As a parent, it can be worrying when you begin to notice a disparity between your child’s development and those of children of a similar age. While every child learns at different rates and in different manners, parents are acutely aware of that niggling feeling when their child’s behaviour, learning or development seems to be vastly different to their peers. It is therefore reassuring to know that there is a wealth of expertise and support available for families and children experiencing challenges in a particular area. 

Philosophy of Inclusive Education

New Zealand schools adhere to an inclusive education philosophy. This decrees that ALL children are welcomed into a regular class in their local school and are supported to learn and participate in all aspects of school life alongside their peers. The principles behind inclusive education advocate that human diversity is respected, and that children’s abilities and strengths are recognised while their learning needs are addressed and responded to. It promotes an education system that is responsive to the uniqueness of each student rather than expecting children to fit into a one-size-fits-all model of teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education provides Special Education services which are available to support children experiencing challenges to access the curriculum by providing the extra help or specialised equipment and materials needed to adapt learning programmes and environments.

Process for Accessing Assistance

If you or your child’s teacher are concerned about your child’s development, learning, behaviour, or communication skills, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) of the school will be able to access help for you. A SENCO is responsible for implementing the school’s education policy and coordinates the services that students need. Once your concerns have been discussed and the SENCO  is sure that no current school-based programmes can assist your child, they will make a referral to the most relevant Special Education team. They will assess your child’s learning needs and then work collaboratively with you and the school to identify whether your child needs extra support and the type of support required. This will be discussed with your family and your child’s education provider, and then an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or learner profile will be written. If you would like your child to be assessed for Learning support assistance please contact your child’s teacher who will make a referral. 

Individual Education Plans

An IEP is a written plan formulated during a meeting between parents, teachers, specialists, and support staff such as Teacher Aides. It outlines how your child’s educational needs will be met and includes goals, programmes, or strategies to be implemented, and the resources and support needed to meet those goals. It also details who is responsible for each aspect of the plan and includes a date on which another meeting will be held to review your child’s progress towards those goals.

Learner Profiles

Students who are identified by learning leaders as requiring extra support at school are referred to the learning support coordinator who subsequently creates a learner profile for the student . This is a document made from gathering the contributions of classroom teachers, the students themselves and the students whanau to provide information to guide the people who  are supporting the student. 

Learner profiles include 

• information about the students skills, strengths and interests, 
• highlight challenges to learning
• Provide classroom based strategies that support students learning
• Make recommendations about what further interventions have been put in place to assist the student to achieve

The purpose of a learner profile is to inform discussions, and provide information about learners .

It is designed to help teachers 

• To understanding their students and how to build an effective relationship with them 
• To recognise and remove potential barriers to learning at the outset 
• To understand strategies that work for the student and what adaptations or differentiations might be necessary
• To design learning experiences and environments that maximise engagement and build on students strengths and interests
• To select curriculum materials and content that students will be able to access
• To keep teachers informed of interventions in place for the student and channels they can go to for support.
• To support conversations around transitions to new learning levels

It is designed to help families 

• convey information that may affect the learning of their child, 
• Provide a students and family perspective which expresses who they are and what their aspirations are
• Address concerns about their child’s learning challenges and identifies strategies that motivate them
•  Creates an opportunity for self advocacy regarding their child’s learning development

Students’ families and their teachers are provided a copy of the learner profile and it is added to the students’ school records. Option teachers have access to the profiles through the schools record keeping system and can check which students have a profile by referring to the schools learning support register. The learning support coordinator facilitates the implementation of the support plan and a review is made at the end of the year prior to discussions regarding transition to the next year level. 

Types of Learning Support Available

ONGOING RESOURCE SCHEME (ORS)

This is for children who have a very high level of need in learning, vision, physical, language use, or social communication. To qualify, the child must have an ongoing extreme or severe difficulty that prevents them accessing education. It is generally applied for several months prior to the child beginning school or transitioning to high school.

RESOURCE TEACHERS OF LEARNING AND BEHAVIOUR (RTLB)

These teachers are specialists employed to work with children in Years 1 to 10. They are trained to assist teachers to meet the needs of learners who have moderate learning and behaviour difficulties . They may work with classroom teachers to implement special teaching strategies or introduce class or school-wide programmes or, on occasion, work directly with individual students.

