There is a great deal of confusion as to what is dyslexia, this the best definition in my opinion. Dyslexia is a complex learning difficulties that varies widely from one individual to another. However, all students with dyslexia will experience some difficulties with reading, spelling and writing. Some students may have more difficulty with spelling,…
Helping Dyslexic Children to Read One of the most apparent symptoms for students with dyslexia is the avoidance of reading. This is because, for these students, reading is frustrating because of their inability to decode words and make meaning from what is being read. Therefore, the reading process itself is not enjoyable and who wants to…
How Common Is Homeschooling in Australia? Homeschooling in Australia is growing, there are currently around 20,000 homeschooled students in Australia and the numbers are increasing all the time. Even more telling is the estimation that there are around another ten thousand students that aren’t registered that are doing homeschooling. One of the factors that are…
Helping a Child with Aspergers to Learn Helping a child with Aspergers to learn requires a sound knowledge of Aspergers and their preferred learning styles as well as how to best manage any social or behavioural challenges. The following blog has been written by Brisbane-based Aspergers tutor Justin Clark from Hope Tutoring. “What does self-determination mean to…
Learning to Spell Phonics refers to the relationships between sounds and the patterns of letters used. However, phonics alone is usually not enough for students to decode words. They need a meaningful context to determine how the phonics works. For example, consider the word ‘lead’. We can see the differences in the following sentence: ‘The…
Inclusive Education Inclusive education is where students of all abilities, stripes, patterns and sizes are accepted and supported within schools. The goal is to build a democratic and caring schooling community, along with the wider school environment as well. Inclusion is an ongoing process of negotiation and communication that is particular to each classroom and…
Learning Or Classroom Management? Learning in the classroom should be about constructing meanings within social contexts, relationships and languages. However, traditional or behavioural approaches to learning focus on addressing student behaviour and classroom management. Students learn the ‘right’ knowledge through memorisation and practice. This type of learning requires the teachers’ job to break down complex…
Stages of the Reading Development Process Readers go through three stages of the reading development process – as they develop word recognition abilities. In the first stage they develop a beginning knowledge of the nature of written language and its relationship to speech. They learn how print functions, the letters of the alphabet and learn…
What is Phonological Awareness? Phonological awareness is the awareness of sounds in spoken words. It is also the awareness that words can be broken into onsets and rimes. These sounds are revealed by abilities such as rhyming, matching initial consonants and counting the number of sounds in spoken words. These tasks can be difficult for…
Comprehension and Children With Learning Difficulties Comprehension is the process of extracting and constructing meaning from what we read. It involves the ability to decode and identify words as well as the ability to connect prior knowledge with text in order to build new meanings. Decoding is an important part of the comprehension process, but…