ARWA Association of Reading and Writing in Asia 2019

Sujatha Nair and Sridhar Pratyusha

The Main Literacy Programme (MLP) at the Dyslexia Association of
Singapore (DAS) only admits students that have been assessed for and given a diagnosis of Dyslexia.

Following admission, students’ cognitive and literacy profiles are further analysed to assign a band
(Ram et.al., 2015) for their educational placement within the programme enabling MLP to offer individualised lessons taught in accordance to the Orton-Gillingham Principles (Ritchey & Goeke, 2006; Rose & Zirkel, 2007). Each band has three levels of literacy learning, making it a total of nine
levels across bands “A” to “C”. There are four core skills that are covered in cumulation – from
emergent to functional to advanced literacy skills – across these bands; they are phonics, language &
vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing. Students’ progress across these skills is then
monitored using digitised Curriculum Based Assessments (CBAs).

The rate of progression across the four skills is not expected to be
uniform – owing to varying student profiles and ensuing curriculum. In a previously conducted study
(Nair, Ram & Kurusamy, 2018) it was observed that the Band A students generally made the most
significant progress in reading. The current study aims to check if the reading gains made by Band A students still holds true and to further analyse the profile of the learners making the reading gains.

Sharyfah Nur Fitriya, Masters in Special Educational Needs
University of South Wales, Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS)

Dyslexia is characterised by difficulties in accurate and/or fluent word recognition, reading comprehension, written expression and poor spelling. These are due to deficits in the phonological component of language that are often related to other cognitive abilities which can cause behavioural or emotional problems.
Dyslexia is often accompanied by challenging behaviours which are defined as externalising disorders.
Externalising behaviours refer to conflicts with other people, such as rule-breaking behaviour, aggression, social problems and problems with attention. These students frequently suffer from attentiveness and concentration issues, which may result in losing interest in the tasks that are assigned to them.
For this study, the preference-based teaching approach will tap into a student’s interests and existing knowledge.
These will be integrated into the lesson to increase on-task behaviour and improve attentiveness in the classroom setting.
This study aims to help teachers to better manage students with dyslexia and their challenging behaviour and at the same time increase engagement of students with dyslexia.