Supporting children and adults with dyslexia as well as their families.
Raising awareness of dyslexia locally and nationally.
Oxfordshire Dyslexia Association
How do children with and without dyslexia combine visual information? Help us find out!
Researchers from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford are looking at how dyslexic children combine visual information and how this compares to children without a developmental condition. We are looking for children aged 8-14 years to take part who have a dyslexia diagnosis, or who have no diagnosed developmental conditions. Children will play some fun under-the-sea themed computer games where they are asked to work out the direction a set of moving fish and the way a set of stripy jellyfish are facing. We will also do some language, reasoning, spelling and reading activities and ask you to complete a brief questionnaire. We can see you and your child at the University, at school, or at home. Families will be given a voucher to thank them for taking part, and we will reimburse travel expenses to the University. If you are interested in your child participating, or would like to find out more, please contact Dr Cathy Manning: catherine.manning@psy.ox.ac.uk / 01865 271 442 or Vicky Hulks: victoria.hulks@psy.ox.ac.uk. By getting in touch you are not committing to participate in this study. Ethics approval reference: [R45641/RE001].
If you are interested in this webinar please click here
Study Higher Accessibility in Higher Education webinar
There is a upcoming Study Higher webinar called Accessibility in Higher Education which is aimed at students who would like to find out more about disability support at university or college. The webinar will take place on 8th July 5pm-6pm and students will be sent in the post an accompanying handout including an ‘applying to higher education as a disabled student’ checklist and a ‘questions to ask at open days’ checklist.
The session will cover:
Advice on where to go for disability support (from a Disability Support Officer at Oxford Brookes)
Advice on questions to ask when researching higher education
Advice on the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)
Insight from a recent university graduate on accessing disability support
Hear from a disabled graduate about the transition from school to career
If you are interested please register for the webinar here
Volunteers needed for Educational Pathways and Work Outcomes of Disabled Young People in England
The Educational Pathways and Work Outcomes of Disabled Young People in England is a 3-year research project based at the University of Warwick, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Their aim is to explore the factors that lead to disability inequalities in educational and occupational attainment in England.
There is increasing awareness surrounding the social barriers that prevent disabled young people from fulfilling their potential. Yet, the vast majority of existing research relies on information provided by parents and teachers. Disabled young people are rarely given a voice in research. This is due to long-standing assumptions about the ability of young people to take part in research studies and discuss their conditions/disabilities.
Their project challenges this assumption. They want to hear young people’s views about their experiences of disability and schooling, and their plans and aspirations for the future. They aim to interview 60 young people twice over the course of their study. The first wave of (online) interviews will take place between April-June 2021, and the second wave approximately one year later.
Their study focuses on students in mainstream schools. They are looking for Year 11 students with autism, dyslexia, and/or cerebral palsy. While they would love to be able to include students with other conditions and learning difficulties in our study, the nature of their research means that we can only focus on these three groups for the time being.
Their research team has substantial training and experience in interviewing young people with different conditions. All interviews will be tailored to the individual needs and preferences of participants and their families. For each completed interview, participants will receive a £20 Love-to-Shop voucher.
They are very excited about this research and the opportunity to shed light on a different perspective to that of typical accounts of disability and SEN in the media.
They very much hope to hear from you, and we look forward to sharing our findings in the months to come.
Should you want to take part and/or discuss more, please get in touch with Dr Angharad Butler-Rees
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PROJECT
Cátia Margarida Ferreira de Oliveira is a PHD Psychology student from University of York. She is looking to speak to adults with dyslexia for a study she is currently running. The study aims to understand how quickly people with dyslexia learn and consolidate new memories when they are required to make very fast responses. This is a multi-session study, with participants being asked to do various response time and cognitive tasks on the first session. A subset of participants will be asked back to do two follow-up sessions. Session 1 will take approximately 1 hour, whilst sessions 2 and 3 will last approximately 30 minutes.
Requirements:
• Adults with a diagnosis of dyslexia without a diagnosis of any other neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g. Developmental Language Disorder; ADHD; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Developmental coordination disorder; amongst others)
• Age between 18 and 35
• UK native English speaker
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing
• Access to a computer with good internet connection
Participants who complete only the first session will be compensated with a 6 pounds amazon voucher, whilst those who complete all sessions will receive a 15 pound amazon voucher. For more information, please check the information sheet: https://forms.gle/54DGsrWUEoLJeTY67
or contact the primary researcher: cmfo500@york.ac.uk
Cartoon Club for Visual Learners: Online Art classes for Kids who love to doodle!
