The memory problems can manifest themselves in terms of dyslexia or dyscalculia, but in both cases they can be accompanied by difficulties in reading a clock, understanding bus or train timetables, or even remembering the sequence of months of the year, or the seasons.

To overcome this problem I have worked with colleagues on a book that contains hundreds of activities for pupils and students to undertake, all focussed on time. The idea is that by working through the activities those taking part come to see how all the different elements of time fit together.

The book, formerly known as “The Key To Time”, starts with a test which allows you to see what sort of problems the young person has, and from that point on you can select different sections of the book to work on with the pupil or student.

In each case the lesson plan is set out so that any teacher or teaching assistant can use it. The series of lessons starts with “The four phases of the day” (morning, afternoon, evening, night) and ends with the complex interrelationship of months and years. There is also a series of diagrams which show how time (which can seem quite an arbitrary arrangement to people suffering from dyslexia or dyscalculia) relates to the real world.

The book is now available and to make it easy to use it can be supplied either as a CD which can be loaded onto the school IT network, or as a photocopiable volume which can be used throughout the school. Thus once you have one copy, it can be used over and over again. This can be particularly helpful with the timelines and clock illustrations which the pupils can regularly re-use. It also means that teaching assistants can be given copied sections of the book to use as needs be.

The Key to Time by Tony Attwood

Publisher’s reference: T1712emn

SBN: 978 1 86083 707 4

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1712.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £25.95.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £32.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=540

Research confirms that reading speeds and understanding increase, sometimes dramatically, when the page is tinted with colour*.

Crossbow Education have developed an extensive range of Visual Stress support and assessment resources, using the research carried out by Professor Arnold Wilkins of Essex University. These include:

* Eye Level Reading Rulers

* A4 & Monitor Overlays

* Tinted Pads & Exercise Books

* Software solutions

We have special offers for you. To take advantage just go online (click here) . To see our full dyslexia-friendly range, or find out more about us, visit www.crossboweducation.com

If you are one of the 50% of UK schools who use us already, don’t miss this opportunity to save money as you stock up in time for exams. We aim to ship all orders within one working day, so your students won’t be waiting for long.

*22% of children increased their reading speed by up to 25% when reading through colour. (Wilkins at al 1995). The Dyslexia Research Trust, led by Oxford Professor John Stein, suggest that up to 50% of children may benefit.

It may of course just be me, but I know from experience that I can spend hours with some pupils working in sequences and get to the stage where their work really is developing. But then, when they find themselves faced with a sequencing issue in the middle of something else, much of that progress disappears.

The same sort of thing happens in all sorts of areas. They may have studied homophones – and, of course, they need more and more practice in this area. But then as we start work in other areas so the memory of the work on homophones disappears.

The answer, at least in part, seems to involve moving away from the dyslexia materials that the pupils are following and taking them into other, previously unseen, materials.

In this way the pupils can get a moment’s release from the regular work that they have to go through to overcome their disability.

Furthermore, for those pupils who are unable to undertake this sort of work because of a lack of specialist teachers and assistant teachers, it can be very helpful to have a range of resources that the pupil can work through on his/her own, to reinforce knowledge that has been gained.

For all these reasons, I rather like the Dyslexia Resource Pack which contains activities centring around syllables, compound words, root words, anagrams, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, etc. All the materials are photocopiable for use within the school.

The materials are literacy specific, and as such can be used with pupils and students in key stages 2, 3 and 4 who have problems with any of the areas covered.

You can order the Dyslexia Resource Pack in any of these ways (quoting order number 16026)

• Online at http://bit.ly/a4rMdD
• By phone on 0117 940 6409
• By fax on 0117 940 6408
• By email (quoting a school order number) to sales@classroom-resources.co.uk

* By post to: Classroom Resources, PO Box 1489, Bristol, BS99 3QJ

What’s more the techniques that are known to work well with dyscalculic pupils also work well with pupils who have an average ability at maths.

