Ninety-one teachers from the nation's primary and secondary schools enrolled in three different courses organised and led by the seasoned professionals of the Dyslexia Association and Dr Tim Conway, neuro-psychologist and educator, who has been working with the Dyslexia Association and its hundreds of graduates for a number of years.
The first course was the annual Methods for Teaching Dyslexics, a three-week intensive training programme in July, which was so heavily over-subscribed that two concurrent courses were needed to facilitate the 34 teachers.
A release from the Dyslexia Association quoted participant Lorraine Neves, who said; "What a journey! Ups and downs but a lot of learning. I will walk surely with knowledge not just applicable to teaching children with Dyslexia but to teaching children even in prestige schools like the one where I teach."
Another teacher said, "The course exceeded my expectations in terms of materials presented and clarity of each lecture."
Two more courses followed in August. During the five-day course, led by Dr Tim and Mrs Conway, NOW! (Neuro-development of Words) Foundations for Speech, Language, Reading and Spelling, substantially subsidised by United Way of T&T, 40 teachers were trained.
Dr and Mrs Conway then led 17 participants in an entirely new course, NOW! Grammar and Writing. This was a hands-on way of coding grammar using coloured blocks for better and more effective writing.
As an NGO with charitable status, The Dyslexia Association is able to subsidise fees to participants of all their courses, through fund-raising and generous corporate support. Cathryn Kelshall, chair of the Dyslexia Association, expressed her appreciation for the support the organisation receives, "It is through the very generous support of corporate citizens of T&T that we are able to function and we are very grateful for this support."
She emphasised that the association is financially supported by more than 100 corporations and private individuals, and because of their confidence in its work, the Dyslexia Association has been able to train almost 1,000 teachers in their various programmes in its 24 years of existence.
The association has a wider role in supporting people with dyslexia. In addition to teacher training, the association sponsors a bursary fund to help dyslexic students by paying fees for private individual tuition in reading by trained teachers.
Other support services from the volunteer-staffed office include testing and referral and a well-stocked taped-book and CD-book library for young people and adults.
For further information, call 625 5689 or visit the voice-supported Web site of the Dyslexia Association www.dyslexiatt.org