Dyscastia

In this episode, we have Liana McCurry back to talk about her Churchill Fellowship findings on what the top PISA performing countries are doing with maths instruction and how we can use that information to improve outcomes for kids living with learning difficulties. Show notes Liana McCurry’s Churchill Fellowship has come just in time. Liana travelled abroad to investigate best practices in teaching mathematics that provide the best outcomes for all students. Australia’s PISA ranking plummeted from 10th internationally in 2003 to 30th in 2018, where it fell below the average for the first time. How we teach mathematics in Australia is the prime suspect for this decline.  Dyscastia Episode 14 was recorded prior to Liana’s departure, where we discussed intervention in Maths.  Early in the conversation, constructivist learning theories are discussed as a big part of the problem in the context of how this approach to learning and teaching exacerbates cycles of social disadvantage. Anyone who taught in the late 80s and 90s in Australia has (tried) to work with curriculum frameworks that are broadly based on constructivist theories.  In discussing the differences between the curricula of the countries Liana visited and Australia’s mathematics curriculum, Ben Jensen’s work was mentioned. The ERRR Podcast #77 is well worth a listen if you want to know more about the shortcomings of Australia’s curriculum.  Greg Ashman gets a mention, as Greg is an outspoken critic of the direction of the Australian maths curriculum. Greg recently gave an excellent interview on the Science of Reading Podcast, where he gives a stunning account of cognitive load theory. Greg also sits on the other side of the mic in his own podcast, where he and Amanda VanDerHeyden talk maths instruction.       Comments and questions are welcome! We would love to hear about your experiences teaching mathematics directly and explicitly as opposed to other methods. We’re also interested in your experiences with bringing review and maths fluency into your instructional approaches. If you’ve taught in any of the countries Liana visited, we’d love to hear your reflections.   

In this episode, we chat about daily review with David Morkunas, current head of teacher efficacy at Brandon Park Primary School, previously a teacher at Bentleigh West Primary School.   David Morkunas is a primary school teacher from Melbourne and currently works at Brandon Park Primary School, where his role is to help support whole school improvement in maths. David first made a name for himself by speaking about the importance of Daily Review at conferences, including Sharing Best Practice and ResearchED. David is a fierce advocate for evidence-based teaching and learning, with a particular interest in how knowledge is transferred to long-term memory.   Bill first met David as a graduate teacher while running the Bentleigh West Primary School Study Tour for South Australian educators, and he and David have remained in touch since.  Show notes In this episode, Michael and Bill talk with David about something very close to all our hearts – review. Anybody working in the explicit (direct) instruction and evidence-informed instruction space has become familiar with the importance of deliberately planned and scheduled review of previously learned material. For educators new to review, it’s a case of “Where have you been all my life?”  Once maligned as non-progressive  ‘rote learning’ or ‘drill and kill’ in teaching circles, review has come back to classrooms with a vengeance, and teachers are seeing the difference in student learning outcomes.  Review is strongly supported by evidence and features in Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.  We cover a wide range of topics and ideas in this episode. David mentions EDI (Explicit Direct Instruction) as an instructional method used at his previous school, Bentleigh West Primary School.  The conversation moves to the role of review for transferring new information into long-term memory. Bill mentions a Research Ed talk by Emeritus Professor John Sweller (the father of Cognitive Load Theory), which discusses the narrow limits of change principle, a master stroke of evolution which made working memory a protective mechanism for long-term memory due to its extremely limited ability to deal with novel information, thus making it very difficult for new information to change long term memory without multiple repetitions.  Shortly after, David mentions Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, a famous model teachers use to explain the importance of spaced reviews to lessen the rate at which newly learned information degrades over time after being first learned (flatten the curve of forgetting).  The importance of gaining and holding student attention first and foremost is discussed, and David mentions an episode of the ERRR podcast where the importance of having students pay attention is discussed and how this supersedes any other instructional/pedagogical considerations. OCHRE Education gets a few mentions from as a source of materials schools can use if they aren’t building their teaching materials in-house. The difference between active review and students just reciting what is on a screen is discussed. David explains that students must actively pull something (retrieving) from long-term memory in active review. This distinction is explored, and David mentions a conversation with Ingrid Sealey from Teach Well that changed some of his thinking on how to structure the review.  Spaced retrieval apps are mentioned as a way for us (grownups) to learn new things. One such app is Anki, which both David and Bill have used.  Next, the question of when to review is tossed around, and David, Michael and Bill search for the holy grail – some rule of thumb or algorithm that tells us when the best time to review information is. Bill talks about how, in the Playberry Laser Literacy Program, he and his colleagues are always thinking about how to achieve the review sweet spot.  Success comes up as the driver of student attention and genuine motivation. David, Michael and Bill discuss how Australia’s infatuation with making learning fun instead of focusing on effective teaching has had disastrous results. David talks about digital tech and books by Cal Newport, one being “Deep Work”, which talks about all of us (adults and kids) needing to cultivate the ability to concentrate for long periods to create good things in the world. David mentions a podcast episode by Greg Ashman on student motivation.  David’s presentation for LDA is well worth a watch  David’s Webinar on Spaced, Interleaved and Retrieval Practice for LDA is worth watching. Playberry Laser has some lessons up online where review can be seen in action, as well as some other excellent teaching at St Francis School Lockley’s South Australia.  Comments and questions are welcome! If you’re an educator, we would love to hear about your experiences with integrating structured daily review into your teaching. If you have a child in a classroom or school where daily review has been implemented, we’d love to hear about your impressions. 

