Does Tracing shapes help writing skills?

The writers at the American Dyslexia Association (ADA) believe so.

According to ADA;

 "Tracing is a very good exercise for dyslexic and dyscalculic children. Tracing trains attention, fine motor skills and visual and spatial perception."

To encourage you to try this they offer you a number of shapes to try.

"Today’s freebie offers a mini-book with different abstract forms to trace and to draw. First, children have to trace the form, then they have to draw the form into the box."

You can download the mini-book here.

This is an example of one of the shapes from the mini-book that you will be tracing. 

Let us know what you think about this idea. Do you believe it's an aid to help with writing?

UK Investment to Reverse falling literacy and maths rates

Secondary state schools in England will today (Thursday) receive £500 per pupil to help every year 7 pupil who did not reach the expected level in literacy and maths when they finished primary school.

The ‘catch-up premium’ will provide intensive tuition for almost 110,000 pupils who have failed to reach the expected level of literacy and maths skills by the time they move to secondary school.

Figures from the Department for Education show that only five per cent of pupils who did not manage to get Level 4 in both English and maths at Key Stage 2 went on to achieve five GCSEs at A* to C, including English and maths.

In order to help these children catch up and strive for better GCSEs, they will receive additional help through either individual tuition or intensive support in small groups.

The extra support is designed to help bring pupils up to speed so they are more likely to succeed at secondary school, rather than falling further behind. By catching up with their classmates, pupils’ motivation will also be boosted, in turn preventing disruptive behaviour that impedes learning for others.

The catch-up premium funding for this academic year (2012/13) will be £54.5 million, and schools will hear today how much they are set to receive.

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (not known for keeping his promises where Education is involved) said:

The consequences for a pupil being left behind in the basics when they start secondary school can last for the rest of their education.

The catch-up premium money being handed out to schools today will help pupils catch up with their peers as quickly as possible. Every child should have the chance to succeed and get off on the right foot when they start their new school.

UK Schools Minister David Laws (also unreliable on the education front and not known to be able to keep promises) said:

It is vital that every child has a strong grasp of maths and a good reading ability when starting their secondary education. No pupil should be left behind.

Our Year 7 catch-up premium for literacy and maths - £500 for every pupil needing extra help - will ensure that support is best targeted to those who most need it.

Despite a tough economic climate, this Coalition Government is making sure all children get the help they need to succeed.

The catch-up premium will support every Year 7 pupil who has not achieved at least Level 4 – the expected level – at Key Stage 2 in either or both literacy or maths.

In 2012, 13 per cent of pupils in all schools failed to gain a Level 4 in reading and 16 per cent failed to achieve this in maths (109,000 in total).

Schools will have freedom to decide how best to use the catch-up premium, but examples could include:

• Small-group tuition supported by new classroom materials and resources, which could take place at lunchtimes or after school. 
• Holiday support to deliver intensive catch-up over a short period. 
• Additional services and materials to add to those provided by the school, such as tutor services or proven computer-based learning or online support.

Notes to be aware of

Payments to local authorities will be made today (Thursday 31 January). Payments to academies and Free Schools will be made on 1 February.

Funding for the catch-up premium is a maximum of £500 per pupil. Almost half of the pupils who are matched with funding are also eligible for the Pupil Premium, which is focused on disadvantaged pupils.

Schools are free to determine how best to use the funding, but Ofsted inspectors will consider how schools are using the premium when inspecting schools. They will also monitor how effectively schools report to parents on whether or not students are meeting national expectations.

Dyslexia: Dealing with Disorientation

"When a dyslexic is disoriented, they process information incorrectly. When they act on faulty information, they get the wrong answers to problems. This causes extreme confusion and frustration for dyslexics. When I went through the dyslexia program I was finally given the tools I needed to orient myself so I could process information correctly and it changed my life."

Dyslexia: 'My three sons and their music'

Three brothers with dyslexia have overcome their struggles with reading music to be chosen to play in the National Schools Symphony Orchestra.

"I shudder to think what it would have been like without music," says Sasha Baldwin, mother to three teenage sons who are all dyslexic.

Luke, 17, plays the violin and guitar. Patrick, 15, plays the piano, organ and trumpet while Robert, 14, is a gifted French horn player. They all sing too.

Yet at primary school they struggled from early on as dyslexia manifested itself in different ways in each of them.

"Luke had difficulties learning how to read, Patrick had problems with short-term memory and couldn't remember instructions from school or telephone numbers and Robert had real problems with personal organisation and retaining information, as well as reading," Sasha says.

The North Yorkshire school they attended recognised their learning difficulties and enlisted the help of educational psychologists to support them.

But Sasha, who now lives in Perthshire, realised that music could provide a valuable outlet for their development and she encouraged the boys to start learning the piano aged five.

Although they were enthusiastic, they all had issues with reading music.

"Robert had to give up the piano after a year as he couldn't read two lines of music simultaneously and became very frustrated," Sasha says.

