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Annual Conference & AGM
Annual Conference Saturday, 24th March 2012, at Imperial College, London.
2012 AGM and Annual ConferenceProgramme
Booking Form
Keynote Address
ADHD and Dyslexia: A curious couple
by Fin O'Regan
Overlap between ADHD and Dyslexia is often the norm rather than the exception.
As a result many children and young people will require specific systems and strategies to meet a range of learning, behaviour and socialisation needs.
This presentation will examine this relationship and also explore and explain how to successfully engage and motivate disaffected learners and consider issues of how best to develop proactive home school relationships.
Areas covered in this session include:
Fin O 'Regan MA, PGCE BSc
Fin O 'Regan is one of the leading behaviour and learning experts in the UK and Europe.
He was the Headteacher of the Centre Academy from 1996-2002, the first specialist school in the UK specialising in issues related to ADHD, ASD and ODD for students between the ages of 7-19.
He is the SEN and behaviour consultant for the Schools Network, an associate lecturer for Leicester University, the National Association of Special Needs, the Institute of Education, the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre and chairperson of the European ADHD network.
Seminars
Delegates will be able to choose to attend up to 2 of the following 6 seminars
Please use the booking form to indicate your preferences.
1. Reading Comprehension, Dyslexia and Writing Skills
Judy Capener
Age Range: Secondary, FE and HE
This session is designed to meet the needs of teachers working in secondary, continuing and higher education. Based on the Simple Model of Reading, it will report on recent research into specific reading comprehension impairment (RCI) and how this group of readers is distinct from the dyslexic reader with poor comprehension skills (RD). It will focus particularly on the 'Discourse- level processing ' of comprehension which comprises integrating information, inference making, monitoring accuracy, and using the story structure. It will look at how the underpinning cognitive difficulties of the dyslexic reader may impact on comprehension at this level. It will then explore the idea that dyslexic learners demonstrate more evident difficulties with 'discourse-level processing ' when producing written work and the implication of this for your support. It will offer practical strategies to enhance reading comprehension skills in the context of 'authorship ', including using the Excel Writing Frames differently and extending the 'educated guess ' technique for unknown vocabulary with the morphological approach to decoding.
Judy Capener has worked in the field of dyslexia since the 1970s, originally training under Dr Harry Chasty and Kathleen Hickey. She has been programme leader for post-graduate courses, including one for tutors working in further and higher education. She is an experienced teacher and teacher trainer and a long standing member of the BDA Accreditation Board. She is also a member of the Patoss Board of Directors.
She has delivered postgraduate training in SpLD/ Dyslexia for a number of LAs. Judy was keynote speaker for many years on SpLD training courses for Swansea teachers and teaching assistants together with CPD training for other authorities in South Wales. Overseas training has included Egypt, Geneva and Boston USA. She currently delivers CPD training sessions for Patoss.Judy regards herself foremost as an assessor and teacher of learners with dyslexia of all ages and stages, continually updating her knowledge and expertise. She is in the process of researching and developing an 'heretical ' structured programme which deals with the morphological levels of spelling!
2. The Assessing Dyslexia Online Toolkit for Teachers Assessing and planning for learners with dyslexia in Scottish schools
Dr Margaret Crombie
Age Range: all school age children - from nursery to leaving school.
In January 2009, the Scottish Parliament agreed on a working definition of dyslexia. The aim of this working definition was to provide a description of the range of indicators and characteristics of dyslexia as helpful guidance for educational practitioners, pupils, parents and others. Working to this definition, the Assessing Dyslexia Online Toolkit was launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Edinburgh in June 2010 and is now available to every school in Scotland. In this talk, Margaret Crombie who chaired the Working Group that developed the 'toolkit' will outline the background to the development of the resource, what is contained within it, and discuss its relevance in Scotland and beyond.
Dr Margaret Crombie currently works as an independent educational consultant. She is an associate lecturer with the Open University on the post-graduate Difficulties in Literacy Development module and chairs the Open University AMBDA panel that approves the practical element of specialist teachers' practice in assessment and teaching. Margaret has written extensively on literacy matters, having authored two books and contributed to very many more books and articles. A former specialist teacher in Central Scotland and previously Support for Learning Manager for the Highland region of Scotland, she now chairs the working group that has produced the online Assessing Dyslexia Toolkit.
3. Can we distinguish between difficulties accompanying SpLD/dyslexia and those experienced by learners who have 'English as an Additional Language?
Lynda Hansen
Age Range: Primary level children between the ages of 7 -11 years.
Insights from the Big Lottery Funded Research Project Dyslexia and Multilingualism Identification and Intervention Bath Spa University Research Team and British Dyslexia Association.
This workshop will explore issues related to the identification of Dyslexia/Dyslexic tendencies in children educated in English, when this is an additional language. Discussion of teacher-administered initial screening measures and online screening tools will relate to the selection criteria used in the Dyslexia and Multilingualism project to inform further identification/investigation.
Full literacy assessments with children deemed at risk of Dyslexia will be analysed, leading to discussion on issues of over and under identification of Dyslexia in Bilingual children. Evaluation of testing materials and interpretation of assessment data as used in the Dyslexia and Multilingualism research project will be an important focus in this seminar.
Lynda Hansen holds CCET, AMBDA and Diploma in Professional Learning SpLD/Dyslexia.
Lynda has worked in Special Education for 30 years as a qualified assessor and Specialist Literacy Teacher at primary and secondary level.
