Dyscastia

Full Show Notes available at dyscastia.com   In this episode, I talk with Valli Jones, a clinical psychologist from Queensland, about what it means to create a safe learning environment for students who live with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning difficulties. We focus on the idea that students learn best when they feel safe — not just physically safe, but emotionally and psychologically safe too. Valli Jones ...

In this episode, Michael Shanahan is joined by experienced specialist dyslexia tutor Sally Andrew to discuss The Literacy Support Kit (LSK)—a comprehensive set of resources designed to support children for whom standard literacy intervention programs are too difficult.

Sally Andrew

Sally holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy from the University of York, UK. Sally has been tutoring student...

In this episode, we have Liana McCurry back to talk about her Churchill Fellowship findings on what the top PISA performing countries are doing with maths instruction and how we can use that information to improve outcomes for kids living with learning difficulties.

Show notes

Liana McCurry’s Churchill Fellowship has come just in time. Liana travelled abroad to investigate best practices in teaching mathematics that ...

In this episode, we chat about daily review with David Morkunas, current head of teacher efficacy at Brandon Park Primary School, previously a teacher at Bentleigh West Primary School.   David Morkunas is a primary school teacher from Melbourne and currently works at Brandon Park Primary School, where his role is to help support whole school improvement in maths. David first made a name for himself by speaking about the...

Sue Griffith

Sue is a registered teacher with many years of experience in primary teaching. She has specialist Maths training in programs designed to support students experiencing difficulties or delays in Maths skills, including students with dyscalculia and/or dyslexia.

• QuickSmart Numeracy Intervention
• Ron Yoshimoto Multisensory Maths program – based on the Orton-Gillingham principles
• Singapore Maths
...

In this episode, we talk with Psychologist Benita Ranzon about one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized conditions that affect kids and adults - ADHD.

About Benita

I have been working in private practice at Fullarton House since 2005. The focus of my practice is on educational issues for students and adults.

• I offer diagnosis of specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalcu...

Show notes

In this episode, Bill, Michael and Sally discuss morphology teaching and begin to demystify a body of knowledge that sometimes feels like the next frontier for teachers. Most of us have got our heads about the importance of phonemes and training young brains to work with them at a highly proficient level (phonemic awareness), and how to teach synthetic phonics in more effective ways.

Most teachers also get th...

In this episode, we chat with educational consultant Debbie Draper about handwriting, why it's back and what we need to do to set kids up for successful writing.

 

About Debbie

When Debbie was in year five at primary school in rural Sout...

In this episode, we chat with clinical psychologist Kirrilie Smout about the emotional challenges of living with specific learning difficulties. Kirrilie givestopert advice for parents and teachers on how to set kids up for success and support them when things get tough. Show notes

Not keeping up at school and feeling like you aren’t able to do what the other kids can do is soul-destroying for young people...

In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, a determined parent who managed to secure NDIS funding for her child living with dyslexia. Kate tells us exactly how she did it!

 

In this episode, we chat with Kate Cole, who tells her NDIS funding story. Kate tells us why she applied and how she navigated mult...

Show notes

In this episode, we chat with two wonderful pre-service teachers, Lara (left) and Robert (right), who have just completed level one of Teaching Students with Dyslexia (TSD1). We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to ask Lara and Robert to reflect on what they’d just learned at TSD and how this contrasted with what they were learning about teaching literacy at University.

Lara

Lara is ...

In this episode, we talk to Bill, Sally, Karen, and Louise who run specialist dyslexia teacher training. We find out what’s involved and help you decide whether you should take up the challenge.

Sally Andrew

holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy from the University of York, UK. Sally has been tutoring students with dyslexia for 20 years and has trained many parents and educators in evidence-based multisensory i...

In this episode, Michael and Bill discuss a blog that Bill wrote called Schools that teach Reading and Spelling in a Research Informed way: Picking a Winner.

In the episode, we focus on tips for parents to get beyond the sales pitch to make an informed decision about whether the school might be a good fit.

The first part of this episode discusses six red flags to look out for that may indicate that the school doesn't have a scient...

This episode answers the common questions schools and parents have when changing from a whole-language or balanced literacy way of teaching to one supported by scientific evidence.

• “Why wasn’t my older one taught reading this way”
• “Why have the take-home readers changed and why do the new ones look so basic compared to the old ones?”
• “Where have the levelled readers and Running Records gone?” “What’s this stuff about phono...

In this episode, we talk to Dr Sandra Marshall, BMBS FRACGP Dip Child Health, a General Practitioner in South Australia and Chairperson of Code Read Dyslexia Network. Sandra shares her insights for parents and teachers on advocating for kids living with learning difficulties.

Show notes

Dr Sandra Marshall realized that there was a problem with how reading is taught in Australia when her own sons started to struggle in prim...

Dyscalculia literally means disorder in calculation. It's real and it impacts about 5-7% of the population. It is also one of the Specific Learning Difficulties (SLDs) so we need to talk about it.

It’s so common to hear people say “I’ve just never had a head for numbers” or “I’m terrible at maths” that we don’t flinch when we hear it. But, what would you think if you heard someone say “I’ve never had a head for letters and speech s...

In this episode, Michael and Bill do their very best to arm parents and educators with information about dyslexia and dysgraphia so they can better spot a good intervention and avoid precious time and money on unproven and disproved treatments.

Dyslexia and dysgraphia – huge enough on their own and often live together in one brain making life doubly hard for people. There’s just so much misleading information out there about these ...

In this episode, Michael and Bill delve into what Specific Learning Difficulties are and the advantages vs the disadvantages of using terms like learning difference, disability or disorder to describe them.

So what do we call it when a person can’t learn to do something like reading, writing or maths as easily as what is considered normal? 

It’s a touchy subject and to be honest, it probably depends on the context you’re in when ta...