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Dyslexia workshop trains local, regional special
education teachers
Web Posted - Tue Jul 31 2007
By Patricia Thangaraj
CARING for children with dyslexia could be very expensive, because
they are very few schools that cater to children with this learning
disability. This means that parents have to pay extra money for
special lessons after they have paid to get them tested.
At
the Caribbean Dyslexia Centre (CDC), parents can either pay for
their dyslexic childs lessons, one course at a time at $55, or they
can take the package where they have to pay $2 500 annually for 38
lessons and two summer courses. Lessons are 45 minutes each for one
on one training. Testing for dyslexia is $125 for the younger
children and $225 for the older children.
This
is why the Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills
(THRASS) has been developed. Through this programme, children can be
tutored as a group, which can reduce the cost of lessons.
The
THRASS Programme shows teachers a new way to teach phonics. It is
expected that over the next two days, the teachers would learn of
new ways on how they can teach letter sounds.
As
you know, they are 26 letters in the alphabet, but there are 44
sounds and there are graphs, dia-graphs, tri-graphs. What this
programme is trying to do is to bring in all of those sounds that
should be learned when you first start to learn the alphabet. Out of
this we hope that teachers would be able to go into their classrooms
and make a difference in how they teach letter sounds, said Yvonne
Spencer, co-founder of the Caribbean Dyslexia Centre. She was
speaking at the first day of the three-day THRASS Workshop at the
Goddards Training Centre yesterday.
The
teachers would also enhance their skills in teaching reading and
handwriting skills to the dyslexic students. It is being facilitated
by the husband and wife team of Alan Davies, who created the THRASS
Programme, and his wife, Hilary, who is one of the trainers. They
have also conducted this programme in Australia, Mauritius and the
Cayman Islands.
The
CDC first heard of the programme when it was being run in South
Africa and they sent one of their special education teachers to
check it out. She was impressed with it and came home and
recommended it to her counterparts.
Spencer heeded her advice because she felt that there was a need to
bring this programme to Barbados, since there are a number of
children who are having difficulty in developing their language
skills. Although no research has been carried out locally, the
international figure stands around four to ten per cent, and Spencer
believes that the local figure would be similar.
Furthermore, dyslexia is something that is here to stay because it
is heredity, which means you cant get rid of it that easily, but
with special lessons and one on one teaching, such as multi-sensory
teaching, a dyslexic can overcome their condition.
Twelve teachers from both the primary and secondary school levels
from Monseratte, Trinidad, and Barbados participated in the
programme.
Source: Barbados Advocate
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