A reflection on reading difficulty and assessment

How things have changed in the last few years. Where there was once little to read in relation to reading difficulty, now there is a mountain. Parents, understandably are concerned about their child’s lack of progress with literacy and learning, especially given the perceived decline of standards in Australian education and lower relative levels of achievement, compared to more progressive parts of the world

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What’s in the name?

While attending a school as an advocate for a recently assessed child last week, an interesting comment was made by the teacher in charge of literacy. She made the comment that at that school they do not use the term ‘Dyslexia’, as they do not believe that such a thing exists. Interestingly this was a school in the State system, where it was thought there had been some enlightenment around the topic.

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NAPLAN should not mean NO PLAN!

Over the last couple of weeks, parents have been receiving their individual NAPLAN reports. For some, this has meant a sigh of relief that their child is at or above the expected level. Some news is expected and conforms with what is already known about the child. For others, below level performance raises many questions. Does my child have a problem? Should I be worried about their academic achievement? Why didn't someone tell me that my child was below level? This last question is often the opening comment when parents enquire about assessment following NAPLAN assessment.

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Assessment of learning - so many questions!

These are four very important questions. Whether or not your child actually has a learning difficulty can only be answered when some kind of assessment is conducted. Parents frequently report a “gut feeling” about their child’s reading or learning and may say things like “my husband…or I, had similar difficulties at school”. However it is only by having assessment done that the concern will be confirmed.

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