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Touch-type Read
and Spell |
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News & History |
Archive news - Pre 2007
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2006
September
The first TTRS Master Licence is established in
Ireland at Maynooth Computer Training to represent TTRS in Dublin Ireland.
By December 2006 - 28 students have registered for the course in Maynooth
and the TTRS course is also successfully established at the government
sponsored Adult Centre for Literacy on the outskirts of Dublin.
2005
Article titled "New programme benefits dyselxics"
page 1 &
page 2,
both as PDF's, from TODAY plus (Singapore) •Tuesday • November 8, 2005
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2005
Holiday Courses in Bexley
In
the summer of 2005 the London Borough of Bexley Local Education Authority
will again be sponsoring Touch-type Read and Spell Computer Courses for
Bexley children. Courses run from the
8th to 12th of August and 30th August to 1st September,
and over one hundred children are scheduled to attend each course.
When asked for an evaluation of a previous opportunity
to attend TTRS, one parent commented: “I think this is a really excellent
course. I have seen my daughter grow in confidence. The course has shown her
what she can do and this has now changed her attitude to the way she sees
herself.”
Another parent added: “The course is excellent. It has
been really motivating, confidence building by showing the results achieved
after each module. It has also given my son a great deal of independence as
it has shown him how to concentrate and do things on his own.”
For more information contact Philip Alexandre,
National Course Director on 020 8460 8051 or at
info@ttrs.co.uk or Christine Freeman
on 020 8361 3013 or
christinefreeman@btconnect.com.
Contact: Vivienne Cooling
communications@bexley.gov.uk
020 8303 7777 ext. 2056 |
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2005

Dr Beve Hornsby presenting
certificates at the TTRS Holiday Course held on behalf of the London
Borough of Bexley Summer 2004

This obituary is from The Hornsby International Centre
The Hornsby International
Dyslexia Centre is a registered charity that aims to educate, advise and
support teachers, parents and anyone living with dyslexia
Bevé Hornsby
It is with very great sadness that we report the death of the founder
of the Hornsby International Dyslexia Centre, Bevé Hornsby, on
December 14 2004. Only the previous day, Bevé had attended a lunch
given by TouchType Read and Spell.
Despite reaching an age when such an event would have been expected,
Bevé was such a vital force that the news of her passing still came
as a tremendous surprise. As Iona Mackay, her long-time assistant
commented, Bevé started a whole new career at the age of 69, a time
when most of us are ready to take things easy.
David Alban, in his foreword to Beve's last published book Dyslexics I
have known, calls her "a bottomer", ie "someone driven by a need to
get to the bottom of things, whether practical or intellectual, an
indispensable quality in pioneering research. All Beve's early work
aimed at two things, to get to the bottom of dyslexia through an
empirical approach, analyzing it by how it affected people, and to
find out how far and by what methods dyslexics could be helped."
David Alban continues by describing Bevé as someone who "shapes up" -
a person possessing initiative, "who recognizes what needs to be done,
feels it's up to her either to do it or get it done, finds out the
best way to do it, organizes her energies, sets to work with zest and
feels restless until the job is done. The job in this case was nothing
less than to enlighten public opinion worldwide so that children
suffering from dyslexia could be recognized, to train remedial
teachers and, most difficult of all, to convert all existing teachers
to her point of view."
Bevé spent most of her time working to get dyslexia known and
accepted. The Hornsby Dyslexia Centre, which she established after
retiring from Barts, and its Hornsby Diploma and Distance Learning
Course are widely accepted as leaders in SpLD training. She was
awarded an MBE for her work in the field in 1997. In a presentation
ceremony at the University of London Institute of Education, Bevé was
awarded a Fellowship of the College of Preceptors, honoris causa,
awarded to persons eminent in education. In presenting her at the
ceremony, the public orator, Prof Donald Moyle, said "There can be no
question of the excellence of her work for children and teachers, just
as one is always impressed by her as a person".