The book outlines a series of individual methods of teaching maths, which is followed by a series of methods of learning which will benefit all pupils, irrespective of their levels of mathematical achievement. It also contains information on enhancing pupil memory and pupil ability to handle sequences. The methods can be adapted and used with all age groups. The approaches can be used by special needs teachers in small group or individual sessions, and can also be used within full class lessons.

Methods of Teaching Maths to Pupils with Dyscalculia also contains information for parents as well as information on how homework can be structured to the maximum benefit of dyscalculic pupils.

Methods of Teaching Maths to Pupils with Dyscalculia: ISBN: 978 1 86083 688 6; Order code: T1630emn

Sample pages can be found on http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1630.pdf

The volume is available as:

• A photocopiable book, price £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery inclusive of VAT.
• On CD, price £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery inclusive of VAT.
• Both book and CD at special price of £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery inclusive of VAT.

You can purchase the book:

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=459

They were called in to adjudicate on an advert for a student’s nightclub, which incorporated several remarks about dyslexics.

The ASA’s report considered that the advert, “in particular the deliberate errors in spelling and grammar, the letter L facing the wrong way, the dyslexic cooks joke and the Einstein cartoon, was likely to be interpreted as mocking people with dyslexia and suggesting they were stupid. We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence.”

Dyslexics are more likely than many to be criticised for their inability to spell or create grammatically correct written sentences, because their problems are not visible. Indeed it is commonplace for dyslexics who are required to write in the workplace to find themselves unduly criticised in ways that those with more obvious disabilities are not subjected to.

If you want to read the offending advert and the ASA’s commentary on it, it is at http://asa.org.uk/Complaints-and-ASA-action/Adjudications/2010/4/Junkies-Ltd/TF_ADJ_48366.aspx

Sometimes there is a book that simply offers what it says it offers – and this is one case in point.  It is a book of lesson plans for teachers who wish to work using drama with children with special needs.

It is comprehensive (180 A4 pages) in which the lessons can be used as one-off sessions but can also build into schemes of work.

There are lessons intended for students with moderate learning difficulties as well as those with disabilities who might participate in sessions with a support worker.

The book has been written with basic KS3 skills in mind, in particular through the  development of literacy skills, as well as basic drama skills. However it can be equally be used towards other aims: for example, to build group trust or self confidence, to teach self awareness, body awareness and self-expression.

Drama for Students with Special Needs by Louise Tondeur is available as a photocopiable ringbinder or on CD Rom which can itself be copied or loaded onto the school’s learning platform or intranet.

Cat No: 978 1 86083 790 6  Order code: T1689emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/spneeds/T1689.pdf

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £36.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=501

Although there might be some doubt about the numbers involved there is certainly no doubt that dyscalculia is a special need that affects a large number of children.

The problem is, however, that whereas a large number of resources exist for dyslexic children the number of resources for teachers and teaching assistants which relate to dyscalculic children is much smaller.

Practical Activities for Children with Dyscalculia by Tony Attwood was written for teachers working with individuals or small groups of such children. The book provides a series of activities that will resolve the mathematical “block” that many of these children face, in a series of small group or individual lessons.

By working through these activities children who have fundamental problems in handling the most basic of mathematical concepts will learn how to handle numbers, sequences, addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. The book takes the child from the concept of “higher” and “lower” to division by numbers over 12.

Practical Activities for Children with Dyscalculia works from the basis that just as the standard methods of teaching literacy to dyslexic children are not very effective, so the standard methods of teaching numeracy to dyscalculic children are also ineffective.

For this reason, these children continue to fail even when given intensive one-to-one tuition in maths using the traditional approach is used. And thus an alternative “multi-sensory” approach was devised for this book.

A school using this system will need to provide a series of coloured counters (such as those used with games of Ludo or tiddlywinks) and for some of the later work, a set of cards. (These can be purchased from the publisher, along with the book).

Practical Activities for Children with Dyscalculia is photocopiable throughout and available on CD Rom so that, where it is deemed desirable, sections may be copied and handed over to parents so that they can work with the child at home on simple exercises. The book can also be stored on the school’s network for use throughout the school.