Sue Griffith Sue is a registered teacher with many years of experience in primary teaching. She has specialist Maths training in programs designed to support students experiencing difficulties or delays in Maths skills, including students with dyscalculia and/or dyslexia. QuickSmart Numeracy Intervention Ron Yoshimoto Multisensory Maths program – based on the Orton-Gillingham principles Singapore Maths Sue designs individual courses that are explicit, structured, multisensory and manipulative-based for students who are underachieving in Maths. Programs utilised are all evidence-based interventions. Students learn to think mathematically and develop understanding beyond rote memorisation. Programs focus on fostering a positive attitude towards Maths and the foundational skills, including but not limited to: Place value and the decimal system Basic Mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division Basic number fact knowledge and multiplication tables Fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios Problem solving strategies Application of Number knowledge to concepts of Time, Money and Measurement Sue also offers young people support in Literacy. She has specialist training in ‘Teaching Students with Dyslexia’ and follows the Multi-Sensory Playberry Dyslexia Program which is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach. Sue also has a Graduate Diploma in Education, specialising in Literacy and Language. Sue designs literacy support programs such as ‘The Writing Process’ to suit individual student needs. Sue believes all children can succeed in improving their reading, writing and mathematical skills. Please contact her to discuss how she can best support your child in their learning. Lilly Shanahan Lilly Shanahan is a dedicated Year 12 student at Sacred Heart College in Adelaide, South Australia. As someone who lives with dyslexia and dyscalculia, Lilly has navigated a variety of educational settings and individual learning plans (ILPs) throughout her academic journey. Her varied experiences in different school environments have given her a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by learning with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). Lilly’s personal insights into effective ILP strategies are invaluable. As a guest interviewee in this episode, Lilly shares her firsthand experiences and offers practical advice for kids, parents, and teachers. Her contributions provide a relatable and insightful perspective on how to navigate and optimize ILPs, making her story a source of inspiration and guidance for those facing similar educational challenges. Show notes During the episode, we mention a few things that may not be familiar to every listener. We always try to be as accurate as possible about what we say in all Dyscastia Podcasts. However, things do change, and if we have accidentally omitted information or something we have said is no longer the case, particularly in regards to policies in the individualised education plan space.  Here are some links that might help. Special Provisions in Exams:  Students can apply in all states of Australia for special provisions in tests and exams. Different authorities generally for a documented history of special provisions for timed assessments. IEPs that document special assessment provisions will be an important part of this evidence. South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) Currently, South Australia looks to have the best information page of all the states and territories. This section of the SACE Board website provides information on how students can apply for the types of special provisions discussed during this episode. A quick look took me to these pages for other States and Territories: Victoria: Special provisions Fact Sheet New South Wales: Disability provisions for exams Queensland: Access arrangements and reasonable adjustments (AARA) — formerly known as special provisions Australian Capital Territory: Equitable Assessment and Special Consideration Northern Territory (it seems the NT have adopted SA’s approach) : Special provisions in the SACE Western Australia: Special Provisions Tasmania: Reasonable Adjustments for TASC External Assessments USA We live in Australia, so we are not familiar with US processes, but these links seem like a good place to start: The 13 disability categories under IDEA Understanding IEPs The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Special Provisions Mentioned – What to consider when deciding what to offer a student. Below are some of the topics discussed in the episode. A key takeaway is that any provision or accommodation that might make its way into a student’s plan will have upsides and downsides that need to be balanced. A glaring omission from our conversation was assistive technology. Unfortunately, the conversation just didn’t take us there. Assistive tech is an incredibly important part of the picture for students with difficulties and the possible topic of a future episode. As you read these,  you may notice that these are options that can be made available to all students. Many ideas discussed in this episode make a difference for all students and get teachers thinking about what exactly is being assessed.    Asking what’s helped in the past This is often missed in the mess of creating an individualised plan for students. Even though a student may have never had a formalised plan, they may have had teachers make day-to-day accommodations that have helped. Secondary students are more likely to know what helps them! Primary students may not; however, when schools ask students, “What have teachers done that has helped you learn?”, students do feel more supported.  It is important also to understand that there will be times when adults have noticed that one approach has made a big difference, but the student has not. Students will probably be aware of approaches that have helped them to worry less about schoolwork, but adults may be more aware of what has improved the quality of student work. I guess what we’re saying is students won’t always be right about what has made a difference, and nor will adults. The conversation is what makes the difference.  Be prepared to try different approaches Something that makes a big difference for one student may not be so effective for another. This is a result of how students are differently affected by learning difficulties. As well as this, some approaches will be more effective for different types of work. There’s no shortcut to finding out what makes a difference for a student. We just have to try different things and make sure we are candid with students about how they’ll need to give approaches a decent try before writing it off. Instant success, although wonderful, is rare.  Additional time to complete assignments Being given additional time can be a lifesaver; however, Lilly and Michael made the important point that sometimes additional time can be a curse. If a student has received additional time for an assignment from all teachers, it can just create a due-date bottleneck. Part of having a SLD (and ADHD) can be difficulty managing time and task and we all, in spite of our differences, need to learn approaches that help us meet deadlines. Some students will need explicit coaching on lining up due dates with available time. Typically, parents pick up this task, but it can be exhausting. Anything schools can do to help students pace themselves toward due dates is appreciated by families. Some of the best tips on this comes from a book called Teaching Tough Kids by Mark LeMessurier. It’s a highly recommended resource.  Reduced word count This is perhaps the best-known addition to individualised plans for students who have difficulties with the volume and quality of written output. Reducing the volume of written work can make a big difference. Here’s the difficulty – reduced word count can create its own set of challenges as it requires students to condense what they know into fewer words! It’s important to remember that SLDs like Dyslexia or Dysgraphia make it harder to get what you know onto paper in a coherent way. They don’t limit a student’s depth of understanding about a topic. As well as this, regardless of the word count, students will still have to go through the scut work of sequencing their ideas and deciding on what order to lay them out.  Exemplars of student work A long-standing piece of good practice for all students is showing them past work from other students that shows what exemplary work looks like. Different students use these differently; however, students with SLDs often pay particular attention to the sequencing (layout of paragraphs) and also some of the language choices used in exemplars. Plagiarism must always be taken into consideration; however, borrowing a particular arrangement of language is really how we all learn to write more effectively. If you are not sure where to start with providing samples, this might help the Australian Curriculum work samples resource. Alternative ways students can show learning We discussed a range of other ways students’ knowledge of a topic can be assessed other than through lengthy written assignments. When deciding on accommodations like this, we need to think very hard about what we are assessing. One student famously said about a History teacher, “ “What doesn’t this teacher get? If he keeps insisting that I write heaps, all he’s testing is my learning disability, and I’ll just keep proving that I’ve got a really big one.” If we are assessing how well students can follow the conventions of a particular written form, then absolutely, students need to write to show evidence in writing. If we are assessing students’ understanding of the factors that led to WW1 then for students with SLDs, the writing will become a barrier to them showing what they know and understand.  It pays to