I worked with Bevé for a decade. She was, at times, infuriating, but
she was also charming, glamorous, indomitable and, perhaps above all
else, inspiring. Dyslexics I Have Known carries the sub-title Reaching
for the Stars; Children and adults she assessed, teachers that she
trained, the Hornsby Dyslexia Centre and the Hornsby House School
which she also founded, those helped by her many publications -
notably Alpha to Omega (through its five editions) and her practical
guide Overcoming Dyslexia, the local dyslexia associations she helped
all have cause to give thanks for her life and mourn her leaving.
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2004

Teacher training at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore in November
2004 |
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2004

Ken Conie and his son Adam receiving their Reading
Champions award for Kens work with TTRS with the Bexley Down's Group.
Presented by BBC news journalist Huw Edwards at the London Science Museum
Summer 2004.
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2004
Pecan Limited
Pecan
ESOL
Pecan works in an area of
South London where there
are large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. Many of these people
lack basic English language skills, often resulting in isolation,
unnecessary poverty and an exacerbation of their social exclusion. Due to
the high demand for ESOL classes in this area many refugees in Southwark,
Lambeth and the surrounding areas are unable to secure college support.
Between April 2003 and March 2004 we will deliver
ESOL
training to unemployed refugees in Southwark, Lambeth and the surrounding
areas many of whom will fit the description above and will not be able to
access the training they need to integrate them into British society
anywhere else. This project will be a development from our standard ESOL
provision.
In addition to being taught English, in order to
assist the integration process into British society, we will provide them
with: opportunities to be placed with voluntary organisations, up to date
IT skills training, regular times allocated for job search and visits to
places of interest, culture and education.
The project aims are:
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Improve Basic Skills levels with
particular emphasis on development of English language.
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To assist social
integration through greater awareness of British culture and its
diversity.
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To give refugees a sense
of being a contributor to the local community and work force for the
period of their stay in UK. To improve their ability to communicate in
day-to-day activities within the wider community.
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To see participants
progress to either further education, volunteering work or full time
employment and the
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To enhance the quality
of life, health and capacity of refugees, to contribute to regeneration
and promote equality of opportunity.
The projects innovations are:
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Work experience through placements
with voluntary organisations.
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Increasing the clients
cultural integration through regular visits to places of interest and
education which will act as an extension to the teaching they receive.
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Allocating regular
sessions in the student's timetable for assisted job search.
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Use of volunteers to
provide one-to-one support for clients. (All volunteers will be trained
to achieve the City & Guilds 9281 initial certificate (Teaching ESOL).
This speeds up the language learning process for the individuals as
focused tuition can be provided for the student.
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The availability of
Touch Type Read and Spell (TTRS) software which develops basic literacy
skills - particularly helpful for students who are illiterate in their
own language.
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The provision of IT
training for students who are qualified/skilled in their own language,
creating the opportunity for them to gain the elementary IT skills
demanded across the UK labour market.
Beneficiaries
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Refugees who have been unable to enrol
on local
ESOL
courses due to over subscription.
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Refugees who cannot keep
up with the pace of the standard TEFL classes.
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Refugees who cannot
afford to pay for the classes.
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Refugees becoming better
equipped to secure paid employment through voluntary placements.
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Refugees who need
additional support to study and be integrated into the community.
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Refugees will benefit
from 6 months follow up.
linda.jones@pecan.org.uk
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2003
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Ken Conie
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Ken Conie is the Chair of the Bexley
Down's Syndrome Group and has been nominated as a Reading
Champion by Christine Freeman. She says:
"When Ken’s two sons, Adam and Jack, first attended a
Touch-type Read and Spell Computer Course (TTRS) sponsored
by Bexley Council for children with Special Educational
Needs, Ken was impressed. As a result, he wanted other
children with Down’s Syndrome to also have the opportunity
to take the course to help their reading, writing and
spelling. Since Easter 2000, Ken has volunteered to run a
TTRS course for the children of local members sponsored by
Bexley Council."