PHYSICAL DISABILITY SERVICE

This team involves Ministry of education physiotherapists and occupational therapists employed to assist children who have a physical disability that impedes them from moving safely around the school or playground or from participating in physical learning activities including handwriting. They may implement programmes to meet the child’s needs or make structural changes to the school such as building ramps. Their role also includes training school staff to help students manage basic tasks like toileting, eating, or changing clothes. Furthermore, these consultants are capable of accessing technology or tools and materials that might support learners with mobility or handwriting issues.

Intensive Wrap Around Service 

A team of psychologists from the ministry of education are available to provide an intensive wraparound service for students in Years 1 to 10 who present with highly complex or challenging behavioural, social, emotional, or educational issues. These might include students with an intellectual learning disability. These specialists work with the student’s family and teachers to tailor a comprehensive plan that will support the child at school and in the community. They endeavour to help the child learn positive ways of behaving and socialising and acquire new skills that will enable them to enjoy a successful home and school life. This may entail involving a range of organisations or agencies that can support the child and provides funding for up to three years to acquire any necessary equipment or memberships to community groups that may be required.

In Class Support Funding

Another initiative available to support learners experiencing learning challenges  is the In Class Support fund. This provides teacher aide funding of five hours per week for students who need support to lift their achievement. Each school is individually responsible for administering the fund and it can be used to assist students who due to a learning disability are working at or below level one in the curriculum in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics.

Special Education Grant

Each school is provided a Special Education Grant (SEG) that can be used to help them meet the needs of their students. The school community has ownership of how the funding is used to improve children’s learning and behavioural outcomes. Schools are encouraged to use this funding to improve the learning and behaviour of children who do not qualify for funding under other special education initiatives. The use of these funds  aligns with each school’s individual special education policy.

GIFTED STUDENTS

Schools are required to identify and cater for children who have special talents or abilities. The New Zealand Association for Gifted Children (giftedchildren.org.nz) has regional branches which can offer support, advice, and guidance if you feel your child may be considered to be gifted.

Further information Sources

Education helpline: 0800 622 222

Special Ministry of Education: education.govt.nz/school/student-support/special-education

ESOL funding is targeted at students with the highest English language learning needs. The need for ESOL funding is assessed using the English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP). The scoring system is based on matrices that record each English language learner’s (ELL’s) achievement level in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students whose scores are below the ELLP benchmarks will qualify for funding if they’re: migrants to New Zealand, former refugees, New Zealand-born students, with at least one parent of migrant or refugee background. New Zealand-born students are eligible if at least one of their parents is a migrant to New Zealand and a language other than English is usually spoken in the home. It is not for Adult students, International fee-paying students or Students whose first language is identified as English or te Reo Māori.

The ESOL funding allows more intensive support for ELLs in their early years at New Zealand schools. They provide higher funding for ELLs at secondary school as they need to learn English to function across a wider curriculum with higher language demands. All funding amounts shown are GST exclusive. Primary and intermediate students: $780 per year , Secondary students: $1000 per year. Migrant and former refugee students are entitled to ESOL funding for up to five years (20 terms). New Zealand-born students (of migrant or refugee parents) are eligible for up to three years (12 terms).

If you feel your child should be receiving ESOL funding and is not please contact Paula Galey.

Steps is an online based spelling and literacy program that can be run from home or school.  Students are given a pre-test and the system will advise the correct level to begin on.  The student can then work through the levels which are tailored to their individual needs at their own pace.  A variety of learning tools (games, activities and techniques) are used to enhance learning.

https://www.stepsweb.com/

StepsWeb | Changing lives by improving literacy <https://www.stepsweb.com/

“Wow – Steps is awesome! Our son has just been diagnosed with severe dyslexia and this is the first programme I have seen that seems to really get how dyslexics think and what they need.”

Steps to Literacy Programme

Steps to literacy is the workbook and software based remedial literacy course used at Waihi College for learners who have been identified by their teachers as having literacy difficulties. This programme provides a comprehensive, structured, research based approach to literacy teaching. It is suitable for learners with any processing difficulties or learning disabilities, including dyslexia or dyspraxia. It is also suitable for learners who simply need a more structured approach to more reinforcement such as ESOL students.

The course is designed to be multisensory and highly structured. It develops the processing skills involved in literacy and also incorporates a considerable amount of reinforcement in different ways. Phonic and orthographic knowledge are developed in a systematic and logical way , but the skills of phonological awareness, visual discrimination, visual memory, sequencing, auditory processing and working memory are also high priority. Words are always seen and used in context. Learners develop reading fluency, sight vocabulary, comprehension, verbal reasoning and decoding/ encoding skills. They are taught to proof read and write sentences from dictation, which is an important check on whether material has been assimilated properly, as well as helping to teach note taking skills at a later stage. 

