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Parent education sessions are a key way for educators to share tips on how parents can prepare their children for school and what they will learn. Typically conducted on an annual basis, parent sessions give the school the chance to equip their community with the tools that will reinforce their school based learning.  PLD has developed […]

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Did you catch our previous post, The Importance of Strong Oral Language Skills & Language for Literacy Success? We discussed how to create a high quality oral language program to foster a high quality learning environment and the importance of consolidating oral language skills between the home and school. In this three part series we […]

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With our increasing use of technology, is it necessary to teach children handwriting? Research suggests that the benefits of teaching handwriting go beyond simply writing (Dinehart, 2014). There is increasing evidence of a link between the fine motor skills required in handwriting and the development of cognitive skills which lay the foundation for later academic […]

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Many schools use the pupil-free days at the end (or at the beginning) of the school year as an opportunity to launch PLD’s implementation. Typically, half a day is sufficient time for staff to familiarise themselves with PLD’s programs, screening, downloadable manuals, online courses, and processing of the testing. Naturally, questions will arise, but the […]

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To inspire and focus your teachers for the term ahead, be sure to forward them these short refresher clips. The clips provide concise, relevant, and actionable tips for effective PLD implementation within the classroom. These succinct videos, provide reminders, on the teaching, testing, tracking, and catering to the range in student ability. It will be […]

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AUSPELD is a national body comprised of representatives from various state SPELD associations and a recognised Global Partner of the International Dyslexia Association. Each SPELD organisation is extremely busy catering for large numbers of students and families. While the SPELD’s deliver assessments and diagnose dyslexia, they also advocate best practice. The SPELD’s act to encourage […]

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Learning to communicate using language is a remarkable achievement of early childhood. The progression of language development is very similar across children and even across languages. All children regardless of the language spoken begin their journey of communication with a focus on sounds and engage in behaviours such as cooing and babbling. Over time they […]

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Synthetic Phonics is the gold standard, evidence-based approach to teaching literacy, which suggests the fastest pathway into literacy is knowledge of alphabet sounds and phonic sounds. Students require alphabet knowledge in order to embark on the process of learning to read and spell. However, rather than letter naming ability, letter sound knowledge is the more […]

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Did you catch our previous post, The Importance of Strong Oral Language Skills & Language for Literacy Success? We discussed how to create a high quality oral language program to foster a high quality learning environment and the importance of improving and consolidating oral language skills between the home and school. In this three part […]

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PLD is working to preserve Indigenous languages through the creation of region specific resources. For over 10 years, PLD  has worked with a range of Indigenous communities for over ten years, including developing a range of online courses to support the literacy requirements of Indigenous communities. You can read more about PLD’s work within remote […]

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In this PLD Literacy and Learning Insight, Diana Rigg discusses the use of technology by our children, how much technology time. Following a thought-provoking article released in the West Australian Newspaper, communicating Telstra’s recent research on smartphone use in 3-17-year-olds, Diana Rigg discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by the proliferation and widespread adoption of technology […]

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Regarding tracking early reading and spelling progress from 5 years. With the changes in the National Curriculum, Foundation students (that is, Kindergarten NSW/ACT, Preparatory QLD/VIC/TAS, Pre-Primary WA, Reception SA and Transition NT), need to acquire early reading, spelling and writing skills.  This is new territory for the educators operating within this ‘Foundation’ phase of literacy […]

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How to support the language development of children with English as a Second Language, also known as ESL and bilingual students? Learning to communicate using language is a remarkable achievement of early childhood. The progression of language development is very similar across children and even across languages. All children regardless of the language spoken begin […]

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Speech Pathology Week is here and director of PLD Literacy & Learning, Diana Rigg highlights the role of speech pathologists in schools in order to facilitate increased literacy outcomes. PLD has regularly stressed the way forward for literacy education in primary school is for speech pathology to have a larger involvement within schools. Researchers have […]

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Oral language instruction should be an essential component of writing programs. Prior to and once students are able to write, effective oral language instruction helps to increase the sophistication of written vocabulary, sentence structure, and the elaboration of ideas. To encourage the explicit instruction of oral language across classrooms, PLD’s oral language program has made […]