Guild Gallery December 2011

Dear Ms. Jan Seabourne
 
Welcome to the December issue of the Guild Gallery.  

I hope you had a successful autumn and are now winding down for the Christmas holidays but before you head off, get your 2012 diary open and add some dates of events that are coming up that should be of interest.  First, turn to Thursday June 28th when we will be holding the Guild Summer Conference at University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus.  A pre-conference dinner will be available on Wednesday 27th June in the evening after a continuous professional training event earlier that day.  The three events can all be booked individually so if you can make one and not the other, please don't worry.  All the details about the speakers, accomodation, sessions and bookings will be made available soon, including the preferential discounts on the events just for Guild members.

The Dyslexia Review, Volume 22 No 3 Autumn 2011 is due to drop through your door this week.  This issue is a little later than usual as it is jam packed full of many papers presented at the Guild Summer Conference held in June 2011.  I do hope you will enjoy it and we are happy to receive any suggestions about the content of future issues.  Should any members wish to contribute to either the Dyslexia Review or the Guild Gallery, we would be very pleased to hear from you. 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If you have not received your copy of the Dyslexia Review by 15th December 2011 or would like to give us some feedback please contact guild@dyslexiaaction.org.uk or call the Guild on 01784 222300. 

Jan Seabourne

Guild Administrator

 Dyslexia Action News

Sign the petition

Dyslexia Action is supporting a petition initiated by the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) to make dyslexia/SpLD training mandatory to Initial Teacher Training (ITT). The petition comes as a result of findings from the 2009 Rose Review in which Sir Jim Rose recommended that ITT should include mandatory dyslexia/SpLD training. Accurate training would provide teachers with the necessary skills and resources to provide those with dyslexia with the skills, confidence and learning they need to take them through life.

In order for it to be raised in the House of Commons, the petition has to be signed by 100,000 people by October 2012. Therefore the organisation will be promoting the petition on its social media channels and digital platforms.

This is an extremely important issue that will not only impact our learners but millions of people in the UK dealing with dyslexia and other SpLD’s. By supporting this petition you can help prevent dyslexia from being a hidden cause and encourage the government to recognise the importance of further understanding and continued support. 

Working together we can use this opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of those with dyslexia. Therefore we ask that you help us support others by signing the petition and sharing it with all your friends and family. 

 Dyslexia Action Training Update - CPD Events

Courses starting in the New Year 2012

10th January - International Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy. This course is for those of you based outside the UK. Guild member discount available. 

11th January - Continuous Professional Development courses and packages.  These have been developed specifically for Classroom Teachers and Teaching Assistants working in primary and secondary education fields.  Many units are also suitable for those working in Further Education.  Guild member discount available.

24th January - UK Level 4 CPD Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy  The Level 4 CPD Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy is the culmination of three separate online courses, each with a practical teaching element.  Each of the three courses can be studied individually or be followed to provide the progression pathway at Level 4 to the Diploma. Guild member discount available.

1st February  - Exam Access Arrangements.  An updating course to enable teachers already qualifed in dyslexia and SpLD to comply with JCQ Regulations and undertake Examination Access Arrangements.  Some of you may have had a taster in our Webinar on the 6th December 2011, now enjoy the full experience!  Guild member discount available.  

8th February  - Hidden Disabilities Questionnaire
This course highlights features of hidden disabilites including Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Disorder and is designed for use with people aged 14 and over.  A three day training course is needed to administer the questionnaire and courses take place on: 8th, 16th and 19th February in Birmingham or 19th, 20th and 25th April in London. (Sorry, Guild discount does NOT apply)

28th to 20th March in Sheffield - Certificate of Competence in Educational Testing (CCET) This British Psychological Society qualification is for teachers and others who have a degree and/or qualified teacher status or equivalent, who want to use tests as well.  The course is a high quality benchmark standard for the use of psychometric standards in education. (Sorry, Guild discount does NOT apply)

 Dyslexia SpLD Trust 

Professional Development Framwork project

Dyslexia Action and PATOSS have been jointly managing a DfE funded project for The Dyslexia/SpLD Trust. It is a free, online tool that enables the SENCo to do a needs-analysis on Dyslexia skills and competencies in their schools, providing a personalised report, including key documents, teaching resources and workplace activities to support ongoing professional development. It consists of six strands, including Language and Literacy; Theories of Dyslexia and Supporting the Dyslexic Learner. It can be accessed on: http://www.thedyslexiaspldtrust.org.uk/professionaldevelopmentframework/

We have just implemented an Autumn rollout of a series of case studies, covering schools across the country and involving organisations including The Schools Network; Institute of Education (University of London); University of Roehampton; University of Derby; The OCR and strategic authorities in four counties.

We are also interested in your initial thoughts and feedback, including whether the Framework was easy to use and helpful in your context. We particularly want to know how it might impact on your school’s future plans for CPD. We would like to know about additional resources or activities that you would like to see added to the Framework.

We would also like to know how you might use the professional development resources which are suggested in the personalized report. Would you, for example, structure a Twilight session around a weaker area or encourage specialist training for some staff? Might you identify the need for a particular type of skill set in new recruitment as part of the School Improvement Plan? Would you consider becoming a Dyslexia Friendly School with BDA accreditation as part of a long term goal?

For any further questions or comments, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact:

 Amelia.Roberts@thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk 
Many thanks,
Dr. Amelia Roberts (Project Researcher)

 Other Upcoming Events

Conference call for papers - Remember!

Dubrovnik Conference on Cognitive Science - Memory control and revieval is 10th to 13th of May in Croatia.  DuCog is a small-medium sized annual conference with up to 100 particpants.  The focus is memory control and retrieval.  Keynotes are: Paul W.Burgess, Martin A.Conway, Lars Nyberg, Ken A. Paller. 

Organised by: Central European Cognitive Science Association (CECOG), the deadline for abstracts/proposals is 1st February 2012.  For more details click here.

 Other Upcoming Events

Childhood Intervention conference call for papers

National Early Child Intervention Conference 7th to 9th June 2012, in Sibu, Malaysia

The most inportant event in Malaysia for children with special needs and early childhood intervention, linking professionals from health, education, social welfare with parents, policy makers, and non-governmental organisations.

Enquires to NECIC2012@gmail.com

Click here for more details. 

 Research News 

Reading and the Brain

Brain Imaging study shows the physiological basis of dyslexia

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have used an imaging technique to show that the brain activation patterns in children with poor reading skills and a low IQ are similar to those in poor readers with a typical IQ.  This research provides more definitive evidence about poor readers having similar kinds of difficulites regardless of their general cognitive ability.  For more information click here.

 Research News

Reading and Literacy link

Research links library usage with reading levels

Children who visit libraries are more likely to achieve higher reading levels according to the National Literacy Trust's latest research report "Setting the Baseline".  The report found there is a clear lik between improved literacy and reading opportunities, including library use.

The report is the NLT's first annual survery into children's reading habits and it found polarisation amoung young readers.   One in six said they do not read a single book in a month.  The difference between boys and girls was also marked.

Click here to see the full report.

 Research News

Core Knowledge e-reading program

A US study has found impressive reading gains in schools that use E.E.Hirsch's Core Knowledge Reading Program, compared to those that don't.  Hirsch, the author of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, argues that disadvantaged children fall behind quickly due to inadequate background knowledge, but teacher training tends to downplay learning factual knowledge as "rote regurgitation".  Hirsch argues that it is this accumulation of facts from history, science, arts etc that enables your readers to move from the foundational skill of decoding words (phonics) to deeper comprehension of complex texts.

Click here for more about the Core Knowledge Reading Program