Dyslexia Support Service: Termly up-date December 18, 2009

 
All practitioners in each sector, in each department and in all settings have a responsibility to develop, reinforce and extend the skills which are set out in the literacy experiences and outcomes (Curriculum for Excellence).
Teaching:My remit covers all schools in the region. Therefore I do not – cannot – use my time to teach [...]

Clicker 5 December 7, 2009

I have long promoted the use of Clicker 5 to support independence in reading and especially writing. But I have reluctantly decided to abandon advising its use. Crick Software claims that,
Clicker is the proven reading and writing tool that helps pupils of all abilities to achieve success in reading and writing. Clicker is used on [...]

WordTalk: A terrific free resource November 24, 2009

WordTalk  is a great resource available free to all Scottish educational establishments and for young people to download at home (watch the site for when this service is available) developed at the CALL Centre, University of Edinburgh.
We are beginning to use it extensively in East Lothian and we find it easy to use (even [...]

Browsealoud November 24, 2009

 
Browsealoud is a software program for people who have difficulty reading web pages, have learning disabilities like dyslexia or have literacy issues. Browsealoud may also be of use to those who need help with general reading problems, perhaps where English is not their first language.
How does Browsealoud work? The program works by highlighting words whilst [...]

Teachmeet in East Lothian November 16, 2009

Teachmeet in East Lothian
What is TeachMeet?
Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. Would be good to see and hear both [...]

Wanted: ‘dyslexia friendly’ schools for £1,000 award November 16, 2009

Wanted: ‘dyslexia friendly’ schools for £1,000 award
Calling all Sencos and teachers working with young dyslexic people. The Iansyst Dyslexia-Friendly Best Practice Awards 2009, created to recognise and celebrate “best practice for dyslexia provision in education”, have opened for nominations. The winner gets a laptop and appropriate software worth more than £1,000.
The theme this year is [...]

Animation for Amateurs November 10, 2009

One of my personal development aims this session is to learn more about visual literacies. I am sure that texts in traditional print form will always be used to good effect, but I know that many learners – especially but not exclusively those with literacy difficulties – can also be engaged by [...]

iPod Can be Used to Help Reading November 10, 2009

iPod Can be Used to Help Reading – While they are mostly used to listen to music, your child’s iPod can also be used to listen to digitally recoded text. Memo microphones can be used to record speech, which can be used, for example, for learning facts for revision, reading a book while listening to [...]

Audiobooks + Dyslexia October 7, 2009

Further to a recent post, I have located the full research paper on The Effects of Audiobooks on the Psychosocial Adjustment of Pre-adolescents and Adolescents with Dyslexia and give a fuller summary here.
One of the most recommended compensatory strategies consists of using audiobooks in order to access scanned texts. Schools are encouraged to set up [...]

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. Eartha Kitt October 5, 2009

I first went to the Scottish Learning Festival in 2003 when it was SETT and have thoroughly enjoyed every visit. I even presented a seminar once. Nowadays I only get to attend on one of the days and it’s a hard choice sometimes which key note speeches I go for.
One major pleasure is to be [...]