When I entered my first placement , I was concerned at the lack of a quality assurance model .

• How can I evaluate my  teaching practice?
• What values and output frames can I establish ?
• What is working?
• How can I be more effective?
• How do I manage expectations and produce defensible and robust lesson execution?
•  The speaker asked a similar question –“How many transactional sessions do you  create and contribute to in order to transform learners?”

The Skills for Life website  has provided backbone material for this essay and states that for the adult dyslexic learner, the individual learning plan will be evidence based, directly derived from the needs assessment and the diagnostic process, identifying key processing weaknesses and accentuating processing strengths . The plan also records historical approaches to strategies to prevent a relearning of failed procedures/strategies which may discourage the learner to continue.

The ILP is at the core of assessment, learning, support and achievement paradigm. It assists the learner to become an active, motivated learning partner. The ILP, locus of control is firmly with the learner and their self directive behaviour using a dynamic working document, which is learner centric and supported by the tutors record of learning goals and progression routes. The bankable learning targets are tagged with outcomes and timescales detailing how success will be determined. This model resembles the social services care package model where service users are clients and consumers.

The Individual learning plan is used as a reflection tool

• What went well and why ? 
• What went less well and why ?
• Where they could use the skills and approaches again?

The tool could potentially empower the learner, to enable him/her to strategise learning . Understand how they learn, recognise the value of prior experiences. Plan to practise skills and gain confidence by identifying and understanding barriers to learning.

The speaker talked about the student being more autonomous, feeling more empowered,confident and positive. The results were evident in an online survey and that the ILP was seen as a credible, serious, transparent and interactive document.

Given that the dyslexic tutor is part of the Disability Services support centre and they appear as the poor relative in a locum or freelance role with limited access to the learner’s course curriculum which is dominated and managed by the course leader and tutor. The ILP as a progressive and empowerment vehicle is limited. Changes I would propose include the use of a personal tutor and the subject specialist who play and integral part in assessing and managing the ILP.

The speaker talked about the informality of record keeping and the introduction of electronic file keeping, scanning and document storage. I would like the ability to view records online rather than search vertical file storage systems . I liked the use of Microsoft Office calendar to view shared scheduled appointments in the unit. I would prefer a set design or Microsoft template ILP rather than a personalised template.

In conclusion the speaker talked about the use of the blanket 10 session rule . I am in agreement that each learner requires a tailored lesson plan and study skills curriculum. I would suggest the frontloading of study skills sessions through group seminars and individual support to diagnose and reinforce strategies and methodologies.

I discovered the need to improve the quality of my reading through a
a speed reading course. What it did was make me aware of what elements
of the sentence were more important to notice and remember than the words
that held them together.All that I thought was that the information on the reading
process would come in handy one day,especially if I were to get into law or medicine
where there would be reams of notes to pour over and one had to use a discerning eye to
recognise vital information and leave out the extraneous stuff.

One would also learn how one could then be able to distinguish between main ideas
supporting material, much as you would if you were to analyse a story.
It was all about putting cognitive abilities into practice.

Later I learned that reading was not just about what words are going to stand out
of a text as much as I learned through teaching literature,that it meant learning to
read between the lines, learning the mood of the story from the description the author
uses to introduce events and learning to read through the myriad of metaphors and
other literary tools. I also learned that a more factual pragmatic approach
would be better applied to reading scientific material.
Today literacy has become a big issue especially with poorer homes and with new
immigrants who were at one time selected without their knowledge, or with limited knowledge
of either official language.

There are government funded programs to help those
people get integrated into society and community groups to address the issues involved
but people still fall through the cracks.With the help of volunteers, an organization
may exercise a mandate that each person has the right to read and it may also address the
issues of certain learning disabilities which effect reading.

Reading can be encouraged by giving and if there is an effort being done it is through
fundraisers that get new books to less fortunate readers. An organization
may opt for a drive that invites companies to collect funds for the literacy campaign
or it may propose the purchasing of a new book through familiar bookstores. Those books
would be destined for the new reader.
There is no shame in not knowing how to read by the way, some of the greatest minds had
learning disabilities which may have included the ability to read the sentence the way it is written.
( Not all the reading disabilities means being dyslexic.)

1. Lexia Learning’s Strategies for Older Students. You can do this daily for approximately 20 minutes. It is targeted toward children ages 9 and up. This is a computer program that is interactive and helps dyslexic students learn to read. The price is approximately $159.
2. Lindamood-Bell “Seeing Stars” book helps with learning sight words The teacher’s manual is approximately $45.
3. The Language Tool Kit from EPS Books. This is an instruction manual with flash cards. It goes for approximately $39.
4. McGraw-Hill Spectrum Word Study (available through Christian Books, but not a Christian curriculum). You can do a workbook page every day. There is also one called Spectrum Word Study and Phonics (available through Amazon too). These are great reinforcement as a supplemental curriculum, but not enough to use as a stand-alone curriculum. They are around $8.
5. Sonlight’s American History. There is a lot of reading involved in the Sonlight curriculum, which gives the dyslexic student lots of practice developing reading skills. The books used in the Sonlight curriculum are very engaging, and children usually enjoy reading them. The teacher’s guide is around $59. Then you can purchase reading books one by one as you need them. They range from $3.99 to $30.99 each. You also might be able to find them in the library at no cost to you.
6. The Gift of Dyslexia (Paperback) by Ronald D. Davis, Eldon M. Braun I have read some great reviews on this book about dramatic changes that took place when the techniques mentioned where implemented. I have also read that the exercises in this book are fun to do.
7. Lindamood-Bell: www.lindamoodbell.org. I have read of great results following this program as well.
8. “Reading Reflex” by McGuinness. Read the first three chapters and then give your child the tests in the book.
9. Sound Reading CD from http://www.soundreading.com. This computer CD is about $60, and it is a great supplement for any reading program. The students can do it on their own once they understand the program. This CD starts at a pre-K level and works up to about a middle-third grade level.
10. To help with memorizing math facts, Math Facts the Fun Way would be good. You can follow this up with the software you can find at
    theQuarterMile Math.com
    . Using this for 10 minutes a day (preferably with you doing the keyboarding so more practice is packed into that ten minutes) is very helpful for most kids to practice math facts.