Welcome to Dyslexics.org.uk

The site includes plenty of evidence-based, practical advice for any parent (or grandparent) whose children, schooled or otherwise, need help with the basics of the three R's; reading, writing and arithmetic. Home tutors and the parents of children with school phobia /school refusal may also find the content useful.

The most important pages are those covering the teaching of reading. Are you aware that there is a science-based method called **synthetic phonics that will enable every child (or adult) to read quickly and easily as long as it is used first, fast and exclusively? Go to ''synthetic phonics'' to find out about this simple, common-sense method and how to school-proof your child.

A couple of pages provide information on home education (known as homeschooling in the USA) and its benefits for dyslexic young people, but I must emphasise that this is not an anti-school site. The content is simply the knowledge that I wish I'd had 'at my fingertips' many years ago when I first realised that my youngest son was having serious difficulties learning to read.

This website is an on-going project and the content is subject to constant revision. New information and weblinks are added regularly, much of it challenging to conventional and established beliefs concerning dyslexia and the teaching of reading.

A little history: I was, myself, home educated whilst my family lived in East Africa during the 1950s. Along with many other things, my mum used Charlotte Mason materials for my education - I still have some exercise books from that time with a flying bird logo and the motto 'I Am, I Can, I Ought, I Will' printed on the front covers. In retrospect I was lucky that mum taught me to read (using first, the 'Old Lob' books, followed by the 'Beacon Readers') as the one-to-one tuition and phonic method she used ensured that I learnt to read early and well.

** Synthetic, in this case, doesn't mean artificial or plastic, it means 'blend together'; beginning readers are taught to read words by saying a phoneme for each grapheme and then blending (synthesising) the phonemes all-through-the-written-word to arrive at a pronunciation for the whole word.

Susan Godsland.
Independent, remedial reading tutor using the Sound Reading System
Reading Reform Foundation committee member www.rrf.org.uk
Former Trustee for Devon Dyslexia Association
Trained in the Sounds~Write programme
Part of the team that trained teachers in the Caribbean (2006) using the Jolly Phonics and Sound Discovery reading programmes.

Friendly correspondence always welcome:
susan@godsland.net
....................................................................................................
If you are interested in synthetic phonics or want to ask questions about any aspect of reading instruction, join us on the Reading Reform Foundation message board (you'll need to register before you can post): www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/

NEW: EVERYBODY is welcome to attend the UK Reading Reform Foundation 2008 LONDON conference *Friday 7th November* Speakers include Prof. Rhona Johnston, Dr. Marlynne Grant, Fiona Nevola, Katie Ivens and the Shadow Minister for Schools Nick Gibb. Book NOW for 'early bird' price: www.rrf.org.uk/2008conference.html

Did you know that many intervention programmes for children struggling with reading and basic skills programmes for adult non-readers consist, mostly, of activities that will not help them to learn to read and write, in fact, some of the most common activities will actually damage the development of accurate reading skills? “A lot of existing approaches are founded on lies. There’s no scientific evidence for their efficacy” (Phil Beadle.SundayTimes 20/07/08) See- What NOT to do

Do the Infant classes in your school teach reading through the use of Oxford Reading Tree or Bookbanded books i.e. whole language books with predictable or repetitive text? See- 10 Reasons Why Beginning Readers Should Only Use Decodable Books
...............................................................................

The Channel 4 TV 'Lost for Words' website has www.dyslexics.org.uk on its links page www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/L/lost_for_words/ 'If you are worried that your child's reading difficulties may be more complex than at first thought and you would like support and information about how your child can learn this website can help'.

Dyslexics.org.uk receives the top 'five star' rating for educational content on Schoolzone: www.schoolzone.co.uk/resources/webguide ''This was a great site. It was very easy to use and highly informative...''

The Core Knowledge Foundation (USA), founded by Professor Hirsch, recommends dyslexics.org.uk: http://coreknowledge.org/CK/schools/KTR/links.htm

N.B. This website has NO political or religious affiliations.

I have NO financial interest in any reading programme or educational product. I am partial to the Sound Reading System as it's the intervention programme I use very successfully in my work as an independent tutor.

COPYRIGHT. You are welcome to link to this website. You may also copy pages for personal or professional use as long as www.dyslexics.org.uk is clearly acknowledged as the source, content is not used out of context or altered in any way and it is NOT for commercial use. If you wish to copy several pages from the website for use in the public domain please contact me for permission first. Thank you.