[senco-forum] Fwd: dyslexia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul and Philippa Bodien <bodien at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] dyslexia - screening/testing/assessment
To: julie cozens <juliecozens at yahoo.co.uk>

Dear Julie,

I am a dyslexia teacher of some 20 years experience and co author, with
Martin Turner, of Dyslexia Guidance.

I now work as Head of Inclusion at a British curriculum school with a roll
of about 1000 primary pupils in Dubai.  One of our aims is to raise literacy
standards in the classroom so that referrals for assessment and specialised
teaching is reduced.

That said, assessment and remediation is a vital part of our work.  Over the
past 10 years we have assessed, within the school, many children.  I use a
testing regime recommended to me by Martin Turner, who wrote the book The
Psychological Assessment of Dyslexia.  Martin also shared the Excel
spreadsheet with me that analyses the data and produces a score based on his
data from assessments at the Dyslexia Institute (now called Dyslexia
Action).  The DI scale runs from A to F and has been extremely useful in
identifying which pupils would likely benefit from a place in our dyslexia
unit.

The teaching that we do there has been highly effective and could not have
been delivered in the classroom.  Children whose self-esteem was very
negatively affected have become pupils who actively enjoy school and
learning and are successful when their literacy is objectively tested.  We
assess and work with children  who are rising 6 and older.

Much can be gained from excellent classroom practice and, for those that do
not learn well in that environment, much can be gained from assessing and
teaching pupils to match their learning needs on a more individualised
basis.  And much is lost, for those that need it, if we don't do so.

Kind regards,

Philippa Bodien

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 12:38 AM, julie cozens <juliecozens at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>
>
> Stuart Lucas <lucass at loretto.com> wrote:
> 1. What do you think is an appropriate age to assess for dyslexia ?
> 2. What tests are used to assess primary pupils for dyslexia and at
> what age? - is it successful?
>
> Here in Devon we (that is the LA EP service, specialist support teachers,
> schools) have  moved away from a focus on 'assessing for dyslexia' - at any
> age. We have acknowledged that spending a lot of time effort and resources
> on identifying a particular group of pupils as dyslexic - and
> differentiating this group from other 'common or garden poor readers' is
> misguided.
>
>  We do use the term dyslexia  in some cases - to recognise  severe and
> persistent literacy difficulties (using the British Psychological Society
> definition of dyslexia), but there is no one test able to identify these
> pupils and since the label itself tells us nothing about the childs
> particular needs - and nothing about how to intervene,  I wonder what would
> be gained from a policy of assessing pupils for dyslexia at 7?
>
>  In Devon we are focusing much more on the good initial teaching of
> literacy, making Devon classrooms generally more dyslexia- friendly, and
> promoting a careful process of assessment through teaching and appropriately
> targeted support for any pupils who require it.
>
>  Julie (EP)
>
>
>
> Loretto School is a Registered Charity, number SCO13978
> Registered Office: 16 Heriot Row, Edinburgh, EH3 6HR, number SCO59500
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