The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust Resources

Professional Development Framework

The Professional Development Framework is an online professional development tool. If you are a practitioner at any level supporting dyslexic students, this tool will give you a personalised report of accessible resources including documents, websites, teaching resources and workplace activities. To use this free and comprehensive tool please follow the links below.

For general information and existing user access,click here

New Users - register for the first time here

Project Update

The Professional Development Framework

Resources for Schools

Below you will find information for schools on supporting children and young people with specific learning difficulties, including links to other web sites.

Interventions for Literacy

The Trust recently launched an online tool Interventions for Literacy,
which can help identify the most effective, evidence based support
schemes to suit a child's needs, including within the school
environment. The website www.interventionsforliteracy.org.uk also
details the resources required. You can learn more and search for a
scheme here

Screening and Assessment

Some of your children may not respond to good phonics based teaching as part of a balanced curriculum and may need further investigations for specific needs such as dyslexia-SpLD. For more information click here:

Dyslexia Action

British Dyslexia Association

Helen Arkell

Definition of Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.

Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed.
Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.
It is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and there are no clear cut-off points.
Co-occuring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia.
A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexia difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well-founded intervention.

Source: The Rose Report 2009, Pg 29 - Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties.

Leading Improvement using the Primary Framework: Quality First Teaching

Guidance
on good literacy and mathematics teaching, which should involve a
carefully planned blend of approaches that direct children's learning
and challenge them to think. Part of Day 1 of the headteachers' and
senior leaders' continuing professional development (CPD) materials.

Quality First Teaching

Inclusion Development Programme

The resource has been specifically designed to serve two purposes:

to support headteachers, SENCOs and leadership teams in planning to raise
the attainment of pupils with dyslexia and other literacy needs and
pupils with speech, language and communications needs (SLCN) as part of
the annual cycle of school improvement.
to support teachers and support staff in their planning for inclusion and in the further
development of teaching strategies to effectively meet the needs of
pupils with dyslexia or SLCN.

The IDP details have been
preserved by the National Archive and can be downloaded by following
this link and the instructions below;

Link to IDP Programme

Instructions to complete download:

Click on this link which will take you to the SW Regional SEN-LDD Network website.
Down the left hand side with the menu options - click the 8th one down - IDP Materials
From the list available choose the top one - Dyslexia
Click on the link Download Document (328604.233kb)
It will ask you if you wish to open or save the document. Click save then choose a file on your computer you wish to save it.
This will take about 15 minutes.
Once the document has saved go into your file and you will see a zipped folder called Dyslexia
Double click on this folder and double click on the next folder and you will see 6 sub folders listed.
Click on the launch dyslexia folder
A message about compressed (zipped) folders will appear - click on the option to extract all.
Choose a folder to save them in then click extract.

Please be aware - there are 571 files which it will download and this will take around 15 minutes to complete.

IDP

A Whole School Approach to improving Access, Participation and Achievement

Nasen
and The Schools Network (formally SSAT) were successful in a bid to the
Department for Education (DfE) to produce and disseminate a whole
school training package that could be used in all mainstream schools to
give support, information and practical advice to ensure that the whole
school community would have the basic knowledge and skills to support
them in meeting the needs of all pupils.

A Whole School Approach
to improving Access, Participation and Achievement is the tool-kit that
has been developed initially for all secondary schools. The tool-kit
offers schools a training programme that is flexible and adaptable to
meet the individual needs in each school.

For more information, visit the dedicated training website at: http://www.nasentraining.org.uk/

Where can I get specialist training?

To benchmark your current skills and find out what further qualifications may be suitable, please click here

Other training course providers include:

OCR - http://www.ocr.org.uk
British Dyslexia Association
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/information-and-activities/teachers-and-schools.html
Dyslexia Action
http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre
http://www.arkellcentre.org.uk/Professional-Courses

Resources for Parents

Information and guidance for parents. Below are a number of links to web sites and further information about dyslexia, how to identify it, and where to get help with this and other learning difficulties.

Definition of Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.

Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed.
Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.
It is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category and there are no clear cut-off points.
Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia.
A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexia difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well-founded intervention.

Source: The Rose Report 2009, Pg 29. - Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties.

Questions about Dyslexia? Please open this PDF version of our leaflet for more information.

Questions about Dyslexia?

What can I do if I think my child is dyslexic?

If your child is struggling to learn in certain areas and you think they may be dyslexic, you may wish to look at the recognised indicators provided by the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) here

For older children and young people, you may also wish to take the Dyslexia Test, provided by Xtraordinary People. This is not a formal diagnosis but highlights common issues facing dyslexics and indicates likelihood.

How can I get help if my child is dyslexic?

There are many organisations who can help. 1 in 10 people in the UK is dyslexic, so you you are not alone. In the first instance, you should;

speak to your child's teacher
contact your school SENCO (Special Education Needs Co-ordinator)
call the BDA National Helpline, which is supported by The Trust, on 0845 251 9002.

What if I need more information?

The Trust recently launched an online tool to identify and provide information on supporting children and young people with literacy difficulties. The tool is called Interventions for Literacy and is available on www.interventionsforliteracy.org.uk You can get key information here.

You may also wish to view the websites of some Trust Member organisations.

What about other Specific Learning Difficulties?

Other useful links for support of those with Specific Learning Difficulties are:

Parental Engagement

The Department for Education has published a review of best practice for parental engagement in schools that highlights the benefits these approaches can have both on families and the academic achievements of pupils. The report outlines the effective features of parental strategies, and the importance of an outwards facing strategy that engages with voluntary and community organisations that can provide specialist support in areas such as mental health and community issues. To read the full report please click here: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/RSG/AllPublications/Page1/DFE-RR156

Special Education Provision

Independent Parental Special Education Advice (IPSEA) has produced a series of 40 advice sheets for parents of children with special educational needs based on frequently asked questions asked to the IPSEA helplines.

Useful Links


Achievement for All	www.afa3as.org.uk
ADHD Europe	www.adhdpartnershipsupportpack.co.uk
Autism Education Trust	www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk
A Whole School Approach to Improving Access, Participation and Achievement	www.nasentraining.org.uk
BDA - British Dyslexia Association	www.bdadyslexia.org.uk	Helpline: 0845 251 9002
BPS - British Psychological Society	www.bps.org.uk
Centre for Reading and Language, York University	www.york.ac.uk/psychology/research/groups/crl
Children England	www.childrenengland.org.uk
The Communication Trust	www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk
Dyslexia Action	www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk	01784 222300
HADC - Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre	www.arkellcentre.org.uk	01252 792400
HPC - Health Professions Council	www.hpc-uk.org
NASEN	www.nasen.org.uk
National Literacy Association	www.nla.org.uk
National Literacy Trust	www.literacytrust.org.uk
PATOSS - Professional Association of Teachers of Students with SpLD	www.patoss-dyslexia.org	01386 712650
Springboard for Children	www.springboard.org.uk	0207 582 5487
The Dyspraxia Foundation	www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk
UK Literacy Association	www.ukla.org
Xtraordinary People	www.xtraordinarypeople.com	0844 561 7977