In this episode, we chat with math teaching expert Liana McCurry. We delve into best practices for all students when teaching maths. We hope Liana's insights will help create inclusive learning environments where every child can succeed. For the full show notes, including Liana's R-6 scope, sequence and content breakdown, visit our website. https://dyscastia.com/episodes/episode-14-maths-and-learning-difficulties/

In this episode, we talk with Psychologist Benita Ranzon about one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized conditions that affect kids and adults - ADHD. About Benita I have been working in private practice at Fullarton House since 2005. The focus of my practice is on educational issues for students and adults. I offer diagnosis of specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. I provide learning and support strategies for home, school and work to enable people with reading, spelling, writing or maths difficulties to be successful. I offer diagnosis and advice to parents of children with ADHD, as well as adults with ADHD. I identify students with high intellectual or academic potential, sometimes called ‘gifted’ students, using the WPPSI-IV or WISC-V cognitive tests. I provide recommendations on curriculum differentiation and other supportive strategies at school and home   Show notes While ADHD is not a specific learning difficulty like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, it does have a high association with these difficulties. Approximately 40% of people living with ADHD will also be living with dyslexia. This has big implications for parents and teachers in terms of being vigilant about ADHD symptoms in our kids and being knowledgeable about how ADHD and learning difficulties may impact on each other. ADHD, or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that typically begins in childhood and may continue into adulthood. It is characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity that can impact various aspects of a person’s life, including academic performance, work productivity, and relationships.  ADHD is typically identified based on specific criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). They have a PDF fact sheet about AHD available to download. You can see that the last time this was updated was in 2013! These criteria include the presence of symptoms in multiple settings, impairment in daily functioning, and the exclusion of other possible causes for the symptoms.   ADHD related links and resources we mention   Additude magazine ADDitude is an online resource for families and adults living with ADHD and related conditions and for the professionals who work with them. They have great resources about kids living with ADHD. For teachers For parents For adults They also have an excellent YouTube channel. Jessica McCabe - How to ADHD Jessica runs a YouTube channel that she describes as an ADHD toolbox. It’s mostly aimed at adults but has great tips and resources for understanding ADHD from a lived experience perspective.   Jessica’s TED talk sharing her ADHD success story.   Dr Russell Barkley We referred to Dr Russell Barkley a number of times during this podcast. YouTube is scattered with lots of bits and pieces of Dr Barkley’s numerous talks. Dr Barkley talks about ADHD from a medical perspective, and the video below goes into the clinical details of ADHD for parents. He is engaging, compelling and highly knowledgeable.   Comments and questions are welcome! We would love to hear about your experience with ADHD and any tips you can share about supporting kids living with ADHD. Please leave a comment on our website https://dyscastia.com/episodes/episode-13-adhd 

Show notes In this episode, Bill, Michael and Sally discuss morphology teaching and begin to demystify a body of knowledge that sometimes feels like the next frontier for teachers. Most of us have got our heads about the importance of phonemes and training young brains to work with them at a highly proficient level (phonemic awareness), and how to teach synthetic phonics in more effective ways. Most teachers also get the importance of explicit and highly structured modes for teaching how phonemes map onto graphemes and the additional important stuff to do with English spelling conventions. However, because our language is influenced by other classic languages such as Latin and Greek, our spelling system has inherited some odd spelling rules and strange strings of letters that mean things, but don’t seem to make any sense alone and certainly don’t stand alone as words like the ‘iatr’ in psychiatrist (meaning to heal) or the ‘cracy’ in democracy (meaning to govern). So, what we have ended up with is a spelling system with two important parts to it – letters standing for sounds and morphemes standing for meanings, and both are as important as one another for reading, comprehension and spelling. Our language is morphophonemic. Phonics teaching alone isn’t enough to get many students across the line to be at-year-level readers, spellers and writers. Alongside phonic knowledge, learners must also develop an awareness of how words are made up of units of meaning called morphemes (or morphographs). This is where morphological awareness comes in. Morphology is the study of how words build up and come apart in ways that alter their meaning and it’s a rich vein to be mined. Some students just seem to develop morphological awareness by themselves, but all students benefit from explicit teaching and for many, without it, they’ll flounder. This sounds daunting for teachers but the truth is that we can actually start to incorporate morphology instruction into our teaching anytime we like. The only thing that holds many of us back is that we worry that we don’t know enough about morphemes and what they mean for spelling, word knowledge and complex subject-specific words – vocabulary. Trust me, nobody feels like they know enough! Sally, Michael and I are always learning, as our meanderings in this episode will attest to! So dive in with us as we go down the morphology rabbit hole! The Word Cracker Resources This is the resource originally created by Sally and Bill and then brought into the online world by Michael. A few of the free useful morphology resources are listed below: If you are new to morphology, you can do the Word Cracking morphology training course online or read our introduction to morphology. If you already know how important morphology is but need to convince your school leadership, we have a morphology explainer for school leaders. We have an article on when to start teaching morphology. If you are a parent, we have an article explaining what morphology is and how to teach it at home. Blog Post: TEACHING SUFFIXES: STARTING WITH THE SUFFIX ‘S’ This was mentioned during the episode in the context of all the other knowledge (meta-language) needed to teach suffix ‘s’.   Some additional reading on teaching morphology Suggestions from Felicity at Seelect Educational Supplies Vocabulary Through Morphemes Student Workbook  Morpheme Magic ‘Beneath the Surface of Words’ was mentioned by Bill in this episode as an excellent resource that teaches us to think morphologically! Etymology Online (Etymology Online Dictionary) Every teacher who has been teaching morphology has this tab continuously open in their browser. This is where Bill went looking for the root in ‘swagger’ among other deep dives during this episode. Etymonline is an incredible resource that is kept going by one, solitary fellow! So if you want to support this resource you can, make a small donation or support the author on Patreon where you get access to extra articles and resources. Dictionary of affixes The Dictionary of Affixes contains more than 1,250 entries, illustrated by 10,000 examples, all defined and explained. It’s based on the book Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and Endings, published by Oxford University Press in 2002. Like Etymology Online, it is run by a single person, Michael Quinion, and you can donate to support him on his homepage. Morphology helping with Mathematical and Scientific terms Late in the episode, Bill talked about the importance of Greek and Latin roots to scientific words. A great download summarising these can be found at: http://www.jdenuno.com/PDFfiles/RootWords.pdf We also have a blog post on the Word Cracking website, When Do I Start Teaching Morphology, that, among other things, talks about how morphology helps if you are a secondary teacher.