Steps to literacy has three key elements: games / activities, workbooks and steps software. The greater the students’ literacy need the more elements are needed to teach effectively. The programme is divided into six steps, each of which consists of eight units. These units provide a logical, structured phonics based progression covering spelling patterns or word families. The expectation for success is that students will be expected to make gains of between 2 and 3 years improvement after a year’s tuition. Students should aim to complete one unit a week or one step each term on average. Students can use Steps at home to reinforce and make progress

It involves testing the student for their spelling age not their reading age as it has been determined that when dealing with learners who have processing difficulties, the spelling age is a more accurate indicator of what the learner understands about text. Learners are placed on a spelling level based on their spelling age as this is the best indicator of what a learner understands about text. Dyslexic readers often have a reading age that is higher than their spelling age as they use context to compensate for lack of phonemic knowledge. 

Language awareness is a priority throughout the course but later levels also have a strong emphasis on language development, including vocabulary and comprehension. 

Learners are taught in small groups under the guidance of a teacher aide. High need students need a minimum of 3 40 minute sessions per week while Mild to moderate need students require once a week for 60 minutes or 2 sessions of  40 minutes. Each session involves some time spent on the computer, some on workbooks and a test of word race at the back of each workbook. 

The literacy skills taught include

• Letter sound correspondence
• Phonic and orthographic knowledge
• Decoding
• Encoding
• Rapid whole world recognition
• Reading fluency
• Reading comprehension
• Interpretation / inferential thinking
• Vocabulary
• Letter formation
• Pen grip
• Handwriting
• Writing from dictation
• Proofreading

Processing skills include

• Verbal reasoning
• Phonological awareness
• Rhyming skills
• Syllabification
• Alliteration
• Auditory discrimination
• Phonemic awareness
• Phoneme manipulation
• Blending and segmentation
• Onset and rime
• Analogical transfer
• Word retrieval
• Visual discrimination
• Visual figure ground
• Perceptual organisation
• Eyetracking
• Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic memory
• Sequencing

Maths Buddy is an online based mathematics program that can be completed at home or at school.  Each topic has a video explanation, and then questions that follow with interactive ways to answer.  Students can work through at their own pace and also watch the instruction video multiple times if needed.  It is easily tailored to meet the individual level and can cater to strengths and weaknesses.

https://www.mathsbuddy.co.nz/

MathsBuddy – Welcome<https://www.mathsbuddy.co.nz/>

Makes maths easy to understand; Clear, spoken explanations; Short, engaging, to the point – improves clarity and focus; Pause, rewind or repeat a lesson so they really get it www.mathsbuddy.co.nz

At Waihi College the learning centre  identifies students who  need support or extension in their numeracy abilities and  offers them the opportunity to participate in the Maths Buddy programme to improve their abilities. Some students struggle with maths as numeracy skills, rules and principles tend to build on one another.   If a student misses a few of those crucial building blocks any future work is difficult to understand and the student can lose confidence in their ability at math. Other students show a particular aptitude for maths and need extending beyond the classroom programme. The maths buddy programme was created by a maths teacher to give students the opportunity to watch, listen and redo maths lessons  using an online learning platform that is targeted to their specific individual learning needs.

The programme allows students to learn at their own pace, catch up on lessons they may have missed or concepts they have not understood or revise a particular concept before doing new learning, and  complete worksheets and interactive questions to test their understanding. Lessons involve watching video and audio demonstrations of concepts linked to the NZ Maths curriculum and doing interactive online questions to practise newly learnt skills. Answers are recorded online and immediately marked then students are provided  worksheets with the correct solutions . At the end of a lesson students are provided a one page summary of each tutorial with notes for revision and review. The  teachers get detailed reports for every lesson and a summary report showing the students progress by topic. 

The programme is supervised by a teacher aide and overseen by the Learning Support Coordinator. A teacher Aide  works with  students in a small group for 45 minutes a week and sets work for the students to complete in class and for homework. Once students have completed the set tasks they will be retested to gauge their progress and new learning directions can be set. Students can access the website at home at www.Maths buddy.com using their school username and password.

