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What is it about whole class questioning? There was controversy recently when Jo Boaler suggested using lolly sticks was like cold calling. Katherine Birlbalsingh, ever the contrarian, suggested this was simply checking understanding and part of good practice. What my students with working memory difficulties tell me is that hands up/lolly stick methods of checking […]

  What works for dyslexics and literacy is well documented. Increasingly, a personalised provision within a structured, multi-sensory program is viewed as a ‘critical driver’ in the teaching of literacy (Rose, 2009). Continual formative assessment is also vital. It is generally accepted that the most effective interventions for dyslexia have the following elements : Multi-sensory Phonics based (especially early

  I knew my son was dyslexic in Reception. We were ‘lost’ parents and did not understand the system. We agreed to have him put on the SEND register. He finally received a specific dyslexia intervention in year 4 (by a HLTA, untrained in dyslexia, who was receiving instruction from a qualified SpLD teacher).  

The children I teach are often the ones who have given up on themselves (and their memories), made to feel that learning is for others, not for them. I want to share some theories about how memory works. It’s useful to connect with these ideas and to start to be curious, how can your students

  It seems the world of SEND is full of embattled women’s voices. Whenever I attend a dyslexia CPD event or conference, I am struck by the high numbers of mothers I encounter who became dyslexia professionals to help their own children and in so doing, found their passion. Why does this advocacy role fall

  For Part One see here: Part One Theories of causation tell us much about how to assess dyslexic students. There are three main schools of thought, yet the theories can sit side by side as in the Kelly and Phillips Integrated Causal Model (2011). The theories deal with different parts of the brain but

  In today’s classrooms, children have to ‘read to learn’. Children who cannot read are ‘effectively disenfranchised’ (Department for Education, 2013:13). In the span of civilisation, however, mass literacy is a relatively recent phenomenon. Written communication began with a picture or sign to represent something and alphabetic writing came last (Clayton, 2013). The English language

There are LOTs of ways to help dyslexic students become not just okay at maths but great mathematicians. Here are a few suggestions and I’m sure you’ll find some of your own! Always be explicit eg we have place value because there are only 10 symbols for number. Place value – whereby a number’s POSITION

How do schools create ‘lollygaggers’? Teacher and TA dynamics   I was pretty disheartened by a post from Ben Newmark, expressing frustration at the ‘lollygaggers’ in his classroom, the needy students with ‘learned helplessness’. Apparently, his most read post. What is particularly worrying is the level of ignorance displayed by some teachers; the lack of