Read3 Newsletter (September 2023)
Greetings everyone 👋
It's hard to believe another school term has drawn to an end. Hopefully you are all enjoying some much-needed downtime.
Over the past month, our main focus at Read3 has been on moving some of our many and varied projects forward.
Kate has been working on ways to support our schools including:
- online access to the Easy Alphabet for classroom use
- ideas to streamline bulk printing of resources for group instruction
- a capital letters add-on to support Module 1
Robyn and Kate headed away for a week to work on:
- our new 'Say It' series of resources (see below)
- updates to the CHIPS screener (coming soon)
- a new reading fluency screener (ready 2024)
Having so many projects on the go can be a bit of a juggling act, given the small size of our team, but we sure like to keep ourselves busy! 🤣
As well as managing finances, orders, emails, proposals and resource printing, every Read3 order is lovingly hand-packed by Amanda. 📦🤍
Is it dyslexia, DLD or both?
Can you spot the difference in your classroom?
As we head into Dyslexia Awareness Month, it seemed appropriate that we talk a little about reading difficulties!
In this video presentation Robyn shares the work of Louise Spear-Swerling, reprinted earlier this year by Learning Difficulties Australia, which reviews research on three common patterns of poor reading.
Based on the Simple View of Reading model, Spear-Swerling breaks learning difficulties down into:
- Specific Word Reading Difficulties;
- Specific Reading Comprehension Difficulties; and
- Mixed Reading Difficulties
Click below to join Robyn as she discusses the article highlights and how to identify and support students with specific learning difficulties in the classroom.
Article: 'Common types of reading problems and how to help children who have them' by Louise Spear-Swerling. Published in Learning Difficulties Australia | Vol 55 No 1, April 2023
Light it RED for Dyslexia
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and thanks to Code REaD we'll be seeing buildings and monuments right across Australia lit up red in support of dyslexia. This initiative, now in its 9th year, is an important event on the Dyslexia Awareness Month calendar.
The Code REaD Dyslexia Network is a charitable organisation that advocates tirelessly for those with dyslexia. Their vision is:
"for all people with dyslexia to be understood, acknowledged, empowered and to have equal access to opportunities"
It goes without saying that a vision such as this is very close to our own hearts. 💓 Read3 was created specifically to support children with, or at-risk of, dyslexia and we urge you to get involved with this great initiative!
Support Code REaD in your local area!
Whether it's registering a building, buying some merchandise, making a donation or joining your local dyslexia support group!
For details on how you can get involved in 'Light It Red for Dyslexia' visit: https://codereadnetwork.org/get-involved/lir2023/
You'll find some great FAQs about dyslexia answered HERE
We'd love to see you or your local building lit up red! feel free to share photos to support@read3.com.au or tag @read3.literacy
-----
On a trip to Tasmania earlier this year Kate met Code REaD Board Member Marshall Roberts (aka 'The Angry Farmer') and discussed dyslexia, structured literacy and all things Read3.
New 'Say It' Series added to Step 1!
Introducing 4 new activities to support children who are struggling to blend sounds.
Have you ever had a child who knows their letters and sounds but can't blend those sounds to form words? Have you tried every trick in the book and still get 'a'-'t' instead of 'at', or 'i'-'n' instead of 'in'?
It's frustrating isn't it?
This difficulty with blending usually arises from limited phonological skills. The child is focused on the meaning of a word not the sounds inside that word. Most likely they aren't even aware there are sounds in words! Even if they can link letters to sounds they don't understand how those letters relate to a spoken word. So, we need to back up and explicitly teach them awareness of sounds in words, starting with the rhyme part and then narrowing down to the individual sounds.
The 'Say It' series was created to help step children through the process of blending, segmenting and deleting sounds before progressing to identifying individual phonemes in words and applying letters.
Say It activities have been added to Module 1 Step 1. If you're using the Read3 program, simply log in and give it a go!
Read3 now offering consults to schools and clinics
When supporting students with learning difficulties sometimes another opinion can be useful. Read3 is now offering consultation sessions with an experienced Speech Pathologist to assist!
Suitable for learning support teams and speech pathologists, our team member will connect via phone or Zoom to review client concerns and guide you on 'next steps' within the Read3 program.
To book, select a time on our Consultation Calendar and we'll organise an invoice for you.
Please note, our Free Discovery Call (20 mins) is available for anyone wishing to learn more about the suitability of Read3 for their clients/students or questions regarding Read3 training.
Final training for 2024 - Don't miss out!
Our final speech pathologist training block for 2023 starts 13 October, 2023.
This block consists of four x 1.5 hr sessions.
Each participant will have access to Module 1 Step 1 of the Read3 program throughout the training block so they can practice what they learn!
REGISTER FOR SLP TRAINING
Setting your school budget for 2024?
Pre-book your Read3 training and save!
If you're thinking about getting started with Read3 in 2024, please reach out for a proposal.
Early Bird Offer:
Buy-3-Get-1-Free
Book your Read3 training now and we'll train your fourth staff member for free! Training is self-paced and can be undertaken any time up to the end of Term 1, 2024.
Click below to lodge your interest or phone Read3 for details!
Offer ends 18 October 2023.
Curated list of titles now available!
We're pleased to say that our curated list of almost 100 FREE Progressive Phonics titles is now available. If you haven't done so already, pop over and download your copy today.
Progressive Phonics is the brain child of Miz Katz N Ratz, a writer-illustrator in the US. These titles are a fantastic starting point for any struggling beginner reader, and are particularly great for those with Rapid Automatised Naming difficulties.