She is now a freelance Specialist Teacher, trainer and assessor and is currently a member of the Bath Spa University Research Team working on the 'Dyslexia and Multilingualism Research Project.'
4. Statistics for the Terrified: a review for specialist teacher assessors
Anwen Jones
Age Range: All.
While entirely recognising the necessity and value of qualitative analysis, this SASC approved training session will review the fundamental statistical knowledge needed in diagnostic assessment work. Based in the practical context of interpreting data from assessment tests most commonly in use by specialist teachers, the session is for those who would like a refresher in psychometrics - no mathematical experts allowed! Thoughtful, professional application of the concepts discussed here will ensure diagnostic assessment reports meet current best practice guidelines
The session will address questions such as:
By the end of the session, you can be 95% confident that you will no longer be terrified of statistics!
Anwen Jones is the Patoss Programme Director. She regularly leads CPD events and is the editor of the 4th edition of "Dyslexia: Assessing the need for access arrangements during examinations". She also continues to work as a specialist SpLD teacher and assessor in further and higher education and is pursuing research interests in dyscalculia. Previously she has been an additional learning support co-ordinator in FE, a specialist teacher with responsibilities for access arrangements, and course leader for SpLD specialist teaching and assessment qualifications.
5. SLCN (Speech, Language and Communication Needs) and Dyslexia: Is there an overlap and what can we do to support these children in school?
Ann Lonbay & Liz Spooner
Age Range: Primary and Secondary
The Bercow Report (2008) raised awareness of the high numbers of children and young people in the UK with Speech, Language & Communication Needs (SLCN) and the impact of these needs on a child's educational, emotional and social development.Recent studies suggest that up to and over 50% of children in some parts of the UK are entering school with delayed language skills.
This workshop will look at the impact of SLCN on learning, explore tools to identify SLCN and consider ways to create an effective and inclusive learning environment. The session will also focus on the overlap between Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia as well as practical strategies to support these children in school.
Ann and Liz will also introduce the Worcestershire SLCN Pathway and demonstrate how it can be used as a practical tool to improve provision for children with SLCN. The SLCN Pathway is an on-line resource developed jointly between Health and Education.
Ann Lonbay is a specialist teacher with the Worcestershire Learning Support Team. She has been working in mainstream schools for over 20 years, supporting pupils with a range of learning needs, including SpLD. She has a management role within the Learning Support Team which includes responsibility for leading on Language and Communication initiatives, including project managing the development of the Worcestershire Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) Pathway.
Liz Spooner is a specialist speech and language therapist for specific language impairment and has worked in Worcestershire schools for over 20 years. She has published research on language disorder and is the co-author of 'Teaching Children to Listen' published in 2010. She is a visiting lecturer at the School Education Birmingham University.
For the past two years Ann and Liz have been members of the joint education and therapy Pathfinder project team in Worcestershire to identify best practice in the diagnosis of children with specific language impairment.
6. Ten things I wish my dyslexia tutors had told me: Using simple, free ICT tools effectively.
Alistair McNaught
Age Range: Post 16 (FE, HE and Adult community learning) but many of the principles apply to secondary also.
Work by JISC TechDis has shown that a lack of technology awareness by learner support staff can result in learners becoming more dependent on human intervention rather than being given the tools for increased independence and enhanced productivity. The skills and experience of the dyslexia specialist are often used to mitigate the impact of poor teaching and learning rather than challenging them and demonstrate better alternatives.
This session draws on resources from JISC TechDis and partners in order to examine the things you really ought to know in order to pass on to learners. All these tools and technologies are free and include simple tools for better reading, easier planning and more accurate writing; getting more from libraries; developing alternative format strategies and self advocacy with teaching staff. The session will also point delegates to free high quality synthetic speech voices and student-friendly guidance for honing their own skills.
Alistair McNaught worked as a mainstream teacher for over 20 years before his interest in using technology to support learning took him outside the classroom. He now works for JISC TechDis advising on the use of technology to support inclusive teaching and learning. In this role he has been involved in creating staff development resources including the JISC TechDis Staff Training Packs; the Accessibility Essentials resources; the Upwardly Mobile (mobile learning) resource and the support pack for the new ITQ in accessible IT practice. He has worked widely with libraries and publishers on alternative formats and has been involved in several BIS projects on accessible text and voice synthesis. He is fundamentally a teacher, not a technologist so his approach is very pragmatic and based on the premise that good technology is simple to use.
CANCELLATION POLICY - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
Notification of all cancellations must be received in writing.
Cancellations 4 weeks or more prior to the event - full refund less £25 administration fee.
Cancellations between 4 and 2 weeks prior to the event - if the place is re-sold, full refund less £25 administration fee; if the place cannot be re-sold 50% refund.
Cancellations less than 2 weeks prior to the event - refund will only be given in exceptional circumstances. A £25 administration fee will be charged.
In the case of cancellation of the event Patoss bears no responsibility for any loss incurred by delegates for transport or accommodation relating to the event. The information contained in this leaflet is correct at the time of printing, however, Patoss reserves the right to make changes to the programme without prior notice.
The 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,2010 and 2011 Conference details are still posted for information about the programmes we offer. Sets of handouts are available from the Patoss Office at a cost of £7.50 for each Conference.
2011 Annual Conference & AGM
2010 Annual Conference & AGM
2009 Annual Conference and AGM
2008 Conference and AGM
2007 Conference and AGM
2006 Conference and AGM
