LDA is an association of teachers and other professionals dedicated to assisting students with learning difficulties through effective teaching practices based on scientific research.
Announcements
ALERT: 22 October 2017, Melbourne - Dr Bartek Rajkowski presents:
Why teachers of English spelling need to be experts in the sounds of speech.
Bartek will explain why English words are spelled the way they are, and why teaching reading and spelling requires us to be experts in understanding the relationship between English speech sounds and spelling.
Click here for details and to register.
ALERT: 2017 LDA AGM to be held on Saturday 21 October 2017 at the Treacy Centre, Melbourne
RECOGNITION and CONGRATULATIONS
2016 National University Teaching Excellence Award to Dr Lorraine Hammond, President LDA
Canberra, December 1 2016: Dr Lorraine Hammond, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education Edith Cowan University and President of LDA, was presented with a National University Teaching Excellence Award by the Hon Simon Birmingham, Federal Minister for Education. This prestigious award acknowledges Lorraine’s commitment to producing the highest quality graduates who understand the impact of educational decisions they make on the learning outcomes of young people. Lorraine teaches undergraduate and post graduate units in Learning Difficulties/Learning Disabilities and Direct Instruction, while actively remaining connected with schools through her research and representation on the Boards of three high performing Independent Public schools in Perth.
NEW: Join LDA as a Consultant Member – apply and renew online
LDA Members can now join LDA as Consultant Members online, register for LDA’s Online Tutor Search (OTS) online, and renew their annual Consultant Membership and OTS registration online.
To learn about LDA Consultant Membership and Online Tutor Search click here
https://www.ldaustralia.org/consultants.html
LDA and AJLD Awards for 2016
2016 LDA Eminent Researcher Award to Professor Maryanne Wolf
2016 LDA Mona Tobias Award to Dr Roslyn Neilson
2016 LDA Bruce Wicking Award - Lynne Ivicevic
Maryanne Wolf was presented with of the LDA 2016 AJLD Eminent Researcher Award in September at the LDA AGM following her Speaking Tour visit to Melbourne, when LDA Members were privileged to hear her acceptance. Dr Neilsen and Lynne Ivicevic also spoke at the 2016 LDA Award event.
Click here for full 2016 LDA abd AJLD Award details.
2017 Awards will be announced at the LDA AGM to be held on Saturday 21 October 2017 at the Treacy Centre in Melbourne.
Other upcoming LDA Events
Click here for Conference & Seminar information.
Current Issues
Professor Maggie Snowling, President of St John's College Oxford and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oxford, recently visited Australia and spoke at the Australian National University on ‘Dyslexia, Language and Learning to Read’ on 25th July, 2017, to a sold out crowd.
Additional information on Professor Snowling’s esteemed career and research, and details of her Australian ANU presentation can be viewed here.
LDA is very grateful to Professor Snowling, and the ANU, for granting permission to provide an audio of this event for LDA.
National Year 1 Phonics Screen
The Federal Education Minister, Senator Simon Birmingham, announced a "Phonics Screen" check for Year 1 students. Research supports evidence-based reading instruction and specifically, the explicit teaching of phonics in the early years of school.
LDA strongly supports this federal initiative as an opportunity for early identification and lifting the performance of struggling beginner readers. Click here to see DDOLL network letter of endoresement.
Click here to read more about the Phonics Screen and phonics research resources.
Effective Teaching
The Centre for Independent Studies published Read About It: Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading by Kerry Hempenstall, edited by Jennifer Buckingham, focusing on the large and rigorous body of scientific evidence from the 1960’s to 2015, identifying the key elements of high quality reading instruction and demonstrating that explicit instruction methods are the most effective way of teaching reading, especially for novice readers and children at-risk of reading failure. Available at: https://www.cis.org.au/publications/research-reports/read-about-it-scientific-evidence-for-effective-teaching-of-reading
Click here to Productivity Commission Report National Education Evidence Base, and a research article on
High Performing Primary Schools: what do they have in Common?
Dyslexia Awareness
Recently there is increased momentum to raise dyslexia awareness in Australia. There are many support groups nationwide committed to change. Their common vision is the implementation of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy (2005) and the National Dyslexia Working Party Report (2010) in every school.
Click here to read about national campaigns: Light it Red for Dyslexia, My Red Letter, and Dyslexia Empowerment Week award.
LDA Position Statement - Approaches to Reading Instruction
LDA Supports approaches to reading instruction that adopt an explicit structured approach to the teaching of reading and are consistent with the scientific evidence as to how children learn to read and how best to teach them.
