Supporting children with difficulties in reading and writing

This course is for teachers to learn why some children have so much difficulty with reading and writing, often called 'dyslexia', and to learn more about best practice in teaching literacy to all in light of recent scientific discoveries.

Participation in or completion of this online course will not confer academic credit for University of London programmes

• An overview
• Writing systems; models of reading acquisition (the ‘decoding’ and ‘direct’ paths); the importance of automatization; bilingualism
• Definitions and identification of dyslexia
• Causes; identification; numerous activities include simple methods of observation (not formal diagnosis)
• 'Co-morbidity', and psychological and social aspects
• The ‘dys’-constellation (dyspraxia, dyscalculia etc); audition; vision; loss of self-esteem; long-term effects of school drop-out and antisocial behaviour – evidence from Canada; ‘positive’ aspects of dyslexia and unusual aptitudes; discussion around pros and cons of ‘labelling’ a child
• Practical teaching approaches Part 1
• General principles of inclusion; structured, multisensory, phonics-based and metacognitive approaches; summaries of recent influential reports of best practice from France, the UK and USA; applying these approaches across the curriculum; learning styles; reading, spelling, comprehension and composition; visualization and mind-mapping
• Practical teaching approaches Part 2
• Multisensory teaching in practice illustrated; comprehension, composition
• Study skills, aids and accommodations
• Attention, memory and organization; technological aids especially for reading and writing; examples of accommodations for formal assessments and examinations