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| Can you name a book(s)
that particularly inspired you to keep reading as a child? |
"Shag, a story
about a rogue wolf, The Birds, King Solomon's
Mines." |
| What do you enjoy
reading now? |
"Detective fiction,
science fiction." |
| How do you encourage
boys and young men in particular to read? |
"I teach the Touch-Type
Read & Spell system to young people with Downs Syndrome."
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| How do you champion
reading? |
"I take my boys to the
library each week where they choose a variety of material."
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2003
West
Everton Community Council - Dyslexia Awareness Workshops
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2002
HM INSPECTORATE OF PRISONS FOR SCOTLAND
REPORT ON HM PRISON PERTH 2002
| Curriculum and Assessment
7.33 The curriculum provided at the Learning Centre
allows for 60% of the time being allocated to core elements such as
communication, numeracy, computing skills and social skills. There are
also courses of an optional nature such as languages, art, guitar,
history (and interesting initiatives such as the ‘Dear Dad’ group
which records stories for their children). A very imaginative course,
‘Touch, Type Read and Spell’, has been introduced to adult basic
education with encouraging results for students with severe learning
difficulties. However, attempts to re-introduce evening classes have
been delayed by the shortage of discipline staff. |
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2000
British Educational Communications and Technology
Agency (Becta)
Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ Tel: 024 7641 6994 Fax:
024 7641 1418
E-mail: Becta@becta.org.uk
URL: http://www.becta.org.uk/
Full
Information
Sheet (PDF) on Visual Impairment and ICT
JULY 2000
About this information sheet
This sheet aims to provide:
- an introduction to the growing emphasis on
the place of information and communicationstechnology (ICT) for pupils
with visual impairment (VI)
- a list of organisations, both voluntary and
commercial, which provide information, advice, training, hardware or
software relevant to students who have VI
- details of some of the published sources of
information and advice on ICT and VI.
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1999
Wednesday, July 7 1999
University of Greenwich Public
Relations Unit
A MULTI-SENSORY COMPUTER COURSE IS CHANGING THE
LIVES OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES:
- Enabling prisoners and Romany adults to overcome
illiteracy
- Helping pupils with dyslexia in 100 schools and
colleges and improving skills of visually impaired and autistic children
- Improving literacy of Aboriginals via the
Internet
A multi-sensory computer course developed by former
University of Greenwich student Philip Alexandre is changing the lives of
children and adults with literacy difficulties such as dyslexia in Britain
and abroad. The Touch-type Read & Spell course was developed as a result
of Philip’s open MA studies in the School of Education in the early
nineties. As a special needs teacher with an interest in IT, Philip chose
to study "Children learning with computers". Local school children were
invited into the university to study how their learning progressed using
computers. He says: "The study showed great potential for a multi-sensory
programme to help overcome literacy difficulties using touch-typing, which
teaches learners to ‘talk with their fingers’."
Mike Draper was head of the Masters Programme and
provided valuable encouragement. "It’s amazing to think that the
rudimentary software programme Philip developed as a result of his Masters
degree has become such a valuable tool helping people of all ages to
overcome their literacy difficulties," says Mike, who is still a
consultant on the programme.
The programme can be tailored to individual needs,
making it suitable for both children and adults. Its various functions
give students endless options to suit their own learning style, strengths,
weaknesses and speed of learning. The key to its success lies in the
multi-sensory format; to feel with fingers on the keyboards, see the
screen and hear the letters and words read out helps students transfer
what they are learning from short to long-term memory. The content of the
course is based on the textbook Alpha to Omega written for teachers of
children with dyslexia by Bevé Hornsby and Frula Shear.
"A positive approach in a relaxed environment is
very important for people who have only experienced failure with reading
and writing," says Philip. The small modules, starting with three letter
words, guarantee success. An on-screen graph shows students how they are
improving and tutors see people’s body language change immediately as they
begin to succeed. The sense of achievement raises self-esteem, which is
why the programme is proving very effective in prisons.
The Chief Education Officer of HM Prison service,
Penny Robson, describes the programme as "an excellent teaching and
learning tool for use in prisons". Whilst just four per cent of the
general population has severe dyslexia, it affects almost a third of
prisoners. All too often these are people who have gone undiagnosed
through school, instead being labelled lazy or disruptive.
