Dyscastia

The Teaching Morphology Rabbit Hole and Word Cracking

Show notes
In this episode, Bill, Michael and Sally discuss morphology teaching and begin to demystify a body of knowledge that sometimes feels like the next frontier for teachers. Most of us have got our heads about the importance of phonemes and training young brains to work with them at a highly proficient level (phonemic awareness), and how to teach synthetic phonics in more effective ways.
Most teachers also get the importance of explicit and highly structured modes for teaching how phonemes map onto graphemes and the additional important stuff to do with English spelling conventions. However, because our language is influenced by other classic languages such as Latin and Greek, our spelling system has inherited some odd spelling rules and strange strings of letters that mean things, but don’t seem to make any sense alone and certainly don’t stand alone as words like the ‘iatr’ in psychiatrist (meaning to heal) or the ‘cracy’ in democracy (meaning to govern). So, what we have ended up with is a spelling system with two important parts to it – letters standing for sounds and morphemes standing for meanings, and both are as important as one another for reading, comprehension and spelling. Our language is morphophonemic.
Phonics teaching alone isn’t enough to get many students across the line to be at-year-level readers, spellers and writers. Alongside phonic knowledge, learners must also develop an awareness of how words are made up of units of meaning called morphemes (or morphographs). This is where morphological awareness comes in. Morphology is the study of how words build up and come apart in ways that alter their meaning and it’s a rich vein to be mined. Some students just seem to develop morphological awareness by themselves, but all students benefit from explicit teaching and for many, without it, they’ll flounder.
This sounds daunting for teachers but the truth is that we can actually start to incorporate morphology instruction into our teaching anytime we like. The only thing that holds many of us back is that we worry that we don’t know enough about morphemes and what they mean for spelling, word knowledge and complex subject-specific words – vocabulary. Trust me, nobody feels like they know enough! Sally, Michael and I are always learning, as our meanderings in this episode will attest to! So dive in with us as we go down the morphology rabbit hole!
The Word Cracker Resources
This is the resource originally created by Sally and Bill and then brought into the online world by Michael. A few of the free useful morphology resources are listed below:
If you are new to morphology, you can do the Word Cracking morphology training course online or read our introduction to morphology.
If you already know how important morphology is but need to convince your school leadership, we have a morphology explainer for school leaders.
We have an article on when to start teaching morphology.
If you are a parent, we have an article explaining what morphology is and how to teach it at home.
Blog Post: TEACHING SUFFIXES: STARTING WITH THE SUFFIX ‘S’ This was mentioned during the episode in the context of all the other knowledge (meta-language) needed to teach suffix ‘s’.
 
Some additional reading on teaching morphology
Suggestions from Felicity at Seelect Educational Supplies
Vocabulary Through Morphemes Student Workbook 
Morpheme Magic
‘Beneath the Surface of Words’ was mentioned by Bill in this episode as an excellent resource that teaches us to think morphologically!
Etymology Online (Etymology Online Dictionary)
Every teacher who has been teaching morphology has this tab continuously open in their browser. This is where Bill went looking for the root in ‘swagger’ among other deep dives during this episode. Etymonline is an incredible resource that is kept going by one, solitary fellow! So if you want to support this resource you can, make a small donation or support the author on Patreon where you get access to extra articles and resources.
Dictionary of affixes
The Dictionary of Affixes contains more than 1,250 entries, illustrated by 10,000 examples, all defined and explained. It’s based on the book Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and Endings, published by Oxford University Press in 2002.
Like Etymology Online, it is run by a single person, Michael Quinion, and you can donate to support him on his homepage.
Morphology helping with Mathematical and Scientific terms
Late in the episode, Bill talked about the importance of Greek and Latin roots to scientific words. A great download summarising these can be found at:http://www.jdenuno.com/PDFfiles/RootWords.pdf
We also have a blog post on the Word Cracking website, When Do I Start Teaching Morphology, that, among other things, talks about how morphology helps if you are a secondary teacher.

The Importance of Handwriting, with Debbie Draper

In this episode, we chat with educational consultant Debbie Draper about handwriting, why it's back and what we need to do to set kids up for successful writing.
 
About Debbie
When Debbie was in year five at primary school in rural South Australia, she decided she wanted to be a teacher. After 17 years in the classroom, Debbie decided to switch her focus to assisting educators to do the best for their students. 
Debbie now works as a specialist consultant with the goal of reaching out to school leaders and teachers who need guidance in planning and evaluating their learning programmes. 
Debbie aims to provide quality learning for various school contexts and tailor new approaches and strategies that address the needs of the students, teachers and leaders of the institution she serves.
Debbie has spent her career helping educators to recognise and solve the unique challenges they encounter in their schools.
Debbie co-wrote the DECD Unlocking the World "Gifted Education and Higher Order Thinking: Improving Learning Outcomes for every Student" tutor training programme and teacher development courses. Those materials were delivered to various South Australian sites as well as to international schools and the public education system in Hong Kong.
Additionally, Debbie co-developed a support model in response to the needs of the overwhelming number of sites involved in the comprehension strategy in Northern Adelaide.
"Stories from the Field" attests to the impact of the professional learning programme on teacher capacity and efficacy as well as student learning outcomes. Leaders, later on, report on the quality and positive impact of the professional learning and resources that I co-developed to support teacher learning.
Email: Debbie.draper@gmail.com
Website: https://debbiedraper-educationalconsultant.vpweb.com.au/
 
