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SR - Supporting the struggling reader

How to effectively respond to their assessed needs

About the Course

They are probably in every class, in every school!

BUT, do we know how to recognise them, diagnose and respond appropriately to their individual needs?

Well, we should and we must and in this course, our tutors provide the knowledge, skills and practical approaches to respond effectively.

We are also delighted to have Sue Lloyd contributing to this course as an expert advisor. Sue provides instruction and guidance on all aspects of supporting struggling readers. 

NOTE:

The online format of this course enables you to study at a time and place that best suits your own needs. 

You can access your course from July 1st to August 16th 2024.

Within this highly interactive web-based course, a dynamic learning experience awaits, where you can interact with your fellow course participants through the in-course chat forums and communication tools provided by the CPD College learning system. 

Our friendly and knowledgeable tutors actively support each course, providing expert interaction, guidance and feedback for all participants on chat questions and assignments which call for critical reflection, self-analysis and a reasoned response. 

On successful completion of your course, you can download and print off your CPD record and certificate of completion.

We look forward to welcoming you to your course.

Learning outcomes

This course aims to:

  • Build a thorough understanding of literacy difficulties, dyslexia and the ability to identify struggling readers
  • Supply strategies to support the assessment of those with reading difficulties and to implement differentiation of learning activities to address these needs
  • Provide an understanding of the content of effective literacy instruction interventions and strategies for struggling readers, aimed at providing classroom teachers with practical approaches and resources for teaching struggling readers
  • Supply an in-depth insight into the process of teaching struggling readers, how long should it take, who is involved, what are the principles underpinning the aforementioned interventions
  • Give examples and a critical evaluation of evidence based interventions
  • Provide a selection of research papers / readings on aspects of reading interventions and supports from which ideas and practices can be extrapolated.
  • Itemise some digital tools and software that can facilitate reading support and development
  • Look at, review and score one’s own ‘Teacher Practice in Literacy’ as part of the SSE process.
Modules
01 - In an inclusive classroom, the needs of all children are catered for appropriately. To be reading and comprehending at or beyond your age appropriate level has a critical influence on a child’s learning. Thus, we need to intervene early and support the struggling readers with appropriate interventions once the signs are there, and confirmed by assessment e.g. dyslexia, where class & support teachers work together. 
02 - We review current provision for children who struggle to read/ have dyslexia in Ireland today, review the continuum of support and look at examples of how the class teacher can differentiate everyday teaching to help struggling readers. We detail the role of the learning support and resource teachers and explore the use and importance of assessment when developing SMART targets for children with literacy difficulties.

03 - We look at the preparation of the student support file and how we need to differentiate our approach for struggling readers. We provide information on team teaching and also explore the features and characteristics of a suite of interventions and the supporting evidence for each in relation to features such as:

  • Print awareness
  • Phonological awareness
  • Phonics
  • Sight vocabulary
  • Comprehension strategies
  • Fluency to automaticity

04 - We explore features of interventions that are integral to their success, to include:

  • A highly structured and systematic approach to synthetic phonics
  • The duration of the intervention
  • Individual or small group settings
  • The creation of a positive learning environment
  • The use of ICT
  • Differing learning styles of the readers
  • The role of the parents
  • An inclusive school atmosphere
  • Cooperative learning
  • Assessment of the intervention-is it working? 

05 - We use our growing knowledge to evaluate a range of programmes and interventions to support struggling readers, to include:

  • Jolly Phonics
  • Nessy (ICT resource)
  • Toe by toe
  • Snip (and the use of precision teaching)
  • Acceleread/Accelewrite
  • ARROW
  • Peer reading

"I thoroughly enjoyed this course! It's nice to hear from experts in the field. It provides truly useful and insightful lesson ideas and practical ways to assess, address and intervene in order to help the struggling reader. A truly helpful and fantastically beneficial course!"  Katie, 2020