In this episode, we chat with educational consultant Debbie Draper about handwriting, why it's back and what we need to do to set kids up for successful writing.   About Debbie When Debbie was in year five at primary school in rural South Australia, she decided she wanted to be a teacher. After 17 years in the classroom, Debbie decided to switch her focus to assisting educators to do the best for their students.  Debbie now works as a specialist consultant with the goal of reaching out to school leaders and teachers who need guidance in planning and evaluating their learning programmes.  Debbie aims to provide quality learning for various school contexts and tailor new approaches and strategies that address the needs of the students, teachers and leaders of the institution she serves. Debbie has spent her career helping educators to recognise and solve the unique challenges they encounter in their schools. Debbie co-wrote the DECD Unlocking the World "Gifted Education and Higher Order Thinking: Improving Learning Outcomes for every Student" tutor training programme and teacher development courses. Those materials were delivered to various South Australian sites as well as to international schools and the public education system in Hong Kong. Additionally, Debbie co-developed a support model in response to the needs of the overwhelming number of sites involved in the comprehension strategy in Northern Adelaide. "Stories from the Field" attests to the impact of the professional learning programme on teacher capacity and efficacy as well as student learning outcomes. Leaders, later on, report on the quality and positive impact of the professional learning and resources that I co-developed to support teacher learning. Email: Debbie.draper@gmail.com Website: https://debbiedraper-educationalconsultant.vpweb.com.au/   Show notes Handwriting has made its way back into schools that have embraced evidence-based teaching of reading, spelling and writing. The multisensory nature of the delivery of structured synthetic phonics programs requires that students are handwriting as they store grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and there's a plethora of evidence to support this approach. Now, as schools insist that students write more, the expected questions have popped up. Cursive or manuscript? One then the other or cursive from the get-go? Which font shall we teach schoolwide? Are there better ones than others? Dotted thirds, lines or no lines? What types of writing implements – pens or pencils? Do we correct poor grip? How? Do we let them rub out? Writing in books or on individual whiteboards? If both, when? How should students sit as they write? At tables, sitting on the floor? Lying on the floor? Do we insist on a set letter formation? What about students with Dysgraphia? In this episode, we explore these issues and more with Debbie and tap into her vast expertise and experience.    Debbie made us a shared folder! Click here to access the Google folder that Debbie has created for Dyscastia listeners. It is chock-a-block with great articles and instructional aids.   

In this episode, we chat with clinical psychologist Kirrilie Smout about the emotional challenges of living with specific learning difficulties. Kirrilie givestopert advice for parents and teachers on how to set kids up for success and support them when things get tough. Show notes Not keeping up at school and feeling like you aren’t able to do what the other kids can do is soul-destroying for young people. It’s also incredibly hard for those who care for them, most obviously parents and caregivers, but also educators who are in the lives of kids who struggle to learn to read, spell and do maths. In this episode, we sit down with Kirrilie Smout, in our minds, one of Australia’s leading clinical child/adolescent psychologists and the director of Developing Minds. With the benefit of Kirrilie’s down-to-earth style, well-researched opinions, years of experience and incredible humanity, we delve into a range of issues that clutter the already complex landscape of being a kid with learning difficulties or parenting/teaching one. When Life Sucks for Kids One of Kirrilie’s books “When Life Sucks for Kids” is the centerpiece for this episode and sets us off on an incredibly interesting conversation about all sorts of stuff, including: The very real correlation between having an SLD and mental health difficulties – is it fate that a kid with SLDs will have an associated mental health problem? How to talk with young people about the challenges and strengths that come with an SLD and how to remain believable when trying to keep kids buoyant Fostering hope for the future but also being frank and honest about the challenges ahead Understanding mood, its impact on learning and cleverly helping kids to regulate mood to best set them up for work that is going to be challenging (like homework) Talking to kids about the importance of hard work and struggle in building a strong and flexible brain The importance of peer-connection for kids with learning difficulties and balancing homework and a social life What to consider when deciding on whether to use tough-love or to back off for a bit – balancing empathy and toughness School refusal – the slippery slope The mental health implications of parenting a kid who will at times feel hopeless, helpless and like it’s all too hard. Where to get some help Calm Kid Central is a wonderful resource that had been developed by Kirrilie and the staff at Developing Minds. It contains over 25 interactive and animated educational lessons for children to learn to: cope with frustration, manage anxiety, improve peer relationships, manage conflict constructively, help themselves get to sleep, use calm words, re-direct their attention onto positive topics, ask for help – and many more. Kid’s Helpline 1800 55 1800 can also be a wonderful help when young people just need someone to talk to – any time, for any reason.   Full show notes available at https://dyscastia.com/episodes/episode-10-mental-health-and-specific-learning-difficulties/