Show notes
Handwriting has made its way back into schools that have embraced evidence-based teaching of reading, spelling and writing.
The multisensory nature of the delivery of structured synthetic phonics programs requires that students are handwriting as they store grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and there's a plethora of evidence to support this approach.
Now, as schools insist that students write more, the expected questions have popped up.
Cursive or manuscript?
One then the other or cursive from the get-go?
Which font shall we teach schoolwide?
Are there better ones than others?
Dotted thirds, lines or no lines?
What types of writing implements – pens or pencils?
Do we correct poor grip? How?
Do we let them rub out?
Writing in books or on individual whiteboards? If both, when?
How should students sit as they write?
At tables, sitting on the floor?
Lying on the floor?
Do we insist on a set letter formation?
What about students with Dysgraphia?
In this episode, we explore these issues and more with Debbie and tap into her vast expertise and experience. 
 
Debbie made us a shared folder!
Click here to access the Google folder that Debbie has created for Dyscastia listeners. It is chock-a-block with great articles and instructional aids. 
 

Mental health and specific learning difficulties

In this episode, we chat with clinical psychologist Kirrilie Smout about the emotional challenges of living with specific learning difficulties. Kirrilie givestopert advice for parents and teachers on how to set kids up for success and support them when things get tough.
Show notes
Not keeping up at school and feeling like you aren’t able to do what the other kids can do is soul-destroying for young people. It’s also incredibly hard for those who care for them, most obviously parents and caregivers, but also educators who are in the lives of kids who struggle to learn to read, spell and do maths.
In this episode, we sit down with Kirrilie Smout, in our minds, one of Australia’s leading clinical child/adolescent psychologists and the director of Developing Minds. With the benefit of Kirrilie’s down-to-earth style, well-researched opinions, years of experience and incredible humanity, we delve into a range of issues that clutter the already complex landscape of being a kid with learning difficulties or parenting/teaching one.
When Life Sucks for Kids
One of Kirrilie’s books “When Life Sucks for Kids” is the centerpiece for this episode and sets us off on an incredibly interesting conversation about all sorts of stuff, including:
The very real correlation between having an SLD and mental health difficulties – is it fate that a kid with SLDs will have an associated mental health problem?
How to talk with young people about the challenges and strengths that come with an SLD and how to remain believable when trying to keep kids buoyant
Fostering hope for the future but also being frank and honest about the challenges ahead
Understanding mood, its impact on learning and cleverly helping kids to regulate mood to best set them up for work that is going to be challenging (like homework)
Talking to kids about the importance of hard work and struggle in building a strong and flexible brain
The importance of peer-connection for kids with learning difficulties and balancing homework and a social life
What to consider when deciding on whether to use tough-love or to back off for a bit – balancing empathy and toughness
School refusal – the slippery slope
The mental health implications of parenting a kid who will at times feel hopeless, helpless and like it’s all too hard.
Where to get some help
Calm Kid Central is a wonderful resource that had been developed by Kirrilie and the staff at Developing Minds. It contains over 25 interactive and animated educational lessons for children to learn to: cope with frustration, manage anxiety, improve peer relationships, manage conflict constructively, help themselves get to sleep, use calm words, re-direct their attention onto positive topics, ask for help – and many more.
Kid’s Helpline 1800 55 1800 can also be a wonderful help when young people just need someone to talk to – any time, for any reason.
 
Full show notes available at https://dyscastia.com/episodes/episode-10-mental-health-and-specific-learning-difficulties/

NDIS funding for specific learning difficulties

In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, a determined parent who managed to secure NDIS funding for her child living with dyslexia. Kate tells us exactly how she did it!
 
In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, who tells her NDIS funding story. Kate tells us why she applied and how she navigated multiple rejections to ultimately have her funding approved.
It’s a story we hope you will find encouraging, useful and enlightening, as we did. So, if you live in Australia and know or support somebody living with a specific learning difficulty, this episode may be a game changer.
What is the NDIS?
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is for people in Australia under 65, living with permanent and significant disability.
Permanent means the disability will not go away.
Significant means the disability affects how you live every day.
Both of these criteria can apply to people living with specific learning difficulties.
 
