You can go here http://www.det.wa.edu.au/educationalmeasurement/detcms/navigation/naplan/schools/publications/?page=11& to look at the 2011 papers. The NAPLAN website has sample papers and answers http://www.nap.edu.au/NAPLAN/The_tests/index.html What you can't access are the marks that students ach...

More great info and starting to feel like a group assignment. Thank you! Just need someone to sit around with drinking coffee late at night now. After all this talk about handwriting, I've realised that my own cursive (running writing as we like to call it) is terrible now, slow and not pretty. Near...

Hi Yvonne, I'm looking for handwriting as well as story/genre writing because I think the role of handwriting difficulties is often overlooked when teachers are trying to address to needs of reluctant writers, as you suggest. In simple terms I am going to go against the grain and investigate and sug...

Thank you ladies - I really appreciate your time and will start downloading and reading tonight (what is left of it). Maizie -I had a check of the information on spelling I saved last year and most of it you would already be familiar with, such as Susan's website and spelling programs like Apples an...

Hi there, I haven't posted for a while but I do take a quick look at the forum as often as I can. I'm currently undertaking some post grad studies in education and am two weeks into a unit on teaching writing, a core unit by the way. So far I have been totally underwhelmed by the quality of the pres...

I've looked into this myself and it is a separate phoneme in my accent. If you look at this '44 Sounds of English' chart http://www.dyslexia-speld.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Kh7hycbitgA%3d&tabid=92&mid=500&language=en-AU you will see it as an r controlled vowel. I pronounce it as /yoo/+/uh/ (schw...

Yes, it does screen them and I thought the placement test was quite effective at the time. If superheros are not his thing, there is bound to be something that gets him excited, be it a football jumper, Ben Ten watch, fireman's hat or even a skateboard. When I referred to jumping before, I meant jum...

Since he likes the computer, have you tried Reading Eggs with him? I know it's not perfect but if you sit with him it can be a lot of fun (for him!) and it won't do any harm with you looking on. They usually have free trials before you have to part with any cash. When my little boy was four he read ...

School support programs executive director Andrew Thomson said First Steps was one resource used by teachers and it was not a "whole language" approach. Teachers were encouraged to adopt a wide range of methods but the department placed specific emphasis on systematic teaching of phonics, he said. ...

The article was published in the Autumn (March) 2010 edition of the Western Australian Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation Bulletin. The Bulletin is not available online however interested WA parents and teachers can subscribe by becoming members of the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation http://www.dsf.net.au . FWIW, ...

So we think that Montessori's sandpaper letters are irrelevant, then For older learners I think they must be irrelevant simply because the great minds who've devoted a lifetime to looking into what works and what doesn't, haven't included these very tactile activities in their programs. For young c...

Maizie and Jim - I read through the links you both posted. I had actually read both before and obviously needed reminding. I remember trying to find the Sumbler and Willows study a while back but couldn't locate it. My son's Spalding-trained tutor used a highly structured 'multi-sensory' approach wh...

Thank Maizie. Will read through it tonight.

Hello, it has been a while since my last post. I've started working as a reading tutor and my spare time has disappeared. Does anyone have any experience with very tactile multi-sensory approaches to teaching reading. By tactile, I mean things like sand paper letters, writing in shaving cream, feeli...

What is the state of literacy, JAC in Australia and is there anywhere that a break-down of literacy by years is published. When middle class families from the UK arrive at our local primary school in Western Australia, as they frequently do, they usually find their children are ahead of similarly a...