Learning how to learn: Metacognition & Specific Learning Difficulties

Understanding the Assessment Process As awareness of Specific Learning Disorders grows, more and more students are being referred for psycho-educational investigation of the nature of their academic learning difficulties. This workshop aims to provide teachers, allied professionals and parents with an overview of the assessment and diagnostic processes used by psychologists to identify whether a student has a Specific Learning Disorder and determine the intervention that is most likely to benefit them, based on their individual profile of learning strengths and weaknesses. The first session will review Specific Learning Disorders and the three academic skill areas - reading, written expression and mathematics - that may be impaired, with a focus on the characteristics of the disorders. The second session will focus on the way results and conclusions may be reported, and the implications of differing learning profiles for remediation and classroom instruction. **This webinar will be recorded and available for two weeks after the event** Date: Monday 20th & Monday 27th May 2024 Time: 6:30 pm - 8: 30 pm AEST (Melbourne Time) Cost: LDA Member: $50 LDA Student Member - $40 Non-Member - $70 About Peta Collins Peta is an educational and developmental psychologist. She is an experienced presenter and trainer in the areas of both written expression and reading development. Peta has been closely involved in the development of DSF's workshops in both Talk for Writing and Talk for Reading, both of which are exceptionally effective programs. Peta also delivers professional learning in a range of other topics and programs, including as a LETRS facilitator, and regularly works with schools and individual teachers to support the implementation of high-quality literacy instruction. Peta has a teaching qualification and uses a range of evidence-based programs in individual and small-group tuition with students of all ages who are experiencing literacy learning difficulties. As a senior psychologist at DSF, Peta supervises clinical staff, and regularly consults with families and teachers about learning difficulties and disorders.

Working memory is often an area of weakness in neurodivergent children. Educators often know what this means, but seek practical ideas and strategies for how to support children with reduced working memory. This is a practical workshop in which you will explore working memory difficulties and how to support them, both in the classroom and in tutoring/intervention sessions. We will explore what working memory is, what happens when it is compromised and how to identify working memory difficulties. You'll be taken through a checklist for evaluating your practice. You will also be offered some practical strategies to use in class situations and intervention sessions. Participants will come away with some quick wins, ideas to try and principles for your teaching which should be transformational for your students. **This webinar will be recorded and available for one month after the event** Date: Wednesday 19th June 2024 We will notify you of the new date in the next few days. Time: 7:30 pm - 9: 00 pm AEST (Melbourne Time) Cost: LDA Member: $40 LDA Student Member - $30 Non-Member - $60 About Louise Selby Louise Selby works freelance as a dyslexia specialist teacher, assessor, trainer, consultant and author. She has experience as an advisory teacher in Hertfordshire Local Authority (UK), a primary school teacher, SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) and a teacher of learners with English as an Additional Language. Louise's first book, Morph Mastery, a Morphological Intervention for Reading and Spelling, was published by Speedmark (Routledge) in 2021, and her next two books for the same publisher are called All About Dyslexia (primary and secondary) are due for publication in 2024. Louise's tagline is enabling, equipping, empowering. She is passionate about working with educators, schools and parents to enable the best outcomes for children with specific learning difficulties. Website: www.louiseselbydyslexia.com

Join us for our maths course which will feature a range of presenters such as Steve Chinn, Sarah Powell and Liana McCurry over three sessions on the following dates: Session 1: Monday 5th August 2024, 6 pm - 9 pm AEST (Melbourne Time) Session 2: Monday 19th August 2024, 6 pm - 9 pm AEST (Melbourne Time) Session 3: Saturday 31st August 2024, 9:30 - 12:30 AEST (Melbourne Time) **This webinar will be recorded and available for one month after the event** Cost: LDA Member: $300 LDA Student Member - $245 Non-Member - $390 About the presenters More information coming soon

A skilled writer conveys a message that can be accurately interpreted by a reader. Unfortunately, when students write about what they did during their holidays or on the weekend, it is difficult to measure the accuracy of the written attempt as the context may not be known. Similarly, there are many students who, when asked to write, whether in the classroom or clinic, are reluctant to put pen to paper as they struggle to generate ideas. Fortunately, we know that a retell or recount can provide insight into a student’s language skills and when they write it down, it provides additional information about sentence structure, vocabulary and word meaning as well as their ability to sequence ideas into a cohesive text. Using video can be highly engaging, it can be paused and restarted to scaffold the writing task and the reader has a reference point against which they can compare the response to identify areas of strength and weakness. Furthermore, a written recount from an animated video is a task that can be administered with a whole class, providing an effective and efficient way to collect a piece of written text from a whole class during a single lesson. Join Kathryn to explore the classroom and clinic application of using animation clips to support comprehension and writing skills including practical easy to implement strategies to scaffold the success of students requiring additional support. **This webinar will be recorded and available for two weeks after the event** Date: Monday 14th October 2024 Time: 7:00 pm - 8: 30 pm AEST (Melbourne Time) Cost: LDA Member: $40 LDA Student Member - $30 Non-Member - $60 About Kathryn Thorburn Kathryn is a dual qualified Speech Pathologist and Teacher with a Masters in Special Education. She has 25 years of experience as a Speech Pathologist and runs a small private practice, Language and Learning. Kathryn has 20 years experience in education, she is a NESA accredited teacher and has taught in mainstream classroom & school executive roles in NSW Department of Education, and AISNSW schools across K-12. She has worked as an Education Officer: Developmental Disabilities Role within Catholic education, piloted a Rehabilitation - Education Liaison Role for the Hunter New England Paediatric Brain Injury & Rehabilitation Teams and has more recently been involved in the curriculum reform process with NESA for K-2 & 3-6 English. Kathryn is providing expert mentor support for the Hunter NELI project as part of the AISNSW School-Based Research Project. Kathryn understands first-hand the demands placed on classroom teachers, she strives to make the complex practical and to support school in supporting learners in the most effective, time and resource efficient manner possible. For more info, see www.languageandlearning.com.au/