NDIS and Dyslexia – Kate's story in her own words
Our daughter is a bright, happy, funny girl who is just a joy to be around. We began to have concerns about her literacy skills when was quite young. While her peers were able to recognise letters of the alphabet, she struggled to recall common letters, including those in her name from a young age. This was in contrast to the skills she displayed when performing other tasks as part of daily life – which she really excelled at!Our daughter settled well into school but struggled with basic literacy tasks from the beginning. By the end of Year 1 we requested her school to allow her to repeat Year 1 again. We were told that repeating her would only be allowed upon completion of a psychometric assessment, an assessment by an independent speech pathologist, an assessment by an occupational therapist. We arranged the necessary tests.
Through Year 1 and 2, her school provided some support – Reading Recovery and MiniLit. In addition, we organised speech pathology & tutoring to help her. But by the end of Term 3, Year 2 it was evident that the support available within her school was insufficient to enable her to continue learning in that environment. We had had our daughter “tested” for countless things based on recommendations from the school – ADHD, eyesight problems, intellectual delays etc. None were really helpful. Our daughter is very well behaved, is a gun at ball sports and excels at mathematics. It was as though her school really did not understand her strengths at all.
We made the decision to enrol our daughter in a different school commencing in Year 3. From the start, her new teacher contacted us to discuss concerns with her literacy. She was great. A further assessment by a speech pathologist was recommended, as was a referral to a Neuropsychologist. We were blown away with his findings. Essentially it showed she had a Specific Learning Disorder that impacted reading and writing only (dyslexia). It was also very clear that this was not related to an intellectual disability and that there were certain interventions were never going to work given her condition. The Neuropsychologist also provided very specific and clear recommendations for both school and for at home which were very useful.
From that point onwards, her new school helped by providing in-class support, free access to evidence-based literacy interventions, MaqLit, assistive technology (e.g. “C-pen”), and access to learning support and a scribe. We supplemented this with regular speech pathology every week. This is all amazing while our daughter is at school. But what I think some fail to realise is that children also need to access texts and write things down when they are not at school – supports are still needed outside of an educational setting. This is why we applied to the NDIS.
Here is our Timeline:
May 2019
We applied for access to the NDIS for our daughter’s primary impairment of a Severe Specific Learning Disorder with impairment with reading and written expression. We explained that our daughter had received evidence-based treatment from speech pathologist(s) since the age of 4 targeting literacy development, all with minimal improvement. She had also participated in multiple literacy interventions at school. I sought access to the NDIS for continued targeted evidence-based literacy programs to lift basic literacy proficiency as much as is possible within the context of her SLD. In the context of functional impairments, I sought access to the use of assistive technology for her learning.
July 2019
We were informed that our NDIS Access Request was not successful. Specifically, the requirements that were stated not to be met were:
Section 24(1)(c) relating to an impairment” that results in substantially reduced functional capacity; and
Section 25 relating to whether the early intervention supports are most appropriately funded by the NDIS.
Those familiar with NDIS may know that in order to meet the Access Criteria, you have to satisfy the NDIS on many criteria.
Our application was targeted at Section 21(1) which includes:
21(1)(a) age requirements (Section 22); and
21(1)(b) residence requirements (Section 23); and
21(1)(c)(i) disability requirements (Section 24); OR
21(1)(c)(ii) early intervention requirements (Section 25).
The first 2 items above (Section 22 & 23) were easy for us. It’s Section 24 or 25 that presented the challenge.
August 2019
I applied to the NDIS for a review of the outcome of our Access Request. In response to the items noted above, I wrote the following:
“In contrast to what has been stated, (Name’s) SLD significantly impedes her functional capacity to both learn and communicate in society. This is a lifelong disorder which negatively affects her ability to read and write. The ability to do so is a skill that we need to function in life and society. Her disorder has demonstrated impacts on educational and occupational attainment, as well as limiting participation and productivity. (Name) needs ongoing help and assistance, and we want to be able to help her to function in society. (Name) requires assistive technology aids to allow her to access written texts and express herself in written format. In addition, she requires speech pathology intervention to limit the detrimental impacts of her Specific Learning Disorder. Without such, (Name’s) ability to communicate is severely compromised, and she will be unable to fully participate in society. As such, I request a review of the access decision for (Name) “
October 2019
I received a phone call from the NDIS seeking more information. Nothing specific was requested, just an overview of her daily life which I provided. The NDIS also contacted my daughter’s Neuropsychologist. A few weeks later, I received a letter informing me that the earlier decision to reject our request was upheld and that we were not successful. What was great about this rejection letter was that the NDIS went into much more detail on each of the Access sub-criteria on what had not been met. For example, we were informed that she did not meet the following criteria:
21(1)(c)(i) disability requirements (Section 24)
Criteria (c) which means that the impairment must result in substantially reduced functional capacity in one or more areas;
Criteria (e) which whether the condition is likely to require lifetime support of the NDIS.
21(1)(c)(ii) early intervention requirements (Section 25)
Criteria 25(3) that the NDIS is the most appropriate support system.
Therefore, based on this knowledge, I applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), requesting a further external review of the decision.
December 2019
Our first case conference with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was scheduled, and in preparation, I was sent a “Respondent’s Statement of Issues” (SOI), which summarised the decision under review.
My daughter’s Neuropsychologist attended the Case Conference by phone, which was a huge help. I used the Case Conference as my first opportunity to directly ask the NDIS what it was that they wanted or expected to be provided as evidence to satisfy the 3 areas that were deemed to be unacceptable.
I explained what her daily life is like, and I was told I needed to provide a Statement of Lived Experience on what her life is like now and what it would be like if she was granted access to the NDIS.
When it came to the discussion around how significant her disability affects her life, her Neuropsychologist was amazing at articulating the research available that demonstrates the need for early intervention for this SLD and the positive impacts on day-to-day life it brings. He explained the long-term outcomes of people who have a history of reading disorders or learning disabilities and how the literature shows that children and adults with reading difficulties have established poorer functional outcomes across a range of domains, and as such, need support to be able to participate in society. He was asked to provide a summary of that research. He also provided context to the need for supports around the use of assistive technology and the use of evidence-based literacy support.
