The SDA workshop team has now restarted

face-to-face lessons at Belle Vue Methodist Church hall.

All Covid 19 regulations required will be adhered to.

More news will follow shortly about two new workshop developments...

This year the SDA received some funding from The BDA . This is how it is being used:

Background:

One of the SDA’s most valuable services has been the ‘Workshops’ that have run for many years where students have received literacy support. Lessons have always been structured, multi-sensory 1-1 lessons; often the only specific support that students had. I.T. has not played a large part in these lessons although a couple of tutors used online games for reinforcement and there were typing/keyboard skills lessons that ran independently from support teaching.

This all came to an end last March with the first lockdown.

The BDA’s project funding programme arrived just as we were considering how to implement remote teaching. Although some tutors were confident IT users, others were not. It was not known what access students had to computers at home, neither did we know how much teaching schools were providing, so there was research to do.

We wanted to equip tutors with the skills to use IT, whether in face-to-face lessons or remotely. We also wanted to be able to lend basic IT equipment to any students who needed it. Although our initial plan was to buy two Chrome books, tutors were worried about coping with a ‘different’ operating system, and advice as well as price led us to buy Samsung Galaxy tablets instead. We bought four; one funded by a donation from a friend of the SDA, Phil Henshaw.

Tutors had a little time to get to grips with them when face-to-face lessons resumed in October (behind perspex screens etc.) but with infections mounting, it became clear that remote teaching would be vital.

Currently:

One tutor, Lottie Kaye, above, who taught in a local school had been teaching remotely, and she led training for others via Zoom meetings. Having the tablets has been invaluable for this and for discovering some of the wonderful programs available. The SDA has been able to lend at least one tablet to allow a student to access support. The SDA is now able to offer remote teaching and tutors are increasingly confident in providing it. Friends and colleagues who have been working this way for longer have provided training and we should thank Eli Baker from Positive Leap and Amita Kenyon from Surrey - the wonders of technology - as well as those SDA members whose determination has enabled us to overcome obstacles. 

To come:

We are about to buy into TTRS - to use within our remote lessons, rather than separately - but we are flexible and our students will be able to use it independently in between lessons.

Ros McCarthy SDA.

Workshop dates 2020/21

Risk Assessment Document Sept 2020

Tuition is on a one-to-one basis where pupils work on individually designed programmes, tailored to their difficulties and taught to their strengths.

These are conducted in a friendly and encouraging manner and are made as interesting as possible. 

Progress is carefully monitored and re-assessment of reading and spelling ages is undertaken when it is thought to be necessary.

Some tutors are also qualified to assess pupils.  Full diagnostic assessments or a screening assessments are available on request.

SESSIONS ARE LIKELY TO INCLUDE:

• 60 minute individual attention from a Specialist Teacher with post graduate qualifications in assessing and teaching dyslexics.
• Spelling based on a structured phonic approach or other techniques, such as visual memory, if these are more appropriate.
• The improvement of reading fluency through a carefully graded choice of material and attention to the child's own interests.
• Practice in handwriting using a style consistent with school policy.
• Phonological training where problems with processing spoken sounds are improved, to aid progress in reading and spelling.
• Free-writing and comprehension development to improve vocabulary, sentences and paragraph writing, reading for meaning, organisation of ideas and other study skills.
• Learning through educational games.
• The maintenance of a friendly confident atmosphere in which pupils can build on success and where mistakes and failures are not criticised.
• Touch typing and Times tables learning sessions under the supervision of a classroom assistant, are also available before or after the main lesson.  Each half hourly session costs £5.00 to members and £6 for Non-members, to be paid a half-term in advance.

If you are interested in arranging tuition for your child please contact: 

Anne Townsend  01939-233141    

To give individual help specially designed to each child's difficulties.

These may include:

• Inaccurate and bizarre spelling
• Inaccurate and laboured reading
• Poor handwriting
• Lack of concentration
• Lack of confidence
• Sequencing problems
• Inabilitiy to copy correctly
• Difficulty with sentence construction
• Poor punctuation
• Poor vocabulary/word attack
• Left/right confusion
• Study skills/essay wriring for older pupils.
• Poor self-esteem

What our students say about the workshop:

'I'm really good at my times tables and I can read about anything'

'I used to be shy but I'm more confident now'.

'With one-on-one (teaching) it doesn't feel like school.'

'I don't feel out of place.'

Parents and children can make a free initial visit to the workshop where they can meet the tutor, give their details and decide whether they want to go ahead with tuition.

To attend the workshop parents are required to be members of the Shropshire Dyslexia Association. The subscription for families is currently* £20.00 per year. 

Workshop fees* are £25 per one-to-one session (£24 for siblings), paid half termly in advance.  Cheques payable to :

'Shropshire Dyslexia Association' or 'SDA"

Financial assistance may be available from the association or local trusts.

Please note that no refunds are available should a child miss a lesson because of illness etc. If a child is unable to attend, please contact your tutor.

Half a term's notice is required if a child is withdrawn from the workshop.

* As at of July 2017