Dyslexia Workshop: Identifying Key Learning Challenges
Jun 26
In today's educational landscape, early identification of learning challenges is paramount to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed. Recently, I had the privilege of facilitating a workshop at Denham Town High School focused on the dyslexia screening process. This workshop aimed to help educators understand how screening can identify potential issues in students' phonological awareness, phonics skills, and working memory, which are crucial for reading and overall academic success.
Understanding Dyslexia and Its Impact
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty characterised by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities. These challenges are often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and effective classroom instruction. Key areas affected by dyslexia include phonological awareness, phonics skills, and working memory.
- Phonological Awareness: This refers to the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. It is a foundational skill for reading development.
- Phonics Skills: These involve the relationship between letters and sounds and are essential for decoding words.
- Working Memory: This is the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind over short periods, which is crucial for tasks such as following multi-step instructions and solving problems.
Facilitating the dyslexia screening workshop at Denham Town High School was an enriching experience. It underscored the importance of early identification and intervention in addressing learning challenges. By focusing on phonological awareness, phonics skills, and working memory, we can better support students with dyslexia and help them achieve their full potential.
As educators and parents, it is our responsibility to provide the necessary tools and resources to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed.
By sharing the knowledge and strategies discussed in the workshop, we hope to inspire other schools and communities to adopt similar approaches, creating a more inclusive and supportive educational environment for all students.