I went through what the education system provides and asked specifically what the NDIS expected “mainstream services” to provide to support her. I explained that I had already consulted with our GP on this and had access to all mainstream services available, including through a GP management plan and such were insufficient. I was asked to provide written evidence of this.
The grounds on which I argued included that her SLD does have functional impacts and such is beyond mere educational needs in the classroom. While it is true that it is the role of education to support for her in the classroom, education is not responsible for providing her assistance when she is not in class. For example, her school is not responsible to provide a C-Pen for her when she is reading at home, to assist with reading a bus or train timetable, or provide talk-to-text at home. She requires tools to navigate the written world long term.
I was specifically asked what support she needed for her daily life outside of school. Here is an extract of what I provided:
“Every-day activities that rely on reading or writing restrict her ability to participate, unless she is provided with someone to read or scribe for her or if she has access to the use of assistive technology. As parents, we have tried to support her independence by providing a C-Pen Reader for use outside of school. The C-Pen Reader enables her to scan a line of words so that they can be read back to her. While the C-Pen Reader enables her to understand some written texts, it is limited in its support when the words she needs to read are on a noticeboard (behind glass), if they are on signage (such as for pedestrian access), if they are on the TV (such as words to a song, or a warning sign etc.), or on packaging where the colours behind the words change. The latter is a good example of the challenges presented if she tries to “shop” for something, as labels on products are typically written over multi-coloured backgrounds.
Some examples of day-to-day things that she requires support for that she is unable to perform independently include:
Unable to read the ingredients and the methods to follow in a cookbook;
Unable to read cereal boxes, so if the packaging changes to unfamiliar colours, she cannot ascertain what is inside;
Unable to decipher from shampoo, conditioner, or any other product such as body wash (or other products in the bathroom) unless she has become familiar with the coloured branding on the packaging over time;
Unable to read packaged items from grocery shopping that she is not familiar with;
If we go out for dinner, she is unable to read from the menu;
Unable to participate in after-school extra-curricular activities such as drama or speech, as participating relies on creating texts and reading lines;
Unable to decipher or create text messages or emails;
Unable to read the bus or train timetable;
Unable to read Christmas cards, birthday cards, or letters from family members;
Unable to read notes that she brings home from school or permission slips;
Unable to read sign-ups for community days at the local shopping centre;
Unable to read road/pedestrian signs.”
I was also asked to approximate the level of support (in dollars) that we were after. I sought support for participation in evidence-based literacy interventions to build her literacy skills; and provision of assistive technology for reading and writing. Such should include technology that enables her to read from text, but also read words encountered in everyday life. Examples include a C-Pen Reader and technology that enables words to be read in any format, such as the OrCam MyReader. Based on these items, I estimated then to amount to approximately $10,000, consisting of ongoing weekly speech pathology ($3,500) and assistive technologies such as the Orcam MyReader ($5,695).
We were given until February to compile all requested information. The respondent (NDIS) was given around 2 weeks to respond afterwards, and another case conference was scheduled for March 2020.
February 2020
I sent the following info to the ATT:
 Statement of Lived Experience
Medical report from our GP (who was fabulous). Her letter explained the support available through mainstream services for children with dyslexia through Medicare consisted of 5 x subsidised Speech Therapy or Occupational Therapy sessions per year – and that such was totally inadequate to deal with the complex issues involved.
Summary report from our Neuropsychologist
Progress reports from my daughter’s school.
We were contacted in late Feb from the lawyers representing the NDIS to ask us if they could have more time to review our documentation.
I refused.
I figured I have 3 kids and work full time – why am I giving lawyers who are paid to do this more time?
Soon after, we received an email stating that the NDIS agreed that our daughter now met the access criteria under Section 21(1)(a); 21(1)(b) and 21(1)(c)(i) disability requirements (Section 24).
The key things that helped me throughout this process that I think made the most difference:
1. An amazing Neuropsychologist who specialises in this area and could be called upon to provide independent information to the NDIS at any time.
2. Keeping very detailed records of every phone call with the NDIS, taking the time to read the Operational Guideline behind the NDIS (Becoming a Participant) Rules…and not giving up.
I had countless conversations where I was told that it’s a good idea to “get a lawyer” to help me because Disability law can be complicated. The idea of paying for legal advice on top of everything else was a really big deterrent. But I did all of this without any of it. Yes, it took time, but I actually think it probably took less time (definitely less money) than if I had to explain it to someone else all the time and review everything they wanted to send out. This way I felt (marginally) in control.
3. Knowing that if the situation was different, and it was actually me that was dyslexic, that it would have been very unlikely that my parents could have afforded the sheer amount of therapy, assessments, intervention, and private school fees that we have spent to help our daughter with her condition…and that my adult life would be very different. I feel very lucky that I was able to go to University. It infuriates me that help for dyslexia mainly relies on parents that can afford it. Every child deserves support for dyslexia – and such should be supported through the NDIS.
I really hope this post helps someone else access the NDIS for their child, or for themselves.
From: https://www.facebook.com/groups/220307061381034/search/?q=ndis
Since then
This is just a follow-up to my post on April 16, where I went through the process we took to get our daughter on the NDIS (which was recently accepted). I had lots of questions on what was included in her plan, and I couldn’t answer them because it hadn’t been approved yet.
I’m very happy to say that her plan has now been approved and is made up of the following:
CORE/Consumables budget= $200 – For the purchase of low-cost Assistive technology to assist with her communication support needs
Capacity Building- Improved Daily Living – $8,373.36 – Access to Speech therapy support + parent training.
I can’t tell you how much of a difference this makes to us – the ability to have funded speech pathology is absolutely amazing. I hope this post further inspires others to seek funding through the NDIS for themselves or their children, and please don’t give up.
I’m happy to help anyone on their journey.