The learning centre offers students who experience social communication challenges the opportunity to participate in Lego Education Club. This type of club originated from the observations of therapists that adults and children naturally gravitated to lego in a room full of toys. It is a form of play therapy which is guided by the principles of creating a dedicated space and time for the activity, using non verbal communication as much as possible, using declarative language instead of commands and questions, joining and challenging at each step of the activity and encouraging collaboration and pretending. Lego therapy helps to develop and reinforce play and social skills such as verbal and nonverbal communication , joint attention, task focus, sharing and turn taking, and collaborative problem solving. For students who need extension opportunities in their learning it  can also be used to build on students’ emerging interests and skills and encourages them to build on their ideas and be creative while learning simple engineering skills . 

Currently the learning centre uses  Lego education SPIKe and Lego Mindstorms which are intuitive hands on solutions kits designed to develop students’ confidence in STEAM concepts via learning through play . Participation in the programme builds critical thinking skills, resilience and independence, creativity, and collaborative and communication skills. Lego sessions are facilitated by a trained teacher aide and run  for one and a half hours weekly. Students typically work in groups of 3 and sessions are highly structured with each child taking a turn at fulfilling a specific role. The Teacher Aide guides students through the learning activity and uses this forum to support students to develop their social communication and interaction skills. 

The Learning support coordinator can make applications for students to have special assessment conditions for their NCEA assessments. Special assessment conditions are not for lower ability students but for students who show a discrepancy between cognitive ability and academic performance. The student must have shown a demonstrated ability to achieve at Level 5, 6, 7 but be underachieving as a result of a reading or writing challenge. 

Students with medical conditions are also eligible for special assessment conditions with evidence of a recent medical report. The eligible conditions include

• ADHD
• Auditory processing disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Injury or chronic Pain
• Hearing impairment
• Depression/ psychosis/anxiety/ PTSD
• Diabetes
• Specific Learning disorder
• Dyspraxia
• Epilepsy
• Long standing hand, wrist, arm, shoulder injury
• Brain injury
• Pregnancy
• Muscular or neurological disability
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Vision impairment

The types of Special Assessment available include

• Reader
• Writer
• Computer use
• Separate accommodation
• Extra writing time
• Enlarged papers
• Rest breaks
• Braille paper
• Special paper
• Sign language 

Schools need to trial the entitlement to make a judgement to see if the special assessment conditions made a difference. Therefore students in year levels 7 to 10 should use the special assessment conditions appropriate and decide if it made a significant improvement to the students marks. Teachers can then provide documentation to the learning centre who can proceed with an application when the student is in year 11. 

https://gifted.tki.org.nz/further-support/competitions/>

Below you will find links to a selection of (non sporting) competitions gifted learners might be interested in:

http://gifted.tki.org.nz 

Formal concurrent enrolment links:

*   Te Kura: The Correspondence School<http://www.tekura.school.nz/>

*   Auckland University Young Scholars Programme<http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/for/future-undergraduates/fu-study-options/young-scholars-programme-1>

*   Concurrent school/university study – Massey University<http://www.manu-ao.ac.nz/massey/admission/enrolment/entry-requirements/eligible_concurrent.cfm>

*   Star at UC – University of Canterbury<https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/engage/school-resources/>

*   Unistart – University of Waikato<http://www.waikato.ac.nz/sasd/files/pdf/STARbrochure.pdf>

Enrichment concurrent enrolment links:

*   Coursera<https://www.coursera.org/>

*   MIT Open Courseware<http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm>

*   Massive Open Online Learning<http://www.mooc-list.com/>

*   Education Portal<http://education-portal.com/>

Clubs:

*   Chess for Kids<http://www.chesskid.com/?m=chesskids/newcourse/index.htm>

*   Debating<http://www.debating.org.nz/>

*   New Zealand Chess<http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/>

*   Toastmasters Young Gavel Club<http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MemberExperience/SatellitePrograms/GavelClubs.aspx>

*   Theatresports Youth Programme<http://www.conartists.co.nz/typ/>

*   Philosophy for Children (P4C)<http://www.p4c.org.nz/>

*   Science Award Trust – Activity Challenges<http://www.sciencebadges.co.nz/activity_challenges.html>

*   Science Award Trust – Science Badges<http://www.sciencebadges.co.nz/badges.html>

*   UN Youth NZ<http://www.unyouth.org.nz/>

*   New Zealand Stamp Collectors Club Inc.<http://www.newzeal.com/Philately/NZSCC.htm>