Sample pages of the book may be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1654.pdf

Publisher’s catalogue number T1654emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 710 4

Format of the book

• Photocopiable book: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Text on CD: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both photocopiable book and text on CD: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Methods of ordering

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax on 01536 399 012
• By phone with a credit card or with an official school order number on 01536 399 011
• On line with a credit card at http://tinyurl.com/lvceqn

Furthermore, the vast majority of teachers still have only limited training in dealing with ADHD. And indeed while it is one thing to provide support for ADHD students within the special needs environment in the school it is another to raise general teacher awareness about ADHD and to provide the resources necessary to help teachers to do something about it.

ADHD, as a genetic disorder (like dyslexia or dyscalculia), cannot be “cured” but one can foster ways of overcoming the problem. The issue of medication will remain one for the parents and doctors, but ADHD pupils can be helped enormously through multi-sensory teaching approaches.

What’s more, these teaching approaches can be used not just in special needs classes, but as a way of engaging with the young people in all lessons in the school.

The book, ADD: Practical Activities in School, comes in photocopiable form or as a CD so that you can share it with colleagues in the school (it can be put on the school’s learning platform so all can access it). It goes into details as to what ADD is and how it can be recognised, through daily work with ADD children and the specific issues that relate to ADD from impulsiveness to homework, from rewards to specific activities such as sport and the arts.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 145 4; Publisher reference no T995EMN
Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/attentiondeficit/T995.pdf

Prices

Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £15.95. plus £3.95 delivery
CD with school-wide rights: £15.95 plus £3.95 delivery
Both the Ring Binder and the CD £22.94 plus £3.95 deliveryPrices include VAT.
You can purchase the book…

By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
By fax to 01536 399 012
By phone with a school order number on 01536 399 011
On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=125

Ed Balls doubles funding to kick-start national fundraising appeal -

- Michael Palin launches new appeal to expand services and increase training of speech and language therapists -

A further £500,000 was today announced by Schools Secretary, Ed Balls to help fund a new centre which will provide early intervention and support for children and young people who stammer.

The funding is supporting the ARSC (Association for Research into Stammering in Childhood) Appeal for a new centre of excellence in West Yorkshire to complement the existing centre in London. It brings the total contribution to the Appeal from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to £1 million.

The Prince of Wales, Patron of the ARSC Appeal, hosted a reception today at Clarence House, where Michael Palin gave his backing to support the charity’s ambitions to raise a further £2 million to expand services at the centre in London and help set up the new centre in West Yorkshire.

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said:

“It is tremendous news that HRH The Prince of Wales has agreed to become the Patron of this very important appeal, which will ensure that more children than ever will get the chance to get specialist speech and language support with their stammer.

“I want every child to get the support they need to be able to progress and reach their potential, and no young boy or girl should be held back by a stammer or any other special need. If children with a stammer get the right specialist help early on, they can very often overcome any difficulties and go on to excel at school and in later life

“More than 3,500 children and their parents have already been supported at the Michael Palin Centre in London since it opened in March 1993. The Michael Palin Centre does great work to help children and their families and we know the big difference they make.

“The new centre of excellence in West Yorkshire will mean more accessible support for thousands more children across the country.

“That’s why I am delighted we are contributing to the new centre, expanding services and increasing training of speech and language therapists.”

Andy Burnham, Health Secretary said:

“We can do more to give all children the best possible start in life, particularly those whose self-esteem and self-confidence may be low because of a stammer. This extra money will make a huge difference for hundreds of young people. I feel particularly strongly that children in the North of England should have better access to specialist support.

“Work at the Michael Palin Centre has demonstrated the benefits of specialist intervention at an early stage. I am very pleased that the NHS in Yorkshire and the Humber is working closely with the Association for Research into Stammering on the development of a further centre of excellence.”

Michael Palin, Vice President of ARSC, said:

“My own experience of my father’s stammer made me determined to support the Charity’s aim – that every child in the country should be able to get specialist help.