How well do universities prepare teachers for literacy instruction?

Show notes
In this episode, we chat with two wonderful pre-service teachers, Lara (left) and Robert (right), who have just completed level one of Teaching Students with Dyslexia (TSD1). We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to ask Lara and Robert to reflect on what they’d just learned at TSD and how this contrasted with what they were learning about teaching literacy at University.
Lara
Lara is currently a student at Flinders University, undertaking a Bachelor of Primary of Education. She has previously been a Police Officer here in South Australia, as well as a Teacher of English as a second language in Switzerland.
Robert
Educational Support Officer and fourth-year student studying a bachelor’s degree in Primary and Middle School education at the University of South Australia. Robert also works as an educator in an out-of-school hours care program. He takes great pride in supporting students with learning disabilities and has recently taken on Tier 3 support through the completion of the Playberry Multisensory Literacy Program.
Selected links and extras related to the episode
Greg Ashman
At the beginning of the episode, Bill mentions a blog written by Greg Ashman – here it is!
Criticism of teacher education is not a criticism of teachers – It is unhelpful spin
Mark Seidenberg
Bill mentions Mark Seidenberg’s book Language at the speed of sight and his views on teacher education institutions keeping the science of reading at arm’s length. Mark has an excellent blog called Reading Matters that’s worth looking at.
Below is a clip from an interview where he is discussing reasons why there are problems in teacher preparation.
S.A. Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour:
At the end of this episode, we invite anyone involved in teacher training to join us at Salisbury Primary School in 2023. There is, of course, an ulterior motive – to showcase the power of explicit, structured teaching of core subjects and the incredible impact this has on student learning, behaviour and self-esteem in the most complex of educational contexts. This is a call to action to those brave and dedicated folks who pull teacher training courses together to engage with us to see what we can do to better prepare our next generation of teachers to teach kids to read, spell and write. Excellent teaching of literacy is one of the best antidotes we have to social disadvantage!
Salisbury Primary School
Using evidence-based teaching to unlock literacy for all students
An invitation to Salisbury Primary School,
*Study Tour dates for 2023 are coming soon – email bill@hansberryec.com.au to express interest

Learning to teach kids living with dyslexia. How to get started and what training you need.

