LDA Awards for 2010

Mona Tobias Award, 2010
 
The recipient of the LDA Mona Tobias Award for 2010 is Dr Lorraine Hammond.
 
Dr Lorraine Hammond is Senior Lecturer and Co-ordinator of Special Education at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary English) at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education (now Edith Cowan University), and went on to do a Post Graduate Diploma for Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties in London and an MA in Specific Learning Difficulties at Middlesex University in England, completing her PhD at the Edith Cowan University in 2001.  She has supported students with learning difficulties in a variety of roles, both as a classroom teacher and in the Centre for Inclusive Schooling in Perth, prior to moving on to University teaching at graduate and post-graduate level.  She has been active in promoting effective reading instruction and in training teachers to teach phonological awareness and systematic decoding to beginning and struggling readers, and in providing teachers with strategies to support students who have difficulties with reading comprehension, writing and spelling.  She is a regular presenter at Conferences and school professional learning days, has published widely in professional journals, and has taken on leadership roles in a number of professional associations, including AUSPELD, the Dyslexia SPELD Foundation Inc. WA, the Western Australian Secondary Reading Teachers’ Association, and the Specific Learning Difficulties Multidisciplinary Group of WA.  In 2002 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate effective practices to support individuals with dyslexia.
 
The Mona Tobias Award will be presented to Dr Lorraine Hammond at the Awards Presentation following the LDA AGM on 16 October, in recognition of her significant contribution to the education of people with learning difficulties through her research, graduate and undergraduate teaching, teacher professional development, and community engagement.
 
 
Bruce Wicking Award, 2010
 
The recipient of the LDA Bruce Wicking Award for 2010 is Mr Andrew Fildes
 
Andrew Fildes is the Founder and Chairman of the Andrew Dean Fildes Foundation for Language and Learning Disabilities. The Andrew Dean Fildes Foundation for Language and Learning Disabilities was established in 1996 to provide services for people throughout Australia with language and learning difficulties. The Foundation is a non-profit / tax-exempt organization, and obtains donations to fund its programs for the support of people with language and learning difficulties.  Programs provided include screening for early identification of language problems, comprehensive assessment of speech, language and literacy skills for diagnostic and teaching purposes, provision of resources and programs to assist children with language-based learning difficulties, education programs for teachers and teacher assistants on the nature, cause, consequences, and treatments for language and learning difficulties, and information and support programs for parents.  Through the programs sponsored by the Andrew Dean Fildes Foundation for Language and Learning Disabilities, Andrew has made a significant contribution to the provision of services to support people with language and learning difficulties. The Bruce Wicking Award will be presented to Andrew Fildes at the Awards Presentation following the LDA AGM on 16 October, in recognition of the significant contribution he has made through his Foundation to the provision of assessment and treatment services and quality programs which have significantly affected the lives of people with language and learning difficulties and their families.