In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, a determined parent who managed to secure NDIS funding for her child living with dyslexia. Kate tells us exactly how she did it!   In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, who tells her NDIS funding story. Kate tells us why she applied and how she navigated multiple rejections to ultimately have her funding approved. It’s a story we hope you will find encouraging, useful and enlightening, as we did. So, if you live in Australia and know or support somebody living with a specific learning difficulty, this episode may be a game changer. What is the NDIS? The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is for people in Australia under 65, living with permanent and significant disability. Permanent means the disability will not go away. Significant means the disability affects how you live every day. Both of these criteria can apply to people living with specific learning difficulties.   NDIS and Dyslexia – Kate's story in her own words Our daughter is a bright, happy, funny girl who is just a joy to be around. We began to have concerns about her literacy skills when was quite young. While her peers were able to recognise letters of the alphabet, she struggled to recall common letters, including those in her name from a young age. This was in contrast to the skills she displayed when performing other tasks as part of daily life – which she really excelled at! Our daughter settled well into school but struggled with basic literacy tasks from the beginning. By the end of Year 1 we requested her school to allow her to repeat Year 1 again. We were told that repeating her would only be allowed upon completion of a psychometric assessment, an assessment by an independent speech pathologist, an assessment by an occupational therapist. We arranged the necessary tests. Through Year 1 and 2, her school provided some support – Reading Recovery and MiniLit. In addition, we organised speech pathology & tutoring to help her. But by the end of Term 3, Year 2 it was evident that the support available within her school was insufficient to enable her to continue learning in that environment. We had had our daughter “tested” for countless things based on recommendations from the school – ADHD, eyesight problems, intellectual delays etc. None were really helpful. Our daughter is very well behaved, is a gun at ball sports and excels at mathematics. It was as though her school really did not understand her strengths at all. We made the decision to enrol our daughter in a different school commencing in Year 3. From the start, her new teacher contacted us to discuss concerns with her literacy. She was great. A further assessment by a speech pathologist was recommended, as was a referral to a Neuropsychologist. We were blown away with his findings. Essentially it showed she had a Specific Learning Disorder that impacted reading and writing only (dyslexia). It was also very clear that this was not related to an intellectual disability and that there were certain interventions were never going to work given her condition. The Neuropsychologist also provided very specific and clear recommendations for both school and for at home which were very useful. From that point onwards, her new school helped by providing in-class support, free access to evidence-based literacy interventions, MaqLit, assistive technology (e.g. “C-pen”), and access to learning support and a scribe. We supplemented this with regular speech pathology every week. This is all amazing while our daughter is at school. But what I think some fail to realise is that children also need to access texts and write things down when they are not at school – supports are still needed outside of an educational setting. This is why we applied to the NDIS. Here is our Timeline: May 2019 We applied for access to the NDIS for our daughter’s primary impairment of a Severe Specific Learning Disorder with impairment with reading and written expression. We explained that our daughter had received evidence-based treatment from speech pathologist(s) since the age of 4 targeting literacy development, all with minimal improvement. She had also participated in multiple literacy interventions at school. I sought access to the NDIS for continued targeted evidence-based literacy programs to lift basic literacy proficiency as much as is possible within the context of her SLD. In the context of functional impairments, I sought access to the use of assistive technology for her learning. July 2019 We were informed that our NDIS Access Request was not successful. Specifically, the requirements that were stated not to be met were: Section 24(1)(c) relating to an impairment” that results in substantially reduced functional capacity; and Section 25 relating to whether the early intervention supports are most appropriately funded by the NDIS. Those familiar with NDIS may know that in order to meet the Access Criteria, you have to satisfy the NDIS on many criteria. Our application was targeted at Section 21(1) which includes: 21(1)(a) age requirements (Section 22); and 21(1)(b) residence requirements (Section 23); and 21(1)(c)(i) disability requirements (Section 24); OR 21(1)(c)(ii) early intervention requirements (Section 25). The first 2 items above (Section 22 & 23) were easy for us. It’s Section 24 or 25 that presented the challenge. August 2019 I applied to the NDIS for a review of the outcome of our Access Request. In response to the items noted above, I wrote the following: “In contrast to what has been stated, (Name’s) SLD significantly impedes her functional capacity to both learn and communicate in society. This is a lifelong disorder which negatively affects her ability to read and write. The ability to do so is a skill that we need to function in life and society. Her disorder has demonstrated impacts on educational and occupational attainment, as well as limiting participation and productivity. (Name) needs ongoing help and assistance, and we want to be able to help her to function in society. (Name) requires assistive technology aids to allow her to access written texts and express herself in written format. In addition, she requires speech pathology intervention to limit the detrimental impacts of her Specific Learning Disorder. Without such, (Name’s) ability to communicate is severely compromised, and she will be unable to fully participate in society. As such, I request a review of the access decision for (Name) “ October 2019 I received a phone call from the NDIS seeking more information. Nothing specific was requested, just an overview of her daily life which I provided. The NDIS also contacted my daughter’s Neuropsychologist. A few weeks later, I received a letter informing me that the earlier decision to reject our request was upheld and that we were not successful. What was great about this rejection letter was that the NDIS went into much more detail on each of the Access sub-criteria on what had not been met. For example, we were informed that she did not meet the following criteria: 21(1)(c)(i) disability requirements (Section 24) Criteria (c) which means that the impairment must result in substantially reduced functional capacity in one or more areas; Criteria (e) which whether the condition is likely to require lifetime support of the NDIS. 21(1)(c)(ii) early intervention requirements (Section 25) Criteria 25(3) that the NDIS is the most appropriate support system. Therefore, based on this knowledge, I applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), requesting a further external review of the decision. December 2019 Our first case conference with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was scheduled, and in preparation, I was sent a “Respondent’s Statement of Issues” (SOI), which summarised the decision under review. My daughter’s Neuropsychologist attended the Case Conference by phone, which was a huge help. I used the Case Conference as my first opportunity to directly ask the NDIS what it was that they wanted or expected to be provided as evidence to satisfy the 3 areas that were deemed to be unacceptable. I explained what her daily life is like, and I was told I needed to provide a Statement of Lived Experience on what her life is like now and what it would be like if she was granted access to the NDIS. When it came to the discussion around how significant her disability affects her life, her Neuropsychologist was amazing at articulating the research available that demonstrates the need for early intervention for this SLD and the positive impacts on day-to-day life it brings. He explained the long-term outcomes of people who have a history of reading disorders or learning disabilities and how the literature shows that children and adults with reading difficulties have established poorer functional outcomes across a range of domains, and as such, need support to be able to participate in society. He was asked to provide a summary of that research. He also provided context to the need for supports around the use of assistive technology and the use of evidence-based literacy support. I went through what the education system provides and asked specifically what the NDIS expected “mainstream services” to provide to support her. I explained that I had already consulted with our GP on this and had access to all mainstream services available, including through a GP management plan and such were insufficient. I was asked to provide written evidence of this. The grounds on which I argued included that her SLD does have functional impacts and such is beyond mere educational needs in the classroom. While it is true that it is the role of education to support for her in the classroom, education is not responsible for providing her assistance when she is not in class. For example, her school is not responsible to provide a C-Pen for her when she is reading at home, to assist with reading a

