Hear from our community

“To be able to support colleagues and children in my school. Use different strategies for experiences. Be able to understand work life balance.

“Training has helped me focus on the main reasons for dyslexia and our choice and effectiveness of interventions. The use of mnemonics (for 2 Y6 pupils) in a regular 3x week intervention (1:1 ) have shown some improvements on their spelling results when recently assessed. They are not at age expected but have retained some spellings, one child is better at spotting an incorrect spelling and has learned the blends needed, but still struggles to retain the word in its entirety. Both these children have co-morbidity- ADHD diagnosed, one on medication, but without doubt their focus is frequently affected. I am constantly having to stress the frequency that the interventions need to be delivered i.e. at least 3x week in order for them to be successful; and include some independent time on the other 2 days for the children to practise e.g. over learn by playing a sound game; use Nessy or similar software, teachers like the speed of precision teaching (having assessed tricky word knowledge/first 100 HFW/statutory year group spelling lists or words commonly spelled wrong in their daily writing) and several children can be managed effectively over a week when teachers organise their adult support well. We are including this in Y1 to focus on the lowest spellers, we will be able to check in on their progress after phonic screening and evaluate who may need further assessment to check whether dyslexia is a likely concern.

“I have improved in confidence with creating SMART targets following assessment and suggesting specific strategies of intervention to support children to meet their SMART targets.

“This training has provided me with a much greater insight into how to help children with visual impairment. I have learnt a great deal about the science behind different visual impairments and have developed a great number of strategies for helping VI children, which I will continue to implement. I found the second face-to-face (Teams) session very useful for how to set appropriate, and achievable, SMART goals.