RELC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2019

Chua Minqi, Dyslexia Association of Singapore; Yeo Lay See, National Institute of Education

 

Reading Comprehension Intervention at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS): The DAS provides the MOE-aided DAS Literacy Programme (MAP), a specialist literacy intervention for students with Dyslexia. The intervention is delivered by DAS Educational Therapists and includes reading comprehension instruction. In 2016, the DAS implemented an Enhanced Reading Comprehension Curriculum, which aimed to better align intervention with the mainstream school curriculum, standardize the reading comprehension curriculum at the DAS, as well as equip Educational Therapists with strategies to teach reading comprehension more effectively.

In-service Teacher Training: In-service training has been found to increase teachers’ knowledge or practice modestly (National Reading Panel, 2000). At the DAS, in-service training was provided to Educational Therapists to train them on the enhanced curriculum, so that they are better able to deliver the curriculum to its intended effectiveness.

• Mass training was conducted over three half-day workshops for all Educational Therapists
• Training included explanation of skills, demonstrations on teaching skills, and opportunities to practice teaching during the workshops
• A resource pack was provided

Fong Pei Yi, Dyslexia Association of Singapore; Yeo Lay See, National Institute of Education

 

An Enhanced Reading Comprehension Curriculum: The MOE-Aided Literacy
Programme (MAP) at the DAS is an intervention programme for students with dyslexia that targets phonemic awareness and phonics, reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary and writing. The reading comprehension curriculum of the MAP was recently enhanced to better align the curriculum with the
mainstream curriculum that students encounter in school, as well as to equip educational therapists at the DAS with specific strategies that they can rely on to
teach reading comprehension.

Factors Predicting Reading Comprehension Performance: According to the Simple View of Reading (SVR; Gough & Tunmer, 1986), reading comprehension is the
product of linguistic comprehension and decoding abilities. While support can be found for this framework in studies that demonstrate the ability of verbal ability
and phonological awareness in predicting reading comprehension, researchers have also explored the possibility that other cognitive factors can do so as well.
Specifically, naming speed, non-verbal cognitive ability and working memory have
been shown to play a role in predicting reading comprehension (Adlof, Catts & Lee, 2010; Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004; Georgiou, Das, & Hayward, 2008).

Siti Mariam Binte Daud

Many studies have looked at the  perspectives of local parents and teachers on
inclusion and inclusive education practices. However, very few studies have looked at the perspectives of local students with SEN studying in mainstream
schools on those practices. The current research project aims to examine the perspectives of these students studying in local mainstream schools.