LEAPS - Brighton literacy empowerment and parental support

Last Thursday, Peter Kyle MP visited the BHISS LIteracy Team at Portslade Hub, to meet with a group of young people from Brighton, Hove and Portslade who have dyslexic learning profiles. Their parents also came along. It was a very successful event and the young people asked Peter some excellent questions about his own dyslexia. Peter has written a very heartwarming post about his visit. Thanks Peter!

BookTrust has put together this great list of suggested reading for learners with literacy difficulties and dyslexia. These are high interest/lower reading age books and some feature characters with literacy difficulties. Please comment below if your young person has read and enjoyed any of these - or if you have any other books to recommend!

Dyslexia-friendly books This list aims to provide a range of books that may appeal to young people of seven years plus with reading difficulties. The list includes books t...

This looks like a really helpful free webinar session from the British Dyslexia Association to support young people with developing effective study skills for GCSEs (and other examinations).

Free Webinar - Exam Study Skills - British Dyslexia Association This Exam Study Skills webinar is aimed at dyslexic students and educators of dyslexic students who are studying for exams.

Here is a link to the TV programmes collated by the BBC to mark Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2023 - not specifically related to dyslexia, but some very helpful viewing nonetheless, regarding other/co-occurring learning differences.

BBC - Celebrating Neurodiversity Learn with us for 2023's neurodiversity celebration week

Brighton is being OFSTED assessed for SEN! A chance to have your say, I just completed this so they hear from us parents… they also have a child one.

Area SEND inspection for Brighton And Hove City Council

This is a great idea from Phonics Family - an easy game to help with learning b and d. If playing on paper/whiteboard, you could also ask your young learner to write in the b or d for extra practice!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02pdF1E7C7CPHQQ1MfW5UNJm1uMBLMoC9vxkbvndgem1waA8qY3JiJpYoQ8nAYVrEkl&id=100062815066325

A simple game of 'b' and 'd'

I've had few messages recently from parents asking about how they can encourage their child to distinguish between the letters b and d; very common letters to mix. This is one of the simplest games to set up and play; sometimes the simplest can be the best!

A variation on noughts and crosses. I taped out the grid with masking tape and found a selection of 'b' and 'd' magnetic letters. This will work better if either the letters are a mixture of colours or they are all the same. This is to stop children selecting the letter based on colour rather than looking at the letter shape. Place all the letters together for children to select one on each of their turns (rather than giving out the correct letter beforehand) to really encourage children to distinguish between the two.

For lots more activities that encourage children with the recognition and formation of 'b' and 'd' then check out the guide section of the Instagram page.

www.instagram.com/phonicsfamily

Happy New Year! We hope that you and your young people have had a good break and feel ready for a new term.
Here is a link to a TV programme we have enjoyed - it is only available for a few more weeks, so we thought it would be good to share. It is about Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades and his journey to becoming a reader at age 51. If you choose to watch, please let us know what you think.
Warning: there is a small amount of bad language in the programme.

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 Jay Blades, presenter of The Repair Shop, struggles to read. It’s finally time to learn.

Nessy is a company offering popular online programs to support learners with improving their reading and spelling skills. There is currently an offer available to purchase Nessy products at a reduced cost. Nessy Reading and Spelling, Nessy Fingers and Hairy Reading are all helpful programs.

Home and Home Educators Explore the whole Nessy catalogue of award-winning programs for home use or home educators!

Thank you so much to those parents who attended our coffee morning today. It was a small group, but we had a positive and productive discussion. We are always keen to welcome new parents to this page/group and to hear your ideas for ways to take LEAPS forward. Please do get involved - you will be very welcome!

There are still a few spaces left for our LEAPS coffee morning next Monday 7th November at 10am - please do come along, as we would love to meet you and hear your ideas! Details are in the previous post below. Spaces must be pre-booked, so please message us here if you would like to come - or email [email protected]
Thank you!

The BHISS Literacy Team is hosting a LEAPS coffee morning on Monday 7th November from 10am-12pm. This will be held at the new Portslade Hub and will provide an opportunity to talk to specialist literacy teachers and other parents and carers. There are just a few spaces remaining and these must be booked beforehand. The event is for parents and carers of children and young people with literacy difficulties and dyslexia, who are learning in Brighton and Hove schools. If you would like to attend, please contact us here or email for more details: [email protected]
We look forward to seeing you there!

We hope the term has started well for you all.
Next week is Dyslexia Awareness Week and the British Dyslexia Association is offering this free webinar, which may be of interest to some of you. Discover effective strategies to help your child learn spellings and times tables - and hopefully have fun along the way!
Please click the link to register.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/events/dyslexia-awareness-week-webinar-rehash-of-times-tables-spelling-supporting-spelling-and-times-tables

Dyslexia Awareness Week Webinar - Supporting Spelling and Times Tables - British Dyslexia Association In this presentation we will highlight some important factors that affect the learning of spellings and times tables helping parents who want to support…

We hope you all had a good summer - now to get back into the swing of the new term!

Here is a link to a useful radio broadcast from 2019, featuring the wonderful Michael Rosen in conversation with Professor Maggie Snowling, a leading academic in the field of dyslexia.

Please give it a listen and let us know what you think!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002gr1

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Dyslexia Michael Rosen talks in depth about dyslexia with expert Professor Maggie Snowling.

This looks like a good way to keep younger kids reading over the summer holidays 😎

For more details see the link below 🌞

Summer Reading Challenge

Explore the Gadgeteers Book Collection! Get ready to be boggled by brilliant facts, gaze at the stars, and be inspired by tales of creativity and invention with our picture books, early readers and middle grade books – find plenty of inspiration for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge with these fun science and innovation themed recommendations.

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Summer Reading Challenge Get ready to be boggled by brilliant facts, gaze at the stars, and be inspired by tales of creativity and invention with our picture books, early readers and middle grade books – find plenty of inspiration for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge with these fun science and innovation themed reco...

✨ What resources have you found helpful, or are there any areas you would like a suggestion for? ✨

We had a great LEAPS zoom today, (an email was sent out to everyone on the list and apologies we didn't manage to post about it on here, next one we will!) We will be arranging another meeting for next term and hope some more of you might be able to join.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a resource that's really helped me over the last few years. It's not literacy specific but it's an approach that I've found really helpful with my son who has pretty severe dsylexia as well as sensory issues and anxiety. It doesn't need to be read in order either, after the intro you can just take a chapter at a time and start at any of them.

Do share any resources that have helped you along the way, we'd love to hear from you 🤍



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kids-Beyond-Limits-Awakening-Transforming/dp/B08GG9R629/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1I9HJGXTDADIK&keywords=kids+beyond+limits&qid=1656359676&s=books&sprefix=kids+beyond+limits%2Cstripbooks%2C41&sr=1-1

Really great to meet some of you on Thursday at the literacy event. Thanks to all our new followers, you are welcome to join our private group if you haven't already (link in the comments). We hope to have a meeting soon and we will keep you posted on that 🐸

In the meantime I thought I would repost this for anyone who hasn't seen it (and it was filmed in Brighton!)

The Creative Brilliance of Dyslexia | Kate Griggs | TEDxBrighton Kate Griggs helps us to re-think our perception in dyslexia and to change the way we approach learning differences in our day-to-day lives. Kate is passion...

Feeling alone or unsupported with literacy challenges in the family? Just a reminder about our event coming up this Thursday evening in Hove, all welcome. Details below 🤓🐸 📚

Hi everyone, this event on Thursday 10th March 6-7.30pm at St Andrews Primary School in Hove is open to all Brighton and Hove parents who are concerned about their young person's literacy. Do join us if you can, children are welcome too.