Show notes In this episode, we chat with two wonderful pre-service teachers, Lara (left) and Robert (right), who have just completed level one of Teaching Students with Dyslexia (TSD1). We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to ask Lara and Robert to reflect on what they’d just learned at TSD and how this contrasted with what they were learning about teaching literacy at University. Lara Lara is currently a student at Flinders University, undertaking a Bachelor of Primary of Education. She has previously been a Police Officer here in South Australia, as well as a Teacher of English as a second language in Switzerland. Robert Educational Support Officer and fourth-year student studying a bachelor’s degree in Primary and Middle School education at the University of South Australia. Robert also works as an educator in an out-of-school hours care program. He takes great pride in supporting students with learning disabilities and has recently taken on Tier 3 support through the completion of the Playberry Multisensory Literacy Program. Selected links and extras related to the episode Greg Ashman At the beginning of the episode, Bill mentions a blog written by Greg Ashman – here it is! Criticism of teacher education is not a criticism of teachers – It is unhelpful spin Mark Seidenberg Bill mentions Mark Seidenberg’s book Language at the speed of sight and his views on teacher education institutions keeping the science of reading at arm’s length. Mark has an excellent blog called Reading Matters that’s worth looking at. Below is a clip from an interview where he is discussing reasons why there are problems in teacher preparation. S.A. Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour: At the end of this episode, we invite anyone involved in teacher training to join us at Salisbury Primary School in 2023. There is, of course, an ulterior motive – to showcase the power of explicit, structured teaching of core subjects and the incredible impact this has on student learning, behaviour and self-esteem in the most complex of educational contexts. This is a call to action to those brave and dedicated folks who pull teacher training courses together to engage with us to see what we can do to better prepare our next generation of teachers to teach kids to read, spell and write. Excellent teaching of literacy is one of the best antidotes we have to social disadvantage! Salisbury Primary School Using evidence-based teaching to unlock literacy for all students An invitation to Salisbury Primary School, *Study Tour dates for 2023 are coming soon – email bill@hansberryec.com.au to express interest

In this episode, we talk to Bill, Sally, Karen, and Louise who run specialist dyslexia teacher training. We find out what’s involved and help you decide whether you should take up the challenge. Sally Andrew holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy from the University of York, UK. Sally has been tutoring students with dyslexia for 20 years and has trained many parents and educators in evidence-based multisensory interventions for dyslexia. Sally is the director of By Your Side Tutoring. Karen Hodson is a Director of Fullarton House – Assessment Therapy and Teaching and is a highly sought after Educational Psychologist with 23 years’ experience in supporting students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. She has conducted thousands of assessments and has extensive understanding of dyslexia across the life span.  Louise Hanrahan Louise is a coach with the Literacy Guarantee Unit (LGU).  She is an AITSL, certified Highly Accomplished Teacher with extensive experience in the field of literacy education. Louise specialises in teaching students with dyslexia using a structured literacy approach.  In her role with the LGU Louise supports schools with literacy planning, mentoring, in-class demonstrations and delivers appropriate classroom-based strategies for students in reading acquisition.  Louise has an interest in Initial Teacher Education. She has recently worked with AITSL as part of an expert reading group.  This group developed criteria to enable Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers to identify well-designed studies, trustworthy research, and meaningful evidence to inform decisions relating to the teaching of reading instruction. Selected links and extras related to the episode Teaching Students with Dyslexia Training (TSD) Is the training that Michael and Bill have both trained in and Bill, Sally and Karen run. Louise is also a graduate of all three levels of TSD. TSD is run only in South Australia as Sally, Karen and Bill all have their own practices that they try to minimize disruption to. https://www.hansberryec.com.au/copy-of-workshop-19 Speld Organizations around Australia AusSpeld https://auspeld.org.au/ Speld SA https://www.speldsa.org.au/ Speld Vic https://www.speldvic.org.au/ Speld NSW https://www.speldnsw.org.au/ Speld Qld https://www.speld.org.au/ Speld WA https://dsf.net.au SEELECT educational supplies Louise mentioned SEELECT when talking about the team she needed to build around her when supporting her own kids with their learning needs. Felicity and Lyn at Seelect have been supporting teachers, parents and schools to choose evidence-based resources and use them well to help students with learning difficulties. Felicity is a trained multisensory tutor as well as co-owner of SEELECT and is a powerhouse of information and experience in the learning difficulties space. https://www.seelect.com.au/ Five from Five and The Reading League Bill mentioned these resources as a great place for information about teaching in line with the evidence.  https://fivefromfive.com.au www.thereadingleague.org   Other Training Organizations (Besides TSD) IMSLE Institute for Multi-Sensory Structured Language Education www.multisensoryeducation.net.au Dyslexia Orton-Gillingham Institute https://www.dogi.com.au/ Lifelong Literacy – Lyn Stone https://lifelongliteracy.com   S.A. Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour: Salisbury Primary School Using evidence-based teaching to unlock literacy for all students An invitation to Salisbury Primary School, *Study Tour 1: June 2-3rd 2022, and 3rd November 2022 *Study Tour 2: 25-26th August 2022, and 4th November 2022 Email Bill to book

In this episode, Michael and Bill discuss a blog that Bill wrote called Schools that teach Reading and Spelling in a Research Informed way: Picking a Winner. In the episode, we focus on tips for parents to get beyond the sales pitch to make an informed decision about whether the school might be a good fit. The first part of this episode discusses six red flags to look out for that may indicate that the school doesn't have a scientific approach to its teaching of reading and spelling. The six red flags are around some of the answers a parent might get to the question: "Can you tell me about how reading and spelling is taught here?" "We believe..." "We promote a love of reading" "Different teachers teach reading and spelling differently" "Not all learners learn to read and spell the same way" "Students are at different points so we don't teach them the same content / same way..." "We use an inquiry approach to teaching literacy" In the second part of the episode, we talk about the answers you want to hear when asking this question. Visit the Dyscastia website for the complete show notes and links.