Sarah Vickery is an artist and creativity coach from Godalming. Sarah runs a Cartoon Club for Kids and Discover.
If your child is a keen doodler - this is for them! Cartoon Club is a fun and interactive online art class where children not only improve their drawing abilities but also build a creative mindset.
If you've never been to Cartoon Club before, this is a perfect time to try a class. Choose from 1 hour Cartoon Club for Kids ages 8-12, or the NEW 30 minute Cartoon Junior class for ages 6-7.
Each week there’s a new cartooning challenge to spark the imagination. The online class is very similar to my live class. You will see me, my drawing board and fellow students in our online classroom. You can ask questions, get feedback and share your work too. You just need your sketchbook or paper, pencil, black fineliner and a few colours.
You can learn all about the Introduction to Cartooning Online Course here and anyone can try my FREE Course Taster. It's the perfect introduction to cartooning for young artists and keen doodlers alike. If you want to create your own cool characters and draw fantastic cartoon scenes, this is the course for you!
If you are interested click on the link below:
https://sarahjanevickery.com/courses/introduction-to-cartooning/
If you have any questions or need any additional information please let me know.
TO BOOK
https://calendly.com/sarahjanevickery?month=2020-05
or
visit www.sarahjanevickery.com/CartoonClub
Cartoon Club for Kids - Ages 8 - 12 (1 hour)
Tuesday 4:15pm GMT
Thursday 4:15pm GMT
Saturday 10am GMT
Saturday 3pm GMT
Cartoon Club Junior - Ages 6 - 7 (30 min)
Saturday 11:15am GMT
Discover Your Inner Cartoonist - for Adults (1 hour)
Also Sarah has been on a Podcast:
Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS)
Support During School Closures
We are pleased to share with you support being offered during the global pandemic by Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS), a BDA organisational member and provider of an assured product.
TTRS is an award-winning, multi-sensory course that teaches typing, reading and spelling. TTRS uses multisensory keyboarding to support language skills development and help individuals in mastering subject content. This makes it particularly suitable for students with dyslexia, and other specific learning difficulties.
Support for Families
The team at TTRS believes everyone deserves a chance to achieve their full potential so are offering up to 90% scholarship - please apply here if you require financial support.
They are also providing free subscriptions during school closures to families of NHS workers - there is a short form here to complete if this applies to you.
Free Training for Professionals
Would you like to use TTRS in your current tutoring or to start a new tutoring venture? The team at TTRS is keen to support everyone affected by the global pandemic so they are offering FREE online training to our members.
The online training will provide you with an understanding of how TTRS works; accessibility settings and how to use TTRS to tutor remotely during current social distancing. Everyone who completes the online training session will receive a certificate of training as evidence for your CPD records.
To express interest in free online tutor training please complete the form here and a member of the TTRS team will be in touch with you.
How do children with and without developmental conditions process sensory information? Help us find out!
Researchers at Oxford University are looking at how dyslexic children and autistic children process sensory information and how this compares to children without a developmental condition. We are looking for children aged 6-14 years to take part who have a dyslexia diagnosis. Children will play a fun computer game where they are asked to work out the direction of a set of moving fireflies. Optionally, while children play the game, they will wear a cap with sensors that listen to their brain waves. This method is called ‘EEG’, and is completely harmless. Nothing comes out of the sensors – we will just be eavesdropping on ongoing brain activity. If children do not want to take part in the EEG, they can still play the computer games without it. We will also do some language and reasoning activities and ask you to complete some brief questionnaires. We can see you and your child after school, at the weekend, or in the school holidays. Families will be given a voucher to thank them for taking part, and we will reimburse travel expenses to the University. If you are interested in your child participating, or would like to find out more, please contact Dr Cathy Manning: catherine.manning@psy.ox.ac.uk / 01865 271 442. By getting in touch you are not committing to participate in the study.
You can also go to the experimental psychology website for more information:
BOLD Study
A research study at the University of Oxford called the BOLD (Brain Organisation in Language Development) aims to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the development of children and young people’s language abilities in the brain. Something we know remarkably little about despite its importance for learning and education. They hoping to shed further light on the biological basis of SLCN problems.
They are currently looking for families who might be interested in taking part, and they particularly want to include children with dyslexia who have language difficulties. If you are interested or would like to know more, then click on the links below.
https://boldstudy.wordpress.com/