E-learning Resources:

*   Coursera<https://www.coursera.org/>

*   Education Portal<http://education-portal.com/>

*   Enabling e-learning<http://elearning.tki.org.nz/>

*   GO online<http://www.giftededucation.org.nz/giftedonline.html>

*   iTunes U<http://www.apple.com/nz/education/itunes-u/>

*   Khan Academy<http://www.khanacademy.org/>

*   MIT Open Courseware<http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm>

*   Massive Open Online Learning<http://www.mooc-list.com/>

*   Mindlab kids<https://www.mindlabkids.com/>

*   Ted X<http://www.ted.com/tedx>

*   Ted X Teen<http://www.tedxteen.com/>

*   Yale Courses<http://www.youtube.com/user/YaleCourses>

NZ websites parents may join:

https://giftednz.org.nz/

https://www.giftedchildren.org.nz/

What is our School Sensory Space

Sensory rooms use sensory equipment to create a controlled sensory-focused environment. These environments allow sensory experiences to be individually tailored to meet the specific needs of an individual.These rooms can serve multiple purposes. They can promote self-organization, be a calming area, provide leisure, help with sensory integration, or act as skill training centers. Those with multiple disabilities often have sensory impairments. By controlling sensory input in the room it is possible to eliminate distractions and assist people to attend to specific objects that may help them make sense of their external environment.

Researched benefits of the sensory Space

1. Reduce Stress
2. Reduce Stereotyped/repetitive Behaviors
3. Reduce Aggression
4. Increase focus
5. Motivate Learning
6. Increase interaction
7. Assist with sensory integration therapy.
8. Modulate the environment to reduce the opportunity for over-stimulation.
9. Creates a safe space with tools students can use to self regulate and manage anger, over-stimulation and stress.
10. Create a controlled space to assess the type of environment a student is most comfortable in and the sensory activities a person is most responsive to.
11. Create a comfortable space for students to relax in to help them interact with others.
12. Provide a safe crisis and de-escalation area

In New Zealand, the Ministry of Education defines assistive technology as specialized equipment and technology that “assists” students to access and participate in learning. This does not include laptops and chromebooks any longer as the school has availability to supply its own. Assistive technology can support a student’s presence, participation, and achievement in many different ways. As every student learns differently the assistance they require needs to be a good fit for both the student and the context. Many assistive technologies, such as text-to-speech are now built into our phones, tablets and laptops or can be downloaded for free. They become a resource that all However sometimes a student may require the support of a specific assistive technology that is not freely available.

To be able to apply for assistive technology a student will:

• be enrolled in compulsory education, have additional learning needs and have difficulty following the curriculum using standard classroom technology; and
• be supported by one of these Ministry of Education learning support services:
  Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)
  • Speech-Language (Communication) Service
  • Behavior and Support Service (BSS)
  • Physical Disability Support Service (PDS)
  • Services for Blind and Low Vision (BLENNZ)
  • Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
  • School High Health Needs Fund (SHHNF)
  • In class support (ICS)
• Or be receiving additional learning support from their school. Under this criterion, the student must meet all of the following requirements:
  • have a current individual learning support plan, for example an IEP, that has been in place for at least three months; and
  • be at least one level below expected NZ curriculum level, and
  • be receiving ongoing monitoring/support by school leader of additional learning support, for example, SENCo, Learning Support Coordinator, and
  • be receiving additional adult support in class for a minimum of two hours 1:1 (individual) or four hours (small group) per week. This could be from a teacher, RTLB, RTLit or teacher aides or a combination of all. This additional learning support must have been in place for at least three months.

Assistive technology support is available for individual students only (not groups of students). The assistive technology fund supports student’s presence, participation/engagement, and learning.

5 plus and 7 plus

FivePlus has been crafted to help struggling students in Years 2 and 3 accelerate their learning of early literacy skills so that they can catch up to their peers. Crafted by literacy expert Chuck Marriott, FivePlus uses a simple daily routine to teach skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, encoding and reading fluency. FivePlus is a short-term reading intervention programme for students who are struggling to read at the average reading attainment and are behind the National Standard for their class.

SevenPlus is a short-term reading intervention programme for students who are struggling to read at the average reading attainment and are behind the National Standard for their class. As the research has shown that the difficulties with decoding low vocabulary and poor fluency are principal causes of reading problems for older readers, SevenPlus attends to those three issues. The programme assumes students (Years 3-8) have learned most of the very early skills that are taught in the first two years, such as basic phonics and early reading strategies. SevenPlus follows a simple daily routine that the students quickly learn. Students learn how to successfully read increasingly more difficult text as they develop decoding skills and build vocabulary.

