During this course you will learn many multi-sensory and active strategies to help ALL children to acquire basic language skills. You will also learn specific strategies to help students who are experiencing difficulties with literacy development. This course is based on practical strategies that have been successfully trialed with thousands of children, including those who have English as a second language, dyslexia, language delay and learning difficulties.

Objectives
At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• provide teachers with a practical range of teaching strategies that will improve language outcomes for ALL their students.
• help children enjoy learning and therefore improve confidence and motivation by the use of these enjoyable, multi-sensory strategies.

Outline

Day 1

• Introduction & Overview
• The Success Board
• The CREAM approach: theory and research into practice
• Systematic Intensive Preparation For Literacy Skills
  • Phonemic awareness
  • Phonological understanding
  • Fine motor control
  • Midline skills
  • Eye tracking skills
  • Auditory and visual memory
  • Visual discrimination
  • Word recognition
  • Appropriate articulation skills
  • Word attack skills

Day 2

• Stages of Literacy Development
  • Developing effective basic literacy skills
    • Re-telling simple picture books with role play and finger puppets
    • Following Directions games
    • Barrier Games for improvement of oral language and descriptive language and concentration skills
    • Establishing literature based reading programs
    • Simple Readers’ Theatre
    • Active word recognition
    • Writing in the main genres using a clear visual mind-mapping approach alongside multisensory techniques
    • Multi-sensory spelling strategies using art material and tracing activities
• When difficulties occur
  • Common reading difficulties including dyslexia, delayed development, poor oral language and poor phonemic awareness
  • Remedial strategies that can be used within a classroom:
    • Language experience
    • Brain Stimulation techniques
    • Effective, structured, synthetic phonics
    • Improving word recognition
    • Neurological Impress method
    • Writing individual learning plans
    • Assessing and evaluating progress
• Implementing CREAM in your classroom
• Reflection
• Conclusion

Trainer’s Profile
Victoria is an experienced educator and consultant and has helped children of all ages reach academic potential. She has specialized in remedial education, teaching dyslexic children, education programmes for gifted and talented children and language and literacy acquisition.

For the past 15 years, she has conducted many professional development courses for teachers and parents and is often a guest speaker at national and international education conferences.

She presents many papers on improving standards in education and her own research and methodology for ensuring full educational development for students.

Methodology
The program includes lectures, audiovisual presentations, group discussions, as well as other classroom activities.

Target Audience
All educators of early childhood and primary children, who are seeking more innovative, effective ways to help children reach their academic potential.

Duration: 2 days, 12 hours
Closing Date: 15 Oct 06