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On September 8th 2005 at 9pm GMT, the keynote speakers at the following conference are appearing on a Channel 4 broadcast: Dispatches: The Dyslexia Myth
The Death Of Dyslexia? |
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Some children find it extremely difficult to learn to read, and some never become proficient readers. This is a very serious problem, and one that is particularly acute for children learning to read English where spellings are often irregular. Despite enormous efforts aimed at raising standards in English schools through numerous Government initiatives costing hundreds of millions of pounds, too many young people still struggle to learn to read. Some of these children are deemed to suffer from dyslexia, a label that marks them out. Underpinning this is the belief that a diagnosis of dyslexia will point to particular interventions that can resolve an individual’s difficulties. There is, however, no clear evidence to suggest that we have a clear means of identifying such a distinct population, or that the labelled group should be treated differently from any other poor reader. The word ‘dyslexia’ has become discredited through overuse, misuse and by unwarranted promises of cures. But all children who experience difficulty learning to read can be helped. The keynote speakers at this conference are participating in a Channel 4 documentary that also involves leading international researchers in the area of reading difficulty. This programme, which is scheduled to be televised in September 2005, closely reflects the theme of this conference in challenging common concepts of dyslexia, and in suggesting appropriate ways forward. The conference will provide delegates with the opportunity to hear of the very latest research findings through presentations from distinguished and experienced academics and researchers and also concluding remarks from the programme’s Executive Producer, who has spent several years on this project visiting leading specialists in research centres in both the UK and US. Please click the following if you would like to download the Programme for this conference: For presentation files please follow this link.
Arrival, Registration, and Coffee Welcome and Introduction: Dr. Trevor Millum Why we need to stop using the term “dyslexia”: Prof. Julian Elliott The impact of government initiatives on reading: Prof. Peter Tymms Coffee Redefining dyslexia : Prof. Maggie Snowling Lunch Breakout Sessions include: (Repeated Later) Diagnostic assessment of reading in Reading Intervention: Research to Practice - Dr. Peter Hatcher Adapting teaching to individual needs, and to the English spelling system. - John Bald Panel Discussion: Questions and Answers Tea and Biscuits Depart To follow is a list of the speakers abstracts: Julian (Joe) Elliott is currently Professor of Education at the University of Durham. Formerly a teacher in mainstream and special schools, he subsequently practised as an educational psychologist before entering higher education in 1990. After fourteen years at the University of Sunderland where he was latterly Acting Dean, he returned to Durham, where he was an undergraduate in the 1970s. His research interests include behaviour management, achievement motivation, dynamic assessment, cognitive education and special education. In his spare time he answers letters to The T.E.S. Special. Abstract: Why we should stop using the term “dyslexia” In my presentation, I shall consider three key questions surrounding the debate about dyslexia in children:
I shall argue, that despite scientific advances in the study of reading disability, current understandings of dyslexia are such that a diagnosis offers little of clinical or educational value. For this reason I shall suggest that we should either provide a far more coherent and consensual understanding of this term; one that that is helpful for clinical/educational practice, or that we dispense with it.
Maggie Snowling holds a personal Chair in the Department of Psychology at the University of York, where she is a member of the Centre for Reading and Language. Her research interests are in the normal and a typical development of reading, developmental speech and language disorders and reading intervention. She is also a professionally qualified clinical psychologist. She has published more than 100 articles and her book “Dyslexia” [published by Blackwell] is in second edition (2000) and was translated into Portugese in 2004. She was awarded the British Psychological Society Presidents' Award in 2003 for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge, and will take up a British Academy Readership 2005-7. Abstract:
Abstract: Trevor Millum is Director of Development and Communications for NATE (The National Association for the Teaching of English). Following a career in English teaching and spells as Head of English in UK and Singapore, Advisory Teacher for English and IT, he began working for NATE in 1998. He is a member of the Executive Board of the National Literacy Association and also works for Resource Education, designing software and delivering training. He is the author of a number of publications for teachers, including The Mouse and the Muse, Information Technology into Practice and ICT and Literacy – as well as numerous poems and short stories for children. Dr Christine Merrell is a researcher at CEM, Durham University, where she has worked for 10 years developing a range of assessments for monitoring children in the early and primary years. Recently, she has been involved in the development of a computer-adaptive assessment for diagnosing reading problems of children in primary schools. Other research interests include the achievement and progress of severely inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive young children. Abstract: This session focuses on a new assessment of reading and spelling recently developed at the CEM Centre, Durham University. The Interactive Computerised Assessment System (InCAS) is a pupil-friendly adaptive assessment that can be done at any time of year and gives immediate age-related feedback, highlighting areas of strength and weakness. Research-based guidance on how to help children with particular problems forms part of the assessment package. The software, feedback and accompanying recommendations for teaching will be demonstrated.