“I am immensely proud of all we have achieved at the Michael Palin Centre but there are many more children who need us.

“I wholeheartedly support the aims of this Appeal and I urge you to join me. Together we can help to change the lives of many more children and make sure that, unlike my father, they are spared the agony of a lifelong stammer.”

Frances Cook, Centre Manager at the Michael Palin Centre said:

“This is a really positive step forward for children and young people who stammer. For too long families have had difficulty accessing specialist therapy because resources have been so scarce. Stammering is a problem that can be helped and with extra funds we can do so much more.”

Dame Gail Ronson, Chair of the ARSC Appeal said:

“Stammering is very close to my family’s heart and I am delighted to support this Appeal. This is a wonderful opportunity to increase the help we can give to so many more children and young people, giving them the opportunity they deserve to fulfil their potential. ”

Editor’s Notes
This press notice relates to ‘England’

1. The Michael Palin Centre in London opened in 1993. It provides practical help, advice and support for children who stammer. It has helped more than 3,000 children to achieve their full potential through better communication. The Centre has a team of 11 specialist speech and language therapists. The department provided a grant of £340,000 to the Michael Palin centre in London over three financial years to develop and pilot an effective Stammering Information Programme

2. In October 2009, Ed Balls and Michael Palin launched the Stammering Information Programme. The programme is designed to equip the education work force with skills to support children who stammer; engaging speech and language therapists; encouraging better collaboration across different sectors of the children’s workforce services; and to make sure strategies are in place to help prevent any discrimination or disadvantages these children may face.

Funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the programme offers information, advice and training materials and follows the review by John Bercow, MP of speech, language and communication needs, where communication was highlighted as a key skill children need to succeed.

The roll-out of the stammering programme began in December 2009 and 1,000 members of the educational workforce have already received the DVD giving practical advice on supporting children who stammer.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0195

3. On top of today’s announcement of an extra £500k making a total of £1m, the government has already pledged £5million in 2009 to help improve services for children and young people with communication problems. This is part of a £12 million investment to implement the Government Action Plan, Better Communication.

The package of measures includes:
- Recruitment of a Communication Champion to raise the profile of these issues, drive delivery of reforms, improve local performance and lead the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication (2011-2012).

- Sixteen pilot areas – backed by £2million investment – have been chosen to identify good practice in providing support for children with speech, language and communication needs through the joint working of organisations such as PCTs and local authorities. This will be used to develop a national framework to improve the way services are delivered for children across the country.
- The University of Warwick has been selected to lead a consortium delivering a three year, £1.5million research programme on the cost-effectiveness of interventions for children with speech, language and communication needs and to improve the evidence base.
- Twelve organisations working to support children with alternative and augmentative communication needs have been chosen to share grants totalling £500,000 this year as part of Becta’s commitment to provide £1.5 million of funding over three years. These grants aim to support delivery and provision of services.

4. Location of the new centre in West Yorkshire is to be decided

While regular work with dyslexic pupils and students using the multi-sensory method is vital, it is also important to give those with dyslexia breaks from the routine of these lessons.

The introduction of new material in a game format, for example, at the end of each lesson can make the process of overcoming dyslexia seem more enjoyable for the pupil, especially if any frustration at the lack of ability to read fluently is setting in.

It is for this reason that the Dyslexia Games Manual was produced – a selection of fifty different games which can be used in different ways according to the literacy ability of the individual pupil.

Each game can be played many times over which means that the manual can be used time and again during the pupil’s work at school. The games can be played just by the teacher and the pupil, or by several pupils at once. All can be used by a teaching assistant with one or more pupils.

The Manual comes as a ring bound photocopiable resource which can be used time and again. It is recommended for developing literacy skills, increasing visual and auditory recall, as well as strengthening sequencing and organisational ability.

The manual costs £24.99 and is zero rated for VAT. Postage and packing is £4.99.

You can order the Manual…

By phone on 01536 399 018 with a school order number or credit card
By fax on 01536 399 012
By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
By email to sales@Firstandbest.co.uk