Teaching students with Dyslexias and Dysgraphias
An online course designed to teach you how to teach students who have dyslexias and dysgraphias (and other children who may not have those diagnoses but whom have word-level reading and spelling weaknesses).
The what and how
Having a dyslexia effects the ability to read the words on the page. It’s not a problem with comprehension, but comprehension can be affected because the signal coming up off the page is fuzzy, which can make it more difficult to make sense of the information.
A dysgraphia is a problem or set of problems within the spelling system. It effects writing indirectly because more brain power has to be allocated to spelling meaning less is available for other writing behaviours.
There’s no clear separation between dyslexia and dysgraphia and skilled reading and spelling. So, this course is also for students who don’t have an official diagnosis of a dyslexia or dysgraphia but who have significant gaps in their word-level skills.
Knowing what and how to teach students with dyslexias and dysgraphias can be difficult. The Teaching students with dyslexias and dysgraphias courses provide resources from the basic phonics code through to spelling patterns and poly-syllabic words.
Your coaches
Dr Craig Wright PhD is a psychologist and educator with 20-years of experience in research, educational and clinical positions. He wrote his first reading intervention program in 2005. His research has been published in prestigious journals such as Neuropsychologia, Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain & Cognition. His passion is helping people change behaviour of all sorts but his first love is the teaching of reading and spelling.
Dr Belinda Gasston PhD has spent over 20 years in education. She has been a classroom teacher, head of learning support, deputy principal, and now a consultant. She holds a Master of Education and a PhD. Teaching teachers and parents how to teach is one of her passions.
Belinda’s career has led to a speciality in understanding children, adolescents and young adults with learning difficulties, including those with associated behavioural...
Read MoreDr Belinda Gasston
Learning & Behaviour Specialist
Dr Craig Wright is a psychologist with 20 years of experience in clinical practice and research positions. He obtained his PhD in 2004 and held a Research Fellowship at Griffith...
Read MoreDr. Craig Wright
Psychologist
In this course you will learn:
- How to identify gaps in student knowledge, which tells you what to teach.
- How to choose the reading and spelling behaviours that will give you the best bang for buck.
- How to teach creatively and to not just slavishly follow a program.
- The importance of letter formation and letter identity and how to teach both.
- How to teach the basic phonics code beginning with short vowels and continuous consonants.
- How to go beyond phonics.
- How to teach spelling patterns for the final consonant sound in closed syllables (e.g., <fridge> vs <fringe>).
- How to add suffixes to closed syllables (plurals <s> and <es>, inflecting verbs with <ing>, and past tense <ed>), including consonant doubling patterns.
- How to create contractions and possessives and how to teach the difference between a plural, a contraction and a possessive.
- How to teach Silent <e> words (e.g., <give>, <white>, <cute>).
- Patterns for adding suffixes to words ending in <e> (e.g., <craze> → <crazy>).
- Patterns for adding suffixes to words ending in <y> (e.g., <crazy> → <crazier>).
- Open syllables (words ending in vowel letters e.g., <she> and <why>).
- How to teach consonant <le> words (e.g., <table> and <giggle>) and consonant <en> words (e.g., <happen> and <open>) and how to add suffixes to both.
Critically, you will learn that English spelling is variable. Each section of the course shows you how to teach the concept of variability, either with high frequency words that use different spelling patterns (e.g., if teaching /e/ is spelt with <e> as in <set> we also teach <head>) or with words that use the same letter to represent a different phoneme (e.g., by teaching that the <ou> in <trouble> represent a different sound to the <ou> in <out>).
Even more critically, we will teach you why developing lexical knowledge is the end goal of instruction, not just teaching phonics rules, and how to do it.
All lessons beyond the Basic Phonics Code have sets of sentence-reading and comprehension activities to help you generalise word-level work to something that approaches natural reading.
In this course you will learn:
How to teach multiple spellings of so-called long vowels, often using homophones to highlight different spelling choices and to help students make deeper sense of words and their unique letter-sequence. Unstressed vowels, which are introduced in Course 1, are covered more extensively. Course 2 shows you how to teach the soft <c> pattern in the context of multi-syllabic words (e.g., <circle> and <produce>) and the -sion and -tion syllables (e.g., <occasion> and <nation>). There are lessons for lower frequency consonant spellings (e.g., /f/ in tough) and vowel spellings (e.g., /i/ in system and garbage). Course 1 work is always extended by adding suffixes to the new patterns taught in Course 2.
Join this online course and learn how to teach word-level reading and spelling behaviours in an efficient and effective way.
Teaching students with dyslexias and dysgraphias
- Over 100 hours of educational videos showing you how to teach.
- Downloadable resources for 46 Lessons, including a teaching script, word lists, spelling rules and patterns, and sentence and comprehension activities.
- Bonus: The 5th Edition of Understanding Words, Dr Craig Wright’s original reading intervention program. 75 lessons of phonics instruction perfect for the younger student not able to manage the spelling patterns taught in Course 1.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the course suitable for?
Teachers looking to teach spelling patterns, suffix patterns and to generally improve word-level reading and spelling performance, parents looking for resources to teach their child at home, home-schoolers, clinicians looking to up-skill.
How does the course work?
After enrolling you will be provided with access to the Course materials for 12-months. The teacher scripts and student materials are downloadable so can be used after that time. The only thing you won’t have access to after 12-months are the instructional videos and updated materials. The bonus Understanding Words program is accessible online through the website for the 12-month period.
Can I access the course on all my devices?
Yes. Phone, tablet, computer.
Can I share my access?
No. Access is for one family, school or clinic. It is not transportable to other settings other than one for which course access was purchased.
Can I access this course outside of Australia?
Yes. The content is available worldwide.
Who do I contact if I have issues?
Email admin@understandingminds.com.au if you have technical issues in signing up for or accessing the course.