Mary Hilton is a University Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University. She teaches for the Primary English team on post-graduate, undergraduate and Masters degrees. Her research interests cover children’s literature and literacy, popular culture, history of education, and government policy for the teaching of English and media in primary schools. Having been a primary teacher for many years, since 1998 Mary has been a steadfast critic of the government’s National Literacy Strategy, particularly with regard to children’s creative expression in the language arts. She has published on children’s popular culture, children’s writing, government reading tests, and the related ‘standards agenda’. Dr. Peter J. Hatcher is author of Sound Linkage (Whurr, 2000). He and co-authors, Hulme and Ellis were awarded the International Reading Association: Dina Feitelson Research Award (1998) for the study, “Ameliorating Early Reading Failure by Integrating the Teaching of Reading and Phonological Skills: The Phonological Linkage Hypothesis”. The work was rated internationally (Troia, 1999) as one of the top three studies of phonological awareness and reading. In addition to teaching, teacher training and research, he has an interest in clinical work with children having difficulties in learning to read. Prior to his work as a Senior Lecturer at the University of York, he was a Senior Educational Psychologist for Cumbria Education Service. In this presentation, four topics will be reviewed. These include the research evidence in support of the very successful Reading Intervention programme; the form of a typical Reading Intervention lesson, and of the pre- and post-intervention assessment that is used to monitor children’s progress; the structure of training and support provided for Reading Intervention teachers (and Teaching Assistants) in Cumbria Education Service; provision that should enable the programme to be adopted by other Education Services / Institutions. Dr. Jonathan Solity is a lecturer in Educational Psychology at the Unviversity of Warwick. He has written numerous books and articles on instructional psychology, assessment-through-teaching and precision teaching. Since 1995 he has been leading the Early Reading Research, a ten year research programme which has received over £1.2m of funding to investigate the most effective ways of teaching literacy and numeracy skills, raising children’s attainments and preventing difficulties in learning. Abstract: A major assumption in debates about dyslexia is that children identified as having difficulties in learning to read have been well taught. However, the evidence is rarely, if ever, available to support this assertion. In the absence of appropriate data it cannot be assumed that children who fail to progress have received appropriate instruction any more than it can be assumed that those acquiring literacy skills do so in response to the teaching offered at school. Instructional psychology asserts that establishing whether or not children have a difficulty in learning can only come from the systematic observation and analysis of what and how they have been taught. It assumes that differences in children’s attainments arise primarily through their learning opportunities and instructional experiences rather than their cognitive differences. Thus, when children fail to meet expectations and are perceived to have difficulties, the assumption is that such failure is attributed to the nature of their school and home-based experiences in learning to read. The expectation is that children will learn when given appropriate provision and will make sufficient progress to catch up with their peers and meet agreed age related educational goals. It is argued that children can only be considered to have difficulties in learning when they have received appropriate instruction and that, paradoxically, this can only occur when all teaching proceeds on the assumption that children do not have a difficulty. Research will be presented which draws on three areas: cognitive modelling, small-scale laboratory experiments and large-scale classroom interventions to demonstrate how perceived difficulties can be overcome through the way the learning environment is organised, structure and presented to children. It will be shown that (i) real books are more effective in teaching reading than reading schemes; (ii) teaching at the level of small units (grapheme-phoneme correspondences) is more effective than teaching large units (onset-rime); (iii) teaching underpinned with core psychological principles of teaching and learning can raise attainments and prevent difficulties in learning and (iv) the NLS and its associated programmes (for example the ALS, ELS, PiPs etc) are currently the major cause of children’s difficulties.
John Bald began teaching in inner London in 1973, and was tutor in charge of Essex Education Department’s reading and language centre from 1980 to 1993. Since then, he has worked as a teacher, consultant and inspector. His clients have included the Who Cares? Trust, the Muslim Education Co-ordinating Council, the BBC, the French Embassy and the Jewish Board of Deputies, as well as a wide range of schools, adults and children. Publications include A Book of My Own, (1995), The Literacy File (1997), and Classroom Assistant’s Edufax (2001). He writes for The TES and Guardian Education.
Masha Bell has been fascinated and infuriated by the inconsistencies of English spelling ever since she first met up with the English language in Lithuania at the age of 14. They continued to trouble her after she became a teacher of English, German, Russian and French in Dorset in 1976. Since leaving teaching because of throat problems in 1995, she has devoted nearly all of her time to classifying and explaining English spelling inconsistencies and investigating their effect on teaching and learning. One result of this research is her book ‘Understanding English Spelling’ published in 2004. Abstract:
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Durham University