In this episode, we talk to Bill, Sally, Karen, and Louise who run specialist dyslexia teacher training. We find out what’s involved and help you decide whether you should take up the challenge.
Sally Andrew
holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy from the University of York, UK. Sally has been tutoring students with dyslexia for 20 years and has trained many parents and educators in evidence-based multisensory interventions for dyslexia. Sally is the director of By Your Side Tutoring.
Karen Hodson
is a Director of Fullarton House – Assessment Therapy and Teaching and is a highly sought after Educational Psychologist with 23 years’ experience in supporting students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. She has conducted thousands of assessments and has extensive understanding of dyslexia across the life span.
 Louise Hanrahan
Louise is a coach with the Literacy Guarantee Unit (LGU).  She is an AITSL, certified Highly Accomplished Teacher with extensive experience in the field of literacy education. Louise specialises in teaching students with dyslexia using a structured literacy approach.  In her role with the LGU Louise supports schools with literacy planning, mentoring, in-class demonstrations and delivers appropriate classroom-based strategies for students in reading acquisition.  Louise has an interest in Initial Teacher Education. She has recently worked with AITSL as part of an expert reading group.  This group developed criteria to enable Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers to identify well-designed studies, trustworthy research, and meaningful evidence to inform decisions relating to the teaching of reading instruction.
Selected links and extras related to the episode
Teaching Students with Dyslexia Training (TSD)
Is the training that Michael and Bill have both trained in and Bill, Sally and Karen run. Louise is also a graduate of all three levels of TSD. TSD is run only in South Australia as Sally, Karen and Bill all have their own practices that they try to minimize disruption to.
https://www.hansberryec.com.au/copy-of-workshop-19
Speld Organizations around Australia
AusSpeld
https://auspeld.org.au/
Speld SA
https://www.speldsa.org.au/
Speld Vic
https://www.speldvic.org.au/
Speld NSW
https://www.speldnsw.org.au/
Speld Qld
https://www.speld.org.au/
Speld WA
https://dsf.net.au
SEELECT educational supplies
Louise mentioned SEELECT when talking about the team she needed to build around her when supporting her own kids with their learning needs. Felicity and Lyn at Seelect have been supporting teachers, parents and schools to choose evidence-based resources and use them well to help students with learning difficulties. Felicity is a trained multisensory tutor as well as co-owner of SEELECT and is a powerhouse of information and experience in the learning difficulties space.
https://www.seelect.com.au/
Five from Five and The Reading League
Bill mentioned these resources as a great place for information about teaching in line with the evidence. 
https://fivefromfive.com.au
www.thereadingleague.org
 
Other Training Organizations (Besides TSD)
IMSLE Institute for Multi-Sensory Structured Language Education
www.multisensoryeducation.net.au
Dyslexia Orton-Gillingham Institute
https://www.dogi.com.au/
Lifelong Literacy – Lyn Stone
https://lifelongliteracy.com
 
S.A. Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour:
Salisbury Primary School
Using evidence-based teaching to unlock literacy for all students
An invitation to Salisbury Primary School,
*Study Tour 1: June 2-3rd 2022, and 3rd November 2022
*Study Tour 2: 25-26th August 2022, and 4th November 2022
Email Bill to book

How to choose a school for kids living with learning difficulties

In this episode, Michael and Bill discuss a blog that Bill wrote called Schools that teach Reading and Spelling in a Research Informed way: Picking a Winner.
In the episode, we focus on tips for parents to get beyond the sales pitch to make an informed decision about whether the school might be a good fit.
The first part of this episode discusses six red flags to look out for that may indicate that the school doesn't have a scientific approach to its teaching of reading and spelling.
The six red flags are around some of the answers a parent might get to the question:
"Can you tell me about how reading and spelling is taught here?"
"We believe..."
"We promote a love of reading"
"Different teachers teach reading and spelling differently"
"Not all learners learn to read and spell the same way"
"Students are at different points so we don't teach them the same content / same way..."
"We use an inquiry approach to teaching literacy"
In the second part of the episode, we talk about the answers you want to hear when asking this question.
Visit the Dyscastia website for the complete show notes and links.

What’s changing with the teaching of reading in Australia (and why?)

