My website is http://www.sydneylearning.com
I have opened a centre called Sydney Learning Difficu;ties Education Centre
at Bexley. I am starting to get more children now!

I offer a range of individually mixed programmes. The approach varies from
Spalding ,Visualising and Verbalising, Maths using cuisenaire blocks, speech
and oral expression assistance, written expression and handwriting
assistance. I find that children enjoy learning out of the ordinary facts
including word origins etc. They help them to remember. One 7 yr old boy who
had no understanding of base 10 at all came to me today and told me (one
week later) that twenty comes from the same root as two so twenty means
2×10, He loves to go around saying the “w” in two and understands that
English people just got too lazy to say all the letters. He is a cute
,scatty and earnest lad with poor hand writing and letter reversals but he
is keenly interested in all sorts of things and thrives when I address his
quirky mind. I use many different physically active ways to help kids form
the letters properly. “Writing in the air”, “Shaving cream” “Writing on the
child’s back-guess the letter” etc.

I have a paricular interest in helping people with epilepsy and learning
difficulties. This is due to my oldest son who suffered from hard to control
epilepsy for many years. He is 28 now but had a hard time at school and uni.
I found that he had some difficulties which were due to his epilepsy. No-one
talked about his learning needs They only discussed seizure control. I have
done some study on this for my M Ed

I have also been testing children who did the Naplan and found that the
literacy “grade level” pass was as some friends had suggested a whole 2
years behind that of the syllabus/ text book requirements. So it was good
enough for the children to be 2 years behind and they were not considered
worthy of intervention. There is so much political correctness in teaching.
I don’t want to write another job application pretending that everyone suits
a mainstream school . Throwing kids in to sink or swim is not integration.

Some items of interest I would like to share

1.check out the “Learning Choices ” web site. It has lots of links to
various educational pathways around Autralia. Many might help young people
with dyslexia. A great resourse if someone asks you “What can we do for
Mary?”

.Learning Choices is part of the Dusseldorp Skills Forum- see below. I just
stumbled on this site. (just like I stumbled on yours) It looks very
interesting for young people with Learning Difficulties.

2.The John Berne School at Lewisham is a Catholic school for students in
years 7-10 who are facing great problems fitting in the ordinary school. It
is small and includes intensive literacy programme using the SRA Spelling
Through Morphograph method. It is an unusual programme because it is
specifically designed for older kids with reading difficulties. There are
only about 40 young students at the school and plenty of acess to
counsellors etc. Many parents have said that teachers don’t treat them as
guilty for the first time. Parents also report that the school actually
likes their children rather than thinking they are lazy troublemakers. It is
sad to say that my friend who is the Special Education teacher at this
school says none of the schools refering students there to “fix them up”
ever have said the students can not read..
Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF)
1 Glebe Street, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia.
phone: 02 9571 8347 fax: 02 9571 9703
“Enabling All Australians to Reach their Potential” http://www.dsf.org.au
info@dsf.org.au

3. Do you know about the site http://www.childrenofthecode.? it has amazing amount
of accessible interviews and information on learning , reading, writing and
language. Much of the information is on audio format so would be great for
anyone with dyslexia. It is the latest scientific information. The interview
“What happens When Children Become Ashamed of their Minds by a Psychiatrist
called Nathanson is good.

I love one quote from it especially. You can’t use it because I tell it to
everyone everyday and I want them to think I am original!

” From the moment a kid wakes up till he goes to bed at nightthe central
mission of the day is to avoid humiliation at all costs. And that
humiliation is harm and it does not cost any money to make sure a kid is
getting through the day without being humiliated ”

There are also hundreds of video recordings of interviews. All material can
be freely used for non-profit purposes. (if acknowledged)

The brain is still a strange place waiting to be fully understood. It is a place where you can’t know what the whole is like by putting the pieces together. “Autism” and other such diagnoses can’t be spotted like measles.

Keep up the good work – please start a school in Sydney so I can teach there. It would be great to have some likeminded staff! I especially mean a like-minded boss! I have found some really great teachers who try desperately not to loose heart. I had better do some work. I think I might spend hours on this blog now that I can write what I’m passionate about.

best wishes

I have a friend whose son was recently diagnosed with Dyslexia – but her son also has a diagnosis of Autism. How is this possible? While the disorders may have many similar observable characteristics, aren’t they opposite in the type of cognitive deficit?