Research into effective intervention for students with dyslexia has shed important light on how reading and spelling should be taught to all students in all schools. The pioneering work of Dr Samuel Orton and his colleague Anna Gillingham in the 1930s and 40s, gave us the essential ingredients for effectively teaching students with dyslexia: structured, synthetic phonics, a cumulative, fine-grained progression through the main ingredients of English orthography and ample opportunity for revision to the point of mastery.

In the decades since, a convergence of research findings has shown how Orton and Gillingham were spot on. Without the benefit of technology to watch the brain as it reads, Orton and Gillingham’s methods showed incredible insight into disorders of reading and how to best remediate them. Finally, in Australian schools there is a growing push to base literacy instruction on this research and cast aside teaching methods based on damaging and disproven ideologies.

In this session, Bill Hansberry shows what evidence-based Wave 3, intensive intervention looks like, the why and how of its various elements and how these same methods are adapted to enrich classroom teaching at Wave 1 with stunning results.

8.30 am-12.30 pm Tuesday 29 September. Register here.

Presenter: Bill Hansberry

Working in private practice at Fullarton House, Bill mentors young people who live with a wide range of challenges including learning differences/disabilities, emotional or behavioural difficulties and young people who are just doing it tough. Alongside this work, Bill mentors teachers, school leaders and parents, assisting them to meet the needs of these students.