In an earlier blog, I wrote about the Science of Reading, which explains how we learn to read and the proven strategies to help learners. This week, I want to tell you about some very inspiring people who are experts in specific learning difficulties; many of whom have helped us to understand the Science of Reading and have written books regarding dyslexia, which I have found really helpful in my studies.
The first book I would recommend is called ‘Overcoming Dyslexia’ by Dr Sally Shaywitz. This book explains dyslexia, describes how the brain works and demonstrates what skills are needed to be able to read fluently. It is a book which is useful both for the educator and the parent of a dyslexic child. Dr Shaywitz is an American physician-scientist who is the co-founder and co-director of the Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity and her research has been used for the framework for modern understanding of dyslexia through scientific research.
Someone else who I admire is Professor Margaret Snowling. Professor Snowling is a British psychologist and world leading expert in language difficulties including dyslexia and has written many books and research papers. Her book entitled ‘Dyslexia’ was very helpful in my studies as it details the causes of reading and spelling problems and strategies to help overcome some of these difficulties. Professor Snowling is president of St John’s College, Oxford, past President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading and was one of the joint editors of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. She served as a member of Sir Jim Rose’s Expert Advisory Group on provision for Dyslexia in 2009 and she has been an advisor to the Government Departments of Education and of International Development, particularly in relation to the early years and specific learning difficulties. Professor Snowling has also been involved in the implementation of randomised controlled trials assessing reading and language interventions in projects led by her partner Charles Hulme, who is also a British psychologist. I have read many interesting research papers written by Hulme and Snowling, which have demonstrated the effectiveness of reading and language interventions. I have also been lucky enough to attend one of Professor Snowling’s online lectures, which she gave for the 50th Anniversary of the Helen Arkell dyslexia charity and she is able to explain all her research clearly so that everyone can understand. Professor Snowling’s recent research mainly focuses on children’s language acquisition and she emphasises how important it is for a child to have a strong foundation in oral language through enriched language experiences, as this is key to success in literacy. Several years ago, Professor Snowling and Professor Hulme, alongside Dr Claudine Bowyer-Crane, developed an evidence-based oral language intervention programme for nursery and reception age children who were at risk of experiencing difficulty with reading. This programme is called the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and has been widely used in schools to develop children’s oral language in order to strengthen their literacy skills.
Another book I used for my studies (amongst many others as well as research papers!) was ‘Dyslexia, A Practitioner’s Handbook’ by Dr Gavin Read. I found this book clearly explained theoretical and practical research in dyslexia and literacy. Dr. Reid is an international independent educational psychologist with active consultancies in several countries and he has written many books concerning dyslexia. He is co founder and director of the Red Rose school for children with special learning difficulties at St Annes on Sea, Lancashire, chair of the British Dyslexia Association Accreditation Board and an ambassador for the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre in the UK (alongside Professor Margaret Snowling). Dr Read also wrote and developed the first Masters course on dyslexia in the UK in 1993.
Finally, my ‘go to’ book is ‘Teaching Literacy to Learners with Dyslexia’ written by Kathleen Kelly and Sylvia Phillips. I follow this book for many interventions as it contains the programme I used in order to qualify as a specialist for teaching those with dyslexia. Sylvia Phillips leads the MA Education (Additional Learning Needs – Dyslexia) at Glyndwr University and Kathleen Kelly is Programme Leader for the Masters in Specific Learning Difficulties at Manchester Metropolitan University. I use this book, alongside other knowledge I have acquired from my dyslexia training, to teach their ‘Conquering Literacy’ programme as part of an intervention. This book explains how dyslexia research contributed to the development of their structured, sequential, multisensory, synthetic phonics programme ‘Conquering Literacy’ which should be personalised and taught by a trained dyslexia specialist alongside other essential literacy skills including phonological awareness, with an emphasis on acquiring phonemic awareness skills.
If you ever get chance, I also recommend reading one of the research papers on learning to read by Dr Linnea Ehri. Dr Ehri, an American psychologist, has been one of the most influential and cited reading scientists for many years. She has written over 130 research papers on learning to read and the ones I have read have been really interesting, detailing a scientific approach when conducting controlled studies in order to reveal how individuals learn to read.
By using personalised learning, the benefit of scientific research, the knowledge of potential barriers to learning and using strategies to overcome these barriers, I hope that more children will be able to reach their full potential in reading and writing. PJ 🙂
FREE THIS WEEK
Dyslexia Scotland are please to announce a special author free event for 8 – 13 year olds on 1 November online. Steve Cole is a Barrington Stoke published author who will talk about how ideas can inspire stories even if you have a difficult relationship with words. Find out more and book places here: https://bit.ly/3GaYLXX #DAWScot21
Help your child learn to read, write and spell 