Read more of Sasha's story here

Dyslexia: Learning to Read Music

Dyslexia can be more than simply a problem with words. Music students often find it difficult to understand musical notation, especially when they are trying to read sheet music and play their instrument a the same time.

Dyslexia can be more than just a problem with letters and words. Many talented music students run into problems when they try to learn to read sheet music.

Just as they experiences problems with words in print, the dyslexic musician may see a baffling array of lines and circles, with note symbols jumping around and the lines of the staff wavering and shifting.

Confusion about letters leads to disorientation and frustration; confusion about musical notation has the same result.

The people of Davis Symbol Mastery, the process of modeling symbols in clay, believe they can provide an effective solution.

Their solution is to form each musical symbol in three dimensions, using clay.

Thus, the participatory and sensory input will help the student develop a full understanding of the meaning of each symbol.

NB: Read more about this at The Dyslexic Reader

How to Motivate Kids to Read: Tips - Andrea Davis Pinkney video

Children's book author Andrea Davis Pinkney, who has children with learning disabilities, shares fantastic tips about how to motivate young people to read. For more information and free resources, please visit NCLD's Dyslexia page.

Dyslexia and education in the 21st century: Jorsen

This paper is an introductory article from the Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs (Jorsen). 

The Full PDF is available here

Abstract This paper both reviews the other papers in this special issue and puts them in the context of the current agenda of research in dyslexia education.

The pluralistic nature of the field is explored with reference to this special issue.

The paper suggests a way forward for the field in terms of a developing research agenda for dyslexia education as we progress further into the 21st century.

Introduction
There are important educational questions to be asked in relation to dyslexia. What does it mean for a student in the 21st century to be classified as dyslexic?

How is dyslexia constructed and understood and how do the different disciplines influence educational provision, and indeed how is this experienced by students?

Researchers generally agree that it is not a straightforward matter of discovering children with intrinsic, diagnosable cognitive impairments, which can be simply remediated.

It is recognised in current writing about special educational needs (SEN) that it is necessary to take account of a range of interacting factors and related values: biological, psychological, social and cultural – to understand and respond appropriately to children identified as having learning difficulties in school (Davis and Florian, 2004a, b; Norwich, 2009).

This paper reviews the other papers in our special issue and sets out an agenda for future research in the field.

The special issue sets out to extend current discussion and thinking about dyslexia and education beyond the current perspective.

The collection contains papers drawing on the themes of identification and assessment, training, emotional well-being, systemic support and development and narrative research (i.e., our papers do respond to the biological, psychological etc.).

Indeed, because dyslexia inspires a debate on a number of levels, and in a range of academic disciplines, much can be gained by the bringing together in one issue of alternative perspectives and paradigms.

Further, by including papers that draw on different traditions of research about dyslexia, we can offer the potential for teasing out new knowledge by exploring the tensions between perspectives.

Mothers should trust their Judgement

Richard Selznick, Ph.D, sends a message to moms to trust their judgment in thinking if children should be evaluated by a professional in the early learning stages.

For a book trailer, demo reel or promotional video from Annie Jennings PR, visit: anniejenningspr.com/book_trailer.htm

Online Child Protection : CEOP UK Video

'The Parents' and Carers' Guide to the Internet', from CEOP, is a light hearted and realistic look at what it takes to be a better online parent. The show covers topics such as, talking to your child about the technologies they use and the things they might see, such as pornography.

With interviews from leading experts such as, Professor Tanya Byron, Dr Linda Papadopoulos and Reg Bailey, as well as key industry players from Facebook, Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters , this online guide aims to equip you with the tools to have those tricky conversations with your children and keep your family safe online.

TV Personality Anthea Turner and Dyslexia

TV personality Anthea Turner, 52, has described how she suffered with dyslexia, which meant she mixed up her left and right during the Dancing on Ice routines, recently broadcast on UK TV.

She said: ‘I think my biggest problem has been, and we’ve spoken about it, I am dyslexic and dyslexics never know their right from their left.

‘And I’ve had terrible trouble and the coaches are going bonkers at me going, “Do you know your right from your left?”.’

As a result she faced criticism from the judges for not spending enough time with her feet on the ice, as she found it easier to learn the lifts.

But while the training may have been a struggle, the former Blue Peter presenter was more than happy with its results.

She said it had given her a ‘skater’s bum’, adding: ‘I need to hold onto that. I haven’t had a bum as good as this ever.’

She said it had not gone unnoticed by her husband, Grant Bovey, 50. They have survived a rocky patch in their marriage, something Miss Turner credits her involvement in Dancing on Ice with.

Miss Turner said: ‘Things are back on track, our field has been given a re-turf. It takes two people, relationships go through difficult times and I don’t know anyone who has a clean run.

‘We lost each other for a while and things went a bit off track but a very good friend of mine, from a very strong Indian family, said, “if there are 20 chains that hold you together and you’ve a problem with one of them, don’t destroy everything, just don’t destroy everything”.’