This episode answers the common questions schools and parents have when changing from a whole-language or balanced literacy way of teaching to one supported by scientific evidence.
“Why wasn’t my older one taught reading this way”
“Why have the take-home readers changed and why do the new ones look so basic compared to the old ones?”
“Where have the levelled readers and Running Records gone?”“What’s this stuff about phonological awareness?”
“Why are the students and teachers doing activities that look like ‘rote learning’ and ‘drill’ in the classroom?”
“What happened to “chunky monkey” and “flippy dolphin” and why must we insist on kids sounding out words now”
“Why do parents now have to do a course before being able to volunteer to listen to kids read in the classroom?”
“Why didn’t my struggling 12-year-old get this type of intervention when they were in year one?”
These are the types of questions that schools who have begun changing how they teach reading (and spelling) face from parents who have noticed the differences. They’re excellent questions because when a school flicks the switch and starts to jettison a whole-language or balanced literacy way of teaching, there are highly noticeable changes. So as well as teaching the kids, schools are needing to also teach parents about what’s happening. Some of these questions are very awkward to answer because the ugly truth is that there are students at the end of primary school who have missed out on this higher quality instruction. It’s not fair, but it’s inevitable. This fact breaks the heart of educators and we all look back, with much sadness when we think about what we did before, and the students we could have done better for. If any of us could turn back the clock, of course, we would have taught this way all along.
Is this teaching just another trendy educational innovation that will soon pass? No! Phonics teaching dominated the landscape before whole language and its offspring, balanced literacy became the norm in schools. These ideologies were based on some understandable misconceptions. The popular thinking went like this:
Because (most) kids learn to speak by being immersed in their mother tongue (naturally – with no repetitive explicit teaching needed), then reading instruction should also involve a similar immersion in the printed word, and learning to read must also be a natural process.
This turned out to be a logical fallacy that gave us three decades of way too many struggling readers.
So what came next?
The U.S. published an inquiry into this situation in 2000, the U.K. did their own and then Australia also inquired into this in 2005. All three inquiries looked closely at current reading research. Some of this research was from brain imaging studies that were discovering that there are indeed, brain circuits (hardware) ready to go to learn spoken language. However, no such hardware had evolved in the brain that’s ready to learn to read and write. There was nothing innate or natural about learning to read. The skills of reading and writing have to be carefully and meticulously welded on, through highly explicit teaching, to neural circuits that are designed for other tasks. So, these inquiries from the U.S., U.K. and Australia found the same thing: the teaching of reading needs to be highly structured, highly explicit, sequential and heavily based in phonics to get the best results for the maximum number of students.
Following the release of the Australian inquiry’s findings (2005), not one recommendation was implemented. Blows your mind but also gives you an idea of how deeply embedded whole language approaches were in the DNA of reading instruction and how anti-science the educational policymakers and teacher training institutions really were. There was also significant pushback from big corporations who had built very lucrative businesses based on selling whole language-based programs to schools. So, the vast majority of Australian schools continued on their merry way, doing the same thing. This wasn’t malicious, it was just a failing of quality research to make its way into policy and classrooms and not at all uncommon in education. It was kind of like what’s happening with climate science!
Fast forward almost twenty years and only now are we seeing a groundswell of schools acting on the research in Australia. Listen to our previous podcast with Dr Sandra Marshall and you’ll hear about what’s caused this tectonic shift.
We hope you enjoy(ed) this Dyscastia podcast and that it puts what is happening in schools into a helpful context.
Links from Episode
What are Michael and Bill talking about when they refer to ‘The Scouts’?
Early in the podcast, Bill refers to the classic book “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the main character Scout, who explains in the story how reading just seemed to come to her, without any effort, simply by just sitting on her father’s lap as he read. Scout becomes a metaphor for the 5-10% of students who will learn to read, without explicit, structured, phonics-based instruction.
“I never deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers. In the long hours of church–was it then I learned? I could not remember not being able to read hymns. Now that I was compelled to think about it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of shoelaces. I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger separated into words. But I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory, listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of Lorenzo Dow – anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his lap every night.”
(To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee, Chapter 2) https://youtu.be/sUdMm9oZ57U?t=2425
Nancy Young’s Ladder of Reading
An elegant model that illustrates the proportions of learners who need particular types of reading instruction. Bill and Michael talk in this Dyscastia podcast about the proportion of students who require a highly structured, phonics-based, intensive form of teaching.
https://www.nancyyoung.ca/ladder-of-reading-and-writing
Book: Language at The Speed of Sight – Mark Seidenberg
Bill mentioned this book in explaining how education has developed a reputation for being ideologically driven and not well informed by research. Mark Seidenberg is a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
https://seidenbergreading.net/
Video: What’s Wrong with Predictable or Repetitive Texts – Alison Clarke
This is a stunning explainer on the importance of decodable reading material for early readers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyzP3j7jbk&ab_channel=spelfabet
The Three Cueing Systems (aka multi-cueing or searchlight model)
A discredited word attack strategy (never actually was credited) but still widely taught, that encourages readers to attack unfamiliar words using:
semantic cues (can I guess the word from the meaning of the words around it?)
syntactic cues (can I guess the word from its place in the sentence?) and
grapho-phonic cues (can I work out sounds from some of the phonemes I already know?)
This is all good until you strike a word you’ve never seen (outside your sight word bank) or heard (outside your vocabulary) before. Old-school levelled readers are based on the 3-cueing strategy, therefore are a big reason Australian schools pump out a horrifying number of students who can’t read.
David Share’s Self Teaching Hypothesis
Mentioned by Bill when talking about the cohort of kids who get to point of reading development where the act of reading becomes ‘self-teaching’. The Five from Five website explains this very nicely:
https://fivefromfive.com.au/the-self-teaching-hypothesis/
Schools that teach Reading and Spelling in a Research-Informed way: Picking a Winner
A recent blog written by Bill about schools who’ve adopted reading research into what they teach how they teach, the common elements to their teaching approaches and the rationale for this.
https://www.hansberryec.com.au/blog
The whole-word based Dick and Jane series was used in Australian primary schools in the 70s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane

Dyslexia advocacy, with Dr Sandra Marshall

In this episode, we talk to Dr Sandra Marshall, BMBS FRACGP Dip Child Health, a General Practitioner in South Australia and Chairperson of Code Read Dyslexia Network. Sandra shares her insights for parents and teachers on advocating for kids living with learning difficulties.
Show notes
Dr Sandra Marshall realized that there was a problem with how reading is taught in Australia when her own sons started to struggle in primary school. After trying to get help for her sons, Sandra found perhaps her most important calling and knew that the journey ahead wouldn’t only mean advocating for her own boys but for kids and their parents all over Australia who were on the same journey. Sandra, a GP by day, donned her superhero cape, and by night became (at least in our opinion) the most influential figure in dyslexia and evidence-based teaching of reading advocacy in Australia.
With unerring humility, patience and grit, Sandra and her muse and mentor, ex-principal Ophie Renner, rallied the troops – parents, teachers, principals, specialists in the area of reading (and the odd politician along the way) and set out on a remarkable journey.
Fast forward a decade and a bit, and there has been a tectonic shift in how we teach reading in Australia. The earth shook when South Australia implemented the Phonics Screening Check (PSC), despite opposition from all of the expected places, but also from some surprising corners! The good doctor and her band of merry followers were instrumental in this, and now, South Australia is considered worldwide to be a leading light in the adoption of evidence-based teaching of literacy.
In this interview, Michael and Bill talk with Sandra about the road behind, the long road ahead and importantly, how Sandra has been so incredibly successful at getting people on board and keeping them on board. Sandra has the special sauce in working with people to make change and has much to teach us all about how we can successfully advocate for our own children and also other vulnerable kids living with the Ds.
Links from Episode
Code Read
Sandra is the Chair of Code Read – see the links below
Code Read is reliant on continued fundraising to operate. Please register for the 2022 Equal Right to Read Virtual Run to support Sandra and others to continue advocating.
https://codereadnetwork.org/get-involved/equal-write-to-read-virtual-run-back-in-march-2022/
So many parents don’t know where to go, and as Sandra says, there’s plenty of snake oil out there. This webpage gives guidance on where to go to get help:
https://codereadnetwork.org/help-is-here/where-to-go/
or for incredible resources, go to:
https://codereadnetwork.org/help-is-here/resources/
If you are in SA, you can also go to www.fullartonhouse.com.au, or if you are looking for a specialist tutor/teacher, you can find one at https://dyslexicstrengths.com.au/south-australian-literacy-specialists-tutor-register/
David Pescud’s ABC’ Conversations’ Interview
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-david-pescud-rpt/8345200
David’s was the impetus behind the formation of Code Read and financially backed the formation of this national body (as long as Sandra agreed to be the Chairperson!) David is interviewed by the amazing Richard Fielder on ABC’s ‘Conversations.’
 
South Australian Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour:
Salisbury Primary School
Sandra discusses the need for teachers to be able to go into other schools doing great things in the teaching literacy space. We do something like this, and we’re pretty good at it! Email Bill bill@hansberryec.com.au to express interest in this professional learning opportunity.
A shout to everyone involved over the journey – all DAGBAGS, Dyslexia SA, Code Read
DAGBAGS/Dyslexia SA members/admins/and helpers along the way:
Adrian BorgAlex WardAlexander EdmondsonAllison QuinlanAllyson DutshkeAmy BunderAndrew McPhailAndrew McPhailAngela WeeksAnna BamptonAnne BamptonAnnette BrockBelinda PringleBill HansberryChantal DenierCherie CollingsChristopher PyneClaire MorrisonColleen StevensDavid PittDavid PescudDeb FaireyDenis DonovanDenise SawyerDonna WillettDr Judy GouldDr Bartek RajkowskiDr Marie GouldEleanor GardnerEliza BamptonEstelle ChappleFelicity ClarkeGail DarbyJackie French
James MagnosonJames PeterkinJan DoneJane RajkowskiJanice James- ValentineJanice McPhailJanice RitchieJeni FerrisJo BakkerJohn Gardner MPJohn IdeJohn SkellyKaren HodsonKaren McKenzieKatherine BruggemanKathryn KriegKay BosworthKerrie DellarKerry WilliamsKylie BudarickKylie FotheringhamKylie HalfordKym ReynoldsLana GrundyLance HatcherLauren PooleLeanne JamesLyn MartinMark Le MessurierMel WhitingMelinda FirthMelissah ErnestiNatalie NolanNeil McKay
Nick Champion MPNicola RathmanOphie RennerPatricia DentPaul BennettPaula MontroyPhil ParkerRachel ShephardRobert KloseRobert SmedleyRoslyn ConboySandra TidswellSandra TidswellSandy MamerowSandy RussoSarah AntoneySarah WormaldScott BryantSharon HolmesStacey BradtkeStephanie MallenSue de BiasiSue TeusnerSusan Close MPSuzy BarlowTom FotheringhamTony Piccolo MPTracey BradleyTracy McInerneyTracy WilsonTricia GardnerTrudie SymondsVanessa O’BrienViv Wright

What is dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia literally means disorder in calculation. It's real and it impacts about 5-7% of the population. It is also one of the Specific Learning Difficulties (SLDs) so we need to talk about it.
It’s so common to hear people say “I’ve just never had a head for numbers” or “I’m terrible at maths” that we don’t flinch when we hear it. But, what would you think if you heard someone say “I’ve never had a head for letters and speech sounds” or “I’m dreadful at reading”? When you think about it, you realise that it’s far more common (and socially acceptable) for people to talk about openly maths difficulties than any other learning issues, so, it’s no wonder that dyscalculia is far less talked about than dyslexia or dysgraphia and remains hidden.