Thursday 17 December 2009

Articles ~ The Rose Review: What it means for Parents?

Teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties

June 2009

a summary by

Dr Valerie Muter &

Dr Helen Likierman

www.psykidz.co.uk

What is the rose report?

    • A fantastic new Government report by Sir Jim Rose has outlined the future for children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties.
    • It covers the need for early identification, assessing and monitoring children with literacy difficulties, how they should be taught and how parents should be involved with school.
    • Ed Balls, the Minister for Education, has accepted its findings and recommendations.
    • The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust has been set up to put the recommendations into practise and millions of pounds have been promised for teacher training.

Parents and schools
working together

    • Teachers will involve parents more in plans to help their child.
    • Teachers will listen to parents’ concerns and work with them.
    • Parents will be kept informed of plans and progress on an ongoing basis.
    • Parents will be helped to understand the process of assistance the school provides to children with literacy difficulties.
    • Provision will be given in three teaching waves.



Understanding the waves of provision

    • Wave 1 Teaching is ‘quality’ classroom teaching which all children get; this includes phonics.
    • Wave 2 Teaching (was School Action) is for children where Wave 1 is not enough; this includes small group (and some one-to-one) teaching by school staff and SENCo using short-term pre-set programmes.
    • Wave 3 Teaching (was School Action +) is for children who continue to have difficulties after following several Wave 2 programmes; the child is given individually tailored one-to-one programmes given by specially trained staff.

What will be in a
literacy teaching Programme

    • Phoneme awareness training – to help children learn to analyse and process the sounds in spoken words.
    • Phonic decoding training – learning to ‘sound out’ individual printed letters.
    • Multisensory learning – learning to ‘look at’, ‘say’ and ‘write out’ words.
    • Learning in small, gradual steps.
    • ‘Overlearning’ by repetition, rehearsing and revisiting what has already been learned.

Identifying problems early

    • Children at risk of literacy problems should be identified in Reception from a slow response to pre- and early-literacy activities.
    • Teachers will be expected to pick up literacy problems by the end of Year 1.
    • Slow progress means that the child will be moved to Wave 2 provision.

Building good self-esteem

    • Rose recognises the importance of good self-esteem for motivation to learn, preventing behaviour problems and for general happiness.
    • Schools and parents to help by:
      • Giving positive reinforcement (praise and rewards).
      • Offering different curriculum if needed.
      • Using alternative materials and presentation (e.g. audiotapes and handouts).
      • Offering peer support (‘buddies’ and mentors).
      • Allowing alternative recording methods instead of writing (laptops, scribes and dictating machines).
      • Helping the child to develop good coping strategies.

Practical implications for Parents
our suggestions (1)

    • Look out for early signs (delayed speech, family history of literacy difficulties, slow to learn letters).
    • Help develop good spoken language (do lots of word games, talking about pictures and surroundings, daily reading to your child).
    • Help develop phonological awareness through lots of sound games (like ‘I Spy’, rhyming).
    • Help develop listening comprehension (by telling back stories, discussing and and answering questions about what’s been read).
    • Encourage your child (at every age) to read daily.

Practical implications for Parents
our suggestions (2)

    • Look out for other learning problems that often occur alongside literacy problems (attention difficulties, poor motor co-ordination, maths problems).
    • Build in ‘action plans’ at home to improve motivation and to develop good homework, study & organisation skills.
    • Don’t just focus on the problems – develop your children’s strengths and interests so they feel they are doing well.
    • Take action – and so reduce your own stress and anxiety levels.

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