This episode answers the common questions schools and parents have when changing from a whole-language or balanced literacy way of teaching to one supported by scientific evidence. “Why wasn’t my older one taught reading this way” “Why have the take-home readers changed and why do the new ones look so basic compared to the old ones?” “Where have the levelled readers and Running Records gone?” “What’s this stuff about phonological awareness?” “Why are the students and teachers doing activities that look like ‘rote learning’ and ‘drill’ in the classroom?” “What happened to “chunky monkey” and “flippy dolphin” and why must we insist on kids sounding out words now” “Why do parents now have to do a course before being able to volunteer to listen to kids read in the classroom?” “Why didn’t my struggling 12-year-old get this type of intervention when they were in year one?” These are the types of questions that schools who have begun changing how they teach reading (and spelling) face from parents who have noticed the differences. They’re excellent questions because when a school flicks the switch and starts to jettison a whole-language or balanced literacy way of teaching, there are highly noticeable changes. So as well as teaching the kids, schools are needing to also teach parents about what’s happening. Some of these questions are very awkward to answer because the ugly truth is that there are students at the end of primary school who have missed out on this higher quality instruction. It’s not fair, but it’s inevitable. This fact breaks the heart of educators and we all look back, with much sadness when we think about what we did before, and the students we could have done better for. If any of us could turn back the clock, of course, we would have taught this way all along. Is this teaching just another trendy educational innovation that will soon pass? No! Phonics teaching dominated the landscape before whole language and its offspring, balanced literacy became the norm in schools. These ideologies were based on some understandable misconceptions. The popular thinking went like this: Because (most) kids learn to speak by being immersed in their mother tongue (naturally – with no repetitive explicit teaching needed), then reading instruction should also involve a similar immersion in the printed word, and learning to read must also be a natural process. This turned out to be a logical fallacy that gave us three decades of way too many struggling readers. So what came next? The U.S. published an inquiry into this situation in 2000, the U.K. did their own and then Australia also inquired into this in 2005. All three inquiries looked closely at current reading research. Some of this research was from brain imaging studies that were discovering that there are indeed, brain circuits (hardware) ready to go to learn spoken language. However, no such hardware had evolved in the brain that’s ready to learn to read and write. There was nothing innate or natural about learning to read. The skills of reading and writing have to be carefully and meticulously welded on, through highly explicit teaching, to neural circuits that are designed for other tasks. So, these inquiries from the U.S., U.K. and Australia found the same thing: the teaching of reading needs to be highly structured, highly explicit, sequential and heavily based in phonics to get the best results for the maximum number of students. Following the release of the Australian inquiry’s findings (2005), not one recommendation was implemented. Blows your mind but also gives you an idea of how deeply embedded whole language approaches were in the DNA of reading instruction and how anti-science the educational policymakers and teacher training institutions really were. There was also significant pushback from big corporations who had built very lucrative businesses based on selling whole language-based programs to schools. So, the vast majority of Australian schools continued on their merry way, doing the same thing. This wasn’t malicious, it was just a failing of quality research to make its way into policy and classrooms and not at all uncommon in education. It was kind of like what’s happening with climate science! Fast forward almost twenty years and only now are we seeing a groundswell of schools acting on the research in Australia. Listen to our previous podcast with Dr Sandra Marshall and you’ll hear about what’s caused this tectonic shift. We hope you enjoy(ed) this Dyscastia podcast and that it puts what is happening in schools into a helpful context. Links from Episode What are Michael and Bill talking about when they refer to ‘The Scouts’? Early in the podcast, Bill refers to the classic book “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the main character Scout, who explains in the story how reading just seemed to come to her, without any effort, simply by just sitting on her father’s lap as he read. Scout becomes a metaphor for the 5-10% of students who will learn to read, without explicit, structured, phonics-based instruction. “I never deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers. In the long hours of church–was it then I learned? I could not remember not being able to read hymns. Now that I was compelled to think about it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of shoelaces. I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger separated into words. But I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory, listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of Lorenzo Dow – anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his lap every night.” (To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee, Chapter 2) https://youtu.be/sUdMm9oZ57U?t=2425 Nancy Young’s Ladder of Reading An elegant model that illustrates the proportions of learners who need particular types of reading instruction. Bill and Michael talk in this Dyscastia podcast about the proportion of students who require a highly structured, phonics-based, intensive form of teaching. https://www.nancyyoung.ca/ladder-of-reading-and-writing Book: Language at The Speed of Sight – Mark Seidenberg Bill mentioned this book in explaining how education has developed a reputation for being ideologically driven and not well informed by research. Mark Seidenberg is a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://seidenbergreading.net/ Video: What’s Wrong with Predictable or Repetitive Texts – Alison Clarke This is a stunning explainer on the importance of decodable reading material for early readers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyzP3j7jbk&ab_channel=spelfabet The Three Cueing Systems (aka multi-cueing or searchlight model) A discredited word attack strategy (never actually was credited) but still widely taught, that encourages readers to attack unfamiliar words using: semantic cues (can I guess the word from the meaning of the words around it?) syntactic cues (can I guess the word from its place in the sentence?) and grapho-phonic cues (can I work out sounds from some of the phonemes I already know?) This is all good until you strike a word you’ve never seen (outside your sight word bank) or heard (outside your vocabulary) before. Old-school levelled readers are based on the 3-cueing strategy, therefore are a big reason Australian schools pump out a horrifying number of students who can’t read. David Share’s Self Teaching Hypothesis Mentioned by Bill when talking about the cohort of kids who get to point of reading development where the act of reading becomes ‘self-teaching’. The Five from Five website explains this very nicely: https://fivefromfive.com.au/the-self-teaching-hypothesis/ Schools that teach Reading and Spelling in a Research-Informed way: Picking a Winner A recent blog written by Bill about schools who’ve adopted reading research into what they teach how they teach, the common elements to their teaching approaches and the rationale for this. https://www.hansberryec.com.au/blog The whole-word based Dick and Jane series was used in Australian primary schools in the 70s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane

In this episode, we talk to Dr Sandra Marshall, BMBS FRACGP Dip Child Health, a General Practitioner in South Australia and Chairperson of Code Read Dyslexia Network. Sandra shares her insights for parents and teachers on advocating for kids living with learning difficulties. Show notes Dr Sandra Marshall realized that there was a problem with how reading is taught in Australia when her own sons started to struggle in primary school. After trying to get help for her sons, Sandra found perhaps her most important calling and knew that the journey ahead wouldn’t only mean advocating for her own boys but for kids and their parents all over Australia who were on the same journey. Sandra, a GP by day, donned her superhero cape, and by night became (at least in our opinion) the most influential figure in dyslexia and evidence-based teaching of reading advocacy in Australia. With unerring humility, patience and grit, Sandra and her muse and mentor, ex-principal Ophie Renner, rallied the troops – parents, teachers, principals, specialists in the area of reading (and the odd politician along the way) and set out on a remarkable journey. Fast forward a decade and a bit, and there has been a tectonic shift in how we teach reading in Australia. The earth shook when South Australia implemented the Phonics Screening Check (PSC), despite opposition from all of the expected places, but also from some surprising corners! The good doctor and her band of merry followers were instrumental in this, and now, South Australia is considered worldwide to be a leading light in the adoption of evidence-based teaching of literacy. In this interview, Michael and Bill talk with Sandra about the road behind, the long road ahead and importantly, how Sandra has been so incredibly successful at getting people on board and keeping them on board. Sandra has the special sauce in working with people to make change and has much to teach us all about how we can successfully advocate for our own children and also other vulnerable kids living with the Ds. Links from Episode Code Read Sandra is the Chair of Code Read – see the links below Code Read is reliant on continued fundraising to operate. Please register for the 2022 Equal Right to Read Virtual Run to support Sandra and others to continue advocating. https://codereadnetwork.org/get-involved/equal-write-to-read-virtual-run-back-in-march-2022/ So many parents don’t know where to go, and as Sandra says, there’s plenty of snake oil out there. This webpage gives guidance on where to go to get help: https://codereadnetwork.org/help-is-here/where-to-go/ or for incredible resources, go to: https://codereadnetwork.org/help-is-here/resources/ If you are in SA, you can also go to www.fullartonhouse.com.au, or if you are looking for a specialist tutor/teacher, you can find one at https://dyslexicstrengths.com.au/south-australian-literacy-specialists-tutor-register/ David Pescud’s ABC’ Conversations’ Interview https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-david-pescud-rpt/8345200 David’s was the impetus behind the formation of Code Read and financially backed the formation of this national body (as long as Sandra agreed to be the Chairperson!) David is interviewed by the amazing Richard Fielder on ABC’s ‘Conversations.’   South Australian Evidence-Based Teaching of Literacy Study Tour: Salisbury Primary School Sandra discusses the need for teachers to be able to go into other schools doing great things in the teaching literacy space. We do something like this, and we’re pretty good at it! Email Bill bill@hansberryec.com.au to express interest in this professional learning opportunity. A shout to everyone involved over the journey – all DAGBAGS, Dyslexia SA, Code Read DAGBAGS/Dyslexia SA members/admins/and helpers along the way: Adrian Borg Alex Ward Alexander Edmondson Allison Quinlan Allyson Dutshke Amy Bunder Andrew McPhail Andrew McPhail Angela Weeks Anna Bampton Anne Bampton Annette Brock Belinda Pringle Bill Hansberry Chantal Denier Cherie Collings Christopher Pyne Claire Morrison Colleen Stevens David Pitt David Pescud Deb Fairey Denis Donovan Denise Sawyer Donna Willett Dr Judy Gould Dr Bartek Rajkowski Dr Marie Gould Eleanor Gardner Eliza Bampton Estelle Chapple Felicity Clarke Gail Darby Jackie French James Magnoson James Peterkin Jan Done Jane Rajkowski Janice James- Valentine Janice McPhail Janice Ritchie Jeni Ferris Jo Bakker John Gardner MP John Ide John Skelly Karen Hodson Karen McKenzie Katherine Bruggeman Kathryn Krieg Kay Bosworth Kerrie Dellar Kerry Williams Kylie Budarick Kylie Fotheringham Kylie Halford Kym Reynolds Lana Grundy Lance Hatcher Lauren Poole Leanne James Lyn Martin Mark Le Messurier Mel Whiting Melinda Firth Melissah Ernesti Natalie Nolan Neil McKay Nick Champion MP Nicola Rathman Ophie Renner Patricia Dent Paul Bennett Paula Montroy Phil Parker Rachel Shephard Robert Klose Robert Smedley Roslyn Conboy Sandra Tidswell Sandra Tidswell Sandy Mamerow Sandy Russo Sarah Antoney Sarah Wormald Scott Bryant Sharon Holmes Stacey Bradtke Stephanie Mallen Sue de Biasi Sue Teusner Susan Close MP Suzy Barlow Tom Fotheringham Tony Piccolo MP Tracey Bradley Tracy McInerney Tracy Wilson Tricia Gardner Trudie Symonds Vanessa O’Brien Viv Wright

Dyscalculia literally means disorder in calculation. It's real and it impacts about 5-7% of the population. It is also one of the Specific Learning Difficulties (SLDs) so we need to talk about it. It’s so common to hear people say “I’ve just never had a head for numbers” or “I’m terrible at maths” that we don’t flinch when we hear it. But, what would you think if you heard someone say “I’ve never had a head for letters and speech sounds” or “I’m dreadful at reading”? When you think about it, you realise that it’s far more common (and socially acceptable) for people to talk about openly maths difficulties than any other learning issues, so, it’s no wonder that dyscalculia is far less talked about than dyslexia or dysgraphia and remains hidden.

In this episode, Michael and Bill do their very best to arm parents and educators with information about dyslexia and dysgraphia so they can better spot a good intervention and avoid precious time and money on unproven and disproved treatments. Dyslexia and dysgraphia – huge enough on their own and often live together in one brain making life doubly hard for people. There’s just so much misleading information out there about these Specific Learning Difficulties. It was just the other day Bill gave some advice to a very grateful tradesperson about not paying a nutritionist who had claimed that a change in his son’s diet could help his dyslexia! Until you understand the core difficulty of any SLD, you are vulnerable to all sorts of snake oil and quackery. What a minefield for parents. 

In this episode, Michael and Bill delve into what Specific Learning Difficulties are and the advantages vs the disadvantages of using terms like learning difference, disability or disorder to describe them. So what do we call it when a person can’t learn to do something like reading, writing or maths as easily as what is considered normal?  It’s a touchy subject and to be honest, it probably depends on the context you’re in when talking about it and whom you're talking to. Sometimes our context is trying to get funding schools to better support kids at school, sometimes it’s raising awareness in the community about learning problems and the long term impact they have on students. In these contexts, we want to talk in a way that underlines the functional severity of these difficulties and the lasting impact they have on young people (especially if not dealt with and properly resourced). So, in those contexts, we might use terms like disability or disorder. Then there’s the toughest context – a child who needs their difficulty explained to them, carefully,  in a way that doesn’t talk down to them or minimise the problems they experience, but at the same time doesn’t crush their soul. In this context, we may tread too lightly and talk about brains working differently and put too little attention on the very real hardships the child experiences every day at school. It’s tough and it deserves exploring because regardless of the context there’s just so much at stake. So let’s go there!