Read Write Thrive Specialist Literacy, Numeracy and Therapy Intervention

04/08/2025

Interventions make a difference!!

When your year 6 student is up to chapter 10 whilst the rest of the class is up to chapter 3, listening to the audiobook and looking at the e-book on the class screen.

Maybe because it's all about Percy Jackson - a Dyslexic and ADHD, Greek demigod- maybe it's because you're a badass that put in all the hours and energy it took to be a reader !!

You know you can, and you want to. I know you can and I'm so proud you did!!

Moving because I still remember when you sounded out all the words - even if you forgot!!

06/07/2025

As a cognitive psychologist, Dr. Kilpatrick explains that with the right knowledge and tools, teachers can change lives since word-level reading is phonologi...

06/07/2025

Why kids who learned to read using levelled readers and magic words (sight words) may not have developed the necessary skills they needed to learn to read. Good news though - these skills can be improved at any age.

As a cognitive psychologist, Dr. Kilpatrick explains that with the right knowledge and tools, teachers can change lives since word-level reading is phonologi...

30/08/2024

🩺 Imagine This: You’re in a Hospital… 🩺

You’re feeling unwell, so you head to the hospital. The nurse examines you, nods, and then says:

“Hmm, you do need some help, but you know, there are patients here who need more help than you do. So, just hang tight, okay?”

😳 Wait, WHAT?! 😳

My client's Mum, a nurse, knew this would never fly in a hospital! She used it as an example when the school advised her that her ' son wasn't included in small group reading support because there were 'more needy children' than hers. What a powerful metaphor, for making sure that all children who need it are included in support programs - regardless of the demand.

💪 Remember: Every child’s education matters! 💪

26/07/2024

"Guess what I did this week?" ....

Intervention specialists are sometimes there to help students when they need it the most. An intervention specialist provides a space for students to learn and grow, but also to share the ups and downs of their life in the classroom and how it impacts them.

Providing the necessary support and guidance for students to grow their confidence means we are sometimes the first to hear about how they nailed a spelling test, finally beat Tracey at times tables bingo or knew exactly what to do when they had to write their article in class this week. We develop a sense of your child's strengths, weaknesses, and what motivates them, so we can be of most help.

Most importantly, this spontaneous sharing is a sign that your child believes that we are “in this together”, someone has their back and will celebrate right there with them when they succeed. Magic!

22/10/2023

New free decodable readers are available through SPELD SA.

https://www.speldsa.org.au/SPELD-SA-Phonic-Readers-Sounds-Write-Code

23/09/2023

This excellent free resource "Understanding Learning Difficulties" is available online and in PDF format.

This site has a text to speech facility. To use it, select the text you want to listen to and click the speaker icon to start speech About this guide This Guide has been designed and produced to provide parents and carers with current information

19/09/2023

Transforming Pineapples into explorers…

"How will you know I’ve done a good job of supporting you?" I asked during our first session. “I don’t want to be a pineapple,” he said. The pineapple reading group defined this intelligent, grade 3 boy as “not yet capable” in his mind.

Initially, he wrote some letters backward, mixed up the /e/ and /a/ sounds and was confused about the sounds the vowels made when they were influenced by an e. He didn’t know what sounds ar, all, ay and oi made among other more complex patterns. He found spelling confusing.

Gratefully he was happy to apply himself. Sessions were attended regularly by him and his Dad. They coupled their in-session engagement with consistent, weekly practice for the program's 9 months. As we began to explore the spelling and reading together though, his curiosity was ignited. He had questions! He had great questions.

He was thinking about things and to do that he had to be noticing.! This thrills me. Attention is learning. We can’t learn what we are not noticing, whether academically or as we strive to move forward on a personal goal. Awareness is key.

“Why don’t we read ‘give’ as if it rhymes with ‘thrive’?
“How do I know when to use a c or a k at the beginning of words?”,
”Can “oi “go at the end of words?,
”Shouldn’t ‘bus’ have a double ss?”

At his initial reading test he had an indicative reading age of 6yrs and 9 months and he progressed to 8 years and 6 months a year and 9 months improvement in 9 months of instruction. He also developed a deeper understanding of the structure of words, resulting in a significant leap in his indicative spelling age from 6 years 8 months to 8 years 8 months.

This was not what delighted his parents though. His father marveled, during sessions, at what his son knew and could explain. His mother’s email, at the conclusion of the program, reflected her gratitude, but more importantly her heartwarming observation. He “is now his happy, confident and determined self, and is enjoying going to school.”

Seeing a child transform their self-view in such a short time, driven by their own efforts, is awesome. "I can't" turned into "I can if I work at it." This is why it’s imperative that we provide children with effective methods for reading and spelling. Ensuring they have access to the tools and guidance they need to thrive in reading and spelling gives them more than great skills. It gives them the evidence that they can conquer a challenge, that they are supported, and that we delight in the success that comes from their hard work. We don’t want them to decide anything else!!

23/08/2023

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/11/419186/children-dyslexia-show-stronger-emotional-responses

A processing variation beyond the reading circuit, the brains of these young people showed increased activity in the expression of emotion. Researchers suggest that this increased activity can dispose these individuals to increased social skills but also higher levels of anxiety and depression. Parents of children with these beautiful brains can mindfully guide their children through their big feelings in ways that support and nurture their strengths and avoid the slide into anxiety.

Children with dyslexia who watched emotionally evocative videos showed increased physiological and behavioral responses when compared to children without dyslexia.

04/08/2023

It's that time of year when some schools are looking to implement learning plans for students. Given the heartfelt stories I have heard from kids, I have come up with this list of
classroom accommodations for children to help them go from being overwhelmed to confident. If your child has Dyslexia consider these:

*Should not be made to read aloud in front of others (provide an opportunity to practice before the session)
*Copy of notes before class
*Take a copy of what is on the board onto an iPad to copy from the same visual plane.
*Preferential seating to allow a clear line of sight to board and teacher's mouth when speaking
*Check for understanding using phrasing such as “What did you hear me say you needed to do?” rather than “Did you understand?”
*Language and vocabulary support - pre-teach vocabulary for a topic
*Maths manipulative
*Speech to text
*Spelling assistance
*A word bank on paper I can have next to my writing (to put my finger on) to copy common words for the topic.

What are some other classroom accommodations your child has found helpful that we can share with other parents?

15/06/2023

We were recently perplexed to read an email that advised us that a student's hard work in maths wasn't being reflected in their recent maths assessment. When given an assessment to read in the clinic, the student fell back to an old pattern of guessing words from their initial sounds. Instead of reading express these numbers in 'expanded notation', she read 'exercise notes'. This critical reading skill was affecting her maths results! When I glanced at her Dad, I saw his frustration. This young person started their reading journey well behind her same-age peers and is now excelling at reading and spelling when tested at school. Her Dad has worked with her diligently, facilitating weekly homework through an eight-month course to explicitly teach her the sounds of English. Now she has the skills to attack words she doesn't know and the fluency to comprehend what she reads.

Despite this, the damaging habits instilled in her early literacy training still haunt her efforts to show what she knows.