All children have their individual learning styles and natural talents. At East Court we encourage this individuality and help each child to become efficient in his or her own way.

The importance of written language in education can never be over-estimated. Consequently, we teach written English language in small groups of up to six children in lessons which include Phonics, Spelling, Reading, Composition, Comprehension, Word Processing and Handwriting.

Reading and Structured Phonics

We find every way we can to encourage our young children to read for pleasure as well as for information. Older children also learn to appreciate fine literature, something a parent with a newly diagnosed dyslexic child may find very hard to believe! We employ a wide range of reading schemes which can be chosen to match a child's needs. High Interest, Low Reading Age books are a must.

Our multi-sensory, structured, phonic programme is based on the system evolved at East Court and described in the book co-written by the Principal, Dyslexia: A Teaching Handbook. We also use Alpha to Omega, the Hickey Scheme, the Bangor Programme and other schemes which are selected to match an individual child's needs.

Language Therapy

Since written language is based on speech, some dyslexic children also have difficulties in aspects of language other than reading and spelling. These include disorders of articulation and phonology (sound), as well as problems in verbal fluency and naming. Consequently, some of our remedial techniques involve aspects of language therapy. A sessional Speech Therapist is available for those children requiring extra help in phonological coding or other psycho-linguistic difficulties.

Writing

The ability to write legibly can be a major stumbling block for a dyslexic child. We teach touch-typing to all our children. From the first week, they use electronic typewriters and computers as extra teaching aids. Negotiating the structure of the keyboard also helps the child with organisational skills.

Our children are encouraged to use computers for structured essay writing work during which spelling mistakes are recognised by the computers spell-check programmes. Our young pupils are able to see immediate results from their efforts.

We never overlook, however, the importance of legibility in written work. Writing practice runs alongside keyboard skills, a combination that quickly helps our children to find the joy of expression that writing can bring.

Spelling

Briefly, specific help for the dyslexic child in spelling follows the principles of systematic and structured teaching of the written language system, from speech to symbol through word patterns, spelling rules and morphemic knowledge. Teaching is multi-sensory, relating sound to visual symbol to motor/writing output.

We also use mnemonics, flash cards, tracing, the use of analogy - in short, anything that will help the dyslexic child's spelling to improve.