obtained pdf. versions of the 2 Automotive Mechanic textbooks that apprentices use for thiwer TAFE course. If anyone has a trainee mechanic needing alternate format I am happy to supply a copy.Each chapter is a separate file so each section is easy to find.

By: Susan Hall (2008) LD Online

As I travel across the country speaking to groups of parents about reading difficulties, I often say "beware of the developmental lag excuse." I have several reasons for saying this. First, I have listened to parent after parent tell me about feeling there was a problem early on, yet being persuaded to discount their intuition and wait to seek help for their child. Later, when they learned time was of the essence in developing reading skills, the parents regretted the lost months or years. Second, research shows that the crucial window of opportunity to deliver help is during the first couple of years of school. So if your child is having trouble learning to read, the best approach is to take immediate action.

Knowing how soon to act can be easy if you are informed about important conclusions from recent research. Reading researchers tell us the ideal window of opportunity for addressing reading difficulties is during kindergarten and first grade. The National Institutes of Health state that 95 percent of poor readers can be brought up to grade level if they receive effective help early. While it is still possible to help an older child with reading, those beyond third grade require much more intensive help. The longer you wait to get help for a child with reading difficulties, the harder it will be for the child to catch up.

The three key research conclusions that support seeking help early are:

• 90 percent of children with reading difficulties will achieve grade level in reading if they receive help by the first grade.

• 75 percent of children whose help is delayed to age nine or later continue to struggle throughout their school careers.

• If help is given in fourth grade, rather than in late kindergarten, it takes four times as long to improve the same skills by the same amount.

Parents who understand these research conclusions realize they cannot afford to waste valuable time trying to figure out if there really is a problem or waiting for the problem to cure itself.

These research conclusions make it imperative for schools to implement screening tools that emphasize phonemic awareness skills. The best plan is to begin screening children in mid-kindergarten and continue screening at least three times a year until the end of second grade.

Reading researchers who designed these screening tools recommend identifying and providing additional assistance to the lowest 20 percent of children. The rationale is that it is better to slightly over-identify the number of children who may be "at risk" of reading difficulty than to miss some who may need help. The worst outcome of over-identification is that a child who would eventually have caught on receives some additional help. Parents should follow this strategy and act early because the worst that can happen is their child will get a little extra help she really didn't need.

Yet identification is only the beginning. Effective and intense intervention must be offered immediately. Students who lag behind their peers must be given extra help, preferably in groups of three or fewer students, by a well-trained educator who knows how to deliver effective instruction. Assignment to these groups can be fluid, with children joining whenever the teacher determines skills are lagging and others moving out as they master skills.

Early signs of difficulty should not be attributed to immaturity. When a kindergarten child confuses letters, associates the wrong sound with a letter, or cannot distinguish a rhyme, it usually has nothing to do with social maturity. These warning signs do not necessarily mean the child has a reading disability; these signs may indicate the child had insufficient preschool preparation. If a child has not been exposed to letters and letter sounds, she usually catches on quickly once exposed. It is only after effective instruction has been provided and the child is still struggling that one can conclude there may be a more serious problem.

Why do parents wait to seek help? In a recent Roper Starch poll, parents' attitudes about their child's learning problems and the public's general awareness of learning disabilities were explored. The poll showed many parents waited far too long to seek help for their child because they worried their child might be stigmatized if found to have a learning problem. Nearly half (48 percent) of parents felt having their child labeled as "learning disabled" was more harmful than struggling privately with an unidentified problem. Of the parents who expressed some concerns their child may be having trouble, 44 percent said that they waited a year or more before seeking help.

Parents who understand the risks of delay in getting help for their child's reading problems are motivated not to wait. Children can be brought up to grade level much more successfully and with less effort if effective intervention is offered early on. Once parents understand the risks of waiting, hopefully it will be easier to overcome concerns and get help immediately.

WATCH the 2 minute video "Fighting for your Child - http://www.ldonline.org/article/32640

Published: Thursday, July 9, 2009 KLegend Times USA

Sue had an excellent trip to Groote Island - assessing 8 children and talking to teachers and parents.

Unfortunately funding is lacking for a trip to Mt Isa just at present but any Mt Isa parents who happen to be in Townsville can visit Sue there.

READING - If a child does not know a word as they read to you - TELL THEM - shared reading time is not the time to teach skills - it must be FUN.

SPELLING - NEVER give a child a word to spell if they cannot read the word. Parents - ask your child to read their spelling list and cross off the words that they cannot read and let their teacher know.