Click here to read LDA's Position Statement as published in the LDA Bulletin.
Click here for an extended version of LDA's Position Statement with substantiating references.
Interventions to Remediate Learning Disorders
Efficacy research review of current LD brain changing interventions by Auckland University’s Centre for Brain Research and School of Psychology, provides an objective overview of a number of popular brain-training interventions.
Click here to read this 2015 report.
Is Reading Recovery failing the New Zealand Literacy Strategy - what is the evidence?
Click here for the recently published NSW evaluation of Reading Recovery and relevant Reading Recovery resources.
Click here for an excellent 08/02/16 interview on Radio National with Professor James Chapman: "Is Reading Recovery Working?"
To hear LDA’s President Dr Lorraine Hammond’s 15/02/16 interview on Radio National in relation to teaching reading systematically and effectively, Click here
The National Curriculum
Click here to see LDA's submission or click here to see the Review.
Spring 2016 issue of LDA Bulletin now FREE to download!
Take advantage of LDA’s special offer to non-members of LDA to download the Spring 2016 issue of the LDA Bulletin. Click here to download.
Members of LDA can access back issues of the Bulletin from the Members Only section of this website. To join LDA, click here.
Recent Publications
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Volume 49, No 2, Winter 2017 |
Volume 21, No 1, May 2016 |
Subscribe to our monthly LDA e-News |
Current & past issues  |
Past issues |
NOTE: LDA Members can access complete back issues of these publications and pre-publication Journal articles when logged into the LDA Members Only section, via the latest articles item in the Taylor & Francis main menu.
Professional Learning
Combined SPELD Qld and LSTAQ Learning Difficulties Conference
Inclusive Directions for Education
Brisbane 15th and 16th September 2017
Featuring keynote presentations by Professor Suzanne Carrington – Developing inclusive and ethical school culture –
And Professor Shelley Dole – Counting all children in: differentiating in the mathematics classroom
Click here for details and to register: http://www.lstaq.asn.au/conferences
Melbourne 22 October 2017 - Why teachers of English spelling need to be experts in the sounds of speech - with Dr Bartek Rajkowski
Following this session, participants will:
- Have an understanding of the various historical influences on written English
- Understand the relationship between the basic building blocks of English spelling: phonemes, graphemes and letters
- Understand the main components of English phonology: consonant phonemes, vowel phonemes and syllables
- Receive an introduction to English spelling rules
- Understand why teachers of English spelling and reading need to be experts in the sounds of speech.
Click here for details
Click here to register on line
Click here to download a registration form.
Professional Learning Courses
A Free Online Course, Supporting Children with Difficulties in Reading and Writing Click here for details.
A new online course in teaching systematic synthetic phonics & its integration with wider reading, spelling and writing.
Click here for details.
Post Graduate Course Information. Click here for information
ALERT – 9 free one hour webinars / 4th-12th September:
Supporting Learning Differences & Dyslexia in High Schools
Webinars presented by internationally known specialists assisting those who struggle the most.
Click here for details and to register.
FIVE from FIVE - The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), FIVE from FIVE project aims to improve literacy levels by bridging the gap between evidence-based research on reading instruction, policy, and practice. LDA has joined the FIVE from FIVE Alliance to help every child receive the most effective reading instruction from their first day at school.
The FIVE from FIVE website is http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/ – is a resource for teachers, principals, parents and policy makers with up-to-date credible evidence-based information.
From the Lab to the Classroom: New Directions in Dyslexia Research
LDA was again honoured to host Professor Maryanne Wolf, internationally acclaimed reading researcher, Director of the Center for Reading and Language and Associate Professor Child Development at Tufts University who presented some of the most transformative studies in neuroscience-based research on dyslexia in the past two years, highlighting the translation of findings into insights for the classroom.
Click here for further Maryanne Wolf biographical information, publications
Click here to read Maryanne Wolf’s 2013 A Literate Nation White Paper
March 2015 – LDA National Tour with Dr Louisa Moats
Dr Louisa Moats, recipient of LDA’s AJLD Eminent Researcher Award, visited Australia in March 2015. Dr Moats has contributed widely to the body of reading and spelling instruction knowledge, and written extensively on the importance of code-based literacy instruction and better teacher preparation.
Click here to read Lousia Moats article Systematic, not "balanced" instruction in the October 2014 LDA Bulletin.
Click here for Louisa Moats significant paper Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science and more Louisa Moats Resources.
Resources:
Post Graduate Course Information
MOTIf: An assessment resource for researchers and professionals
Book Shop - essential Explicit Teaching & Response to Intervention Numeracy & other resources