At Pentonville, where the course was introduced in
December, prisoners who have never read before are already coping with
books. Jane Broadfoot, Education Co-ordinator at Pentonville, says: "It’s
all about giving prisoners self confidence, a better hope of employment
and a way out of crime. They can see that it’s possible to be dyslexic and
still get on in the world." The programme also helped one of the prison
officers, Ken Thomas, who had always been held back by his literacy
difficulties. He says: "In just a couple of months it's taken the weight
off my shoulders that's been there for the last 20 years." In May this
year, the programme was introduced in HM Prison Rochester, where it is
succeeding with inmates on remand.
Bexley London Borough Advisory Unit gave initial
guidance and advice on developing the system and the Borough now contracts
the course for 120 children and their parents during the school holidays.
Plans are being discussed to allow greater access via libraries and the
Borough’s own Intranet in the future.
"When I want to spell a word at school, I just think
where my fingers would go," says 11 year-old Elliott Cross, one of the
children who benefited from the Bexley scheme. "I couldn't understand
words before. I knew what I wanted to write but the words would come out
wrong. Now I can write five-page stories." Having contacted the Dyslexia
Association, Elliott's mother Karen found out about the Touch-type Read &
Spell course being run at the University of Greenwich. She says: "Going on
the course gave me the reassurance that there was someone out there who
could and would help my child." Elliott now hopes to go to university and
become "a vet or a chef".
The system is running in around 100 schools and
colleges across the country. Local Education Authorities are catching on
to the benefits, including a project by Kent County Council to teach
Romany adults with funding from the European Social Fund. Programme
co-ordinator, Terry Waite, says: "We’ve found that learning to ‘use
computers’ to improve literacy has a much better image and increases
self-esteem." A pilot scheme with autistic children at the Helen Ellison
School in Meopham, Kent, is proving very successful. Greenwich Visual
Impairment Service has found the system very beneficial for children with
poor vision, helping to improve their social skills as well as literacy.
News of the success of Touch-type Read & Spell is
also spreading overseas. After seeing the programme in action at the
University of Greenwich, Dr Paul Whiting of the University of Sydney and
President of SPELD, the Australian equivalent of the British Dyslexia
Association, carried out a successful pilot study in Sydney. At the
request of parents, the programme will continue.
Philip and his team are also developing a project
for Aboriginals to use Touch-type Read & Spell by Distance Learning on the
Internet. In Singapore, both the Tanglin British School and the Australian
School use the programme and Changhi Jail is interested in the course.
Further information about Touch-type Read & Spell is
available from Philip Alexandre MA DPSE Cert Ed on 0181 464 1330.
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For further information: Caron Jones
Public Relations Unit University of Greenwich
020 8331 8092(phone) 020 8331 8093
(fax)
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University of Greenwich Public
Relations Unit
Maritime Greenwich Campus, 30 Park
Row, London SE10 9LS
TELEPHONE: 020 8331 8092 FAX: 020
8331 8093
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1998
Pentonville Prison Dyslexia Project
The main aim of the Pentonville Prison Dyslexia
Project was to offer dyslexic prisoners with poor literacy skills the
opportunity to improve their skills through participation in a computer
course. The Touch-type Read and Spell course is structured and delivers
its content through small incremental steps delivered in a multi-sensory
way with the opportunity to repeat modules.
Run by: A Joint Initiative of The British Dyslexia
Association and Pentonville Prison
Timescale: Launched in 1998
Funding: The National Year of Reading
Further Information: The British Dyslexia
Association Email: admin@bda-dyslexia.demon.co.uk Website:
www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk
Touch-type Read and Spell Website:
www.ttrs.co.uk
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1992
First TTRS course established at the University of
Greenwich. London
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Touch-type Read and Spell Computer Course
PO Box 535, Bromley, Kent BR1 2YF
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 208 464 1330
Fax: +44 (0) 208 313 9454
Email: info@ttrs.co.uk
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