Five plus Lessons are run for twenty minutes each session for 25 lessons . Both the students and the teacher will see results within 10 lessons. Lessons are conducted on an individual basis.

Seven plus lessons are done in a small group. Selection and grouping of pupils are extremely important if SevenPlus is to help make the gains needed. .Children need to have a fluent working knowledge of basic phonics and be able to easily blend letter sounds. The students need to be reading at least at a six and a half year level. It makes sense that a teacher will group pupils together with the same or similar needs. This means that they will be reading at the same level of difficulty. The success of SevenPlus is very sensitive to all children having similar decoding ability. SevenPlus should be taught in the classroom as part of the reading programme. As an intervention at Tier Two, it replaces the normal guided reading for a short period of time. The skills learned are learned within the context of real reading. SevenPlus is not a sub-skills teaching that you hope will be transferred to text. It is a short term intervention for no longer than ten weeks and should be implemented daily.

Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® accelerates literacy gains for students in Years 6–12 who are at risk of not meeting College and Career-Ready Standards. Rooted in the science of reading and research proven to be up to five times as effective as the average school reading intervention, PowerUp enables students to make multiple years of growth in a single academic year. Designed to respect the time and maturity of the adolescent learner, PowerUp immerses students in an age-appropriate learning experience that is tailored to their individual strengths and weaknesses. PowerUp’s adaptive instructional model maximizes student learning and provides motivational tools to minimize the time required for students to start mastering grade-level skills.

PowerUp  Simultaneously addresses gaps in fundamental literacy skills while building higher-order analytical skills to accelerate learning across a broad range of students . Additionally it Motivates adolescent learners to work toward grade-level literacy standards and provides True personalization through individualized learning pathways, adaptive instruction, and data-driven action plans that leads to faster literacy gains . PowerUp is a computer-based program that adapts instruction to the specific needs of adolescent learners. The activities in PowerUp  focus on developing reading skills in three areas: word study, grammar, and comprehension. PowerUp uses a structured and systematic approach to filling in skill gaps for adolescent learners. 

• Word Study — Students develop reading accuracy and fluency by focusing on sound and syllable patterns in words.
• Grammar — Students learn how written language works in order to improve their writing and reading comprehension. They learn how parts of speech function in sentences and how sentence parts convey meaning.
• Comprehension — Students learn skills & strategies to become independent and strategic readers. Passages include original and authentic texts of multiple genres including informational texts, narratives, drama, and poetry.

Implementation at Waihi College

• Students are selected from those in year 9 and 10 whose classroom testing results  indicate that they are achieving below the expected curriculum level. These students will be invited to spend one term on the programme and will be assessed for progress at the conclusion of the term. A teacher Aide will implement the programme five times per week .
• Students begin at a point in each area of the program that is right for them, based on the results of a brief set of placement activities.
• Each week, students get a weekly goal of 75–135 minutes each week. Total time includes 25-45 minutes in each of the three areas of the program (Word Study, Grammar, and Comprehension). This weekly goal decreases over time as students make progress. Students can see their weekly goal in the student dashboard.
• Online activities include direct instruction and immediate feedback as your student learns new skills.
• Progress and performance in the program are reported directly to teachers so that they can provide assistance when needed.
• Paper-and-pencil and hands-on activities are used for practicing and extending skills.

This is a reading programme for older students who have literacy difficulties and is provided free of charge by the Rural youth and adult literacy trust . RYALT collaborates with schools to provide free adult literacy tuition . They provide volunteer literacy coaches Provide supervision and mentoring for the coaches, and  provide access to online practice software to speed up learning. The school is expected to provide the people, the place, the computers and the internet and a  designated liaison person. Volunteer coaches  help students with reading, writing and spelling. Coaches talk with the students by phone or Skype for 30 minutes a day, for 3-5 days a week. Students can be assisted to complete  short courses such as : How to Use Your Smartphone, Letter-writing Course, Form-filling Course, Essay-writing for Teenagers Course, Learn to Do Crosswords, Learn to Spell, How To Use Snapchat, How To Surf The Internet, How to Use Skype, How To Use Trade Me, How To Email, How To Use Facebook.

The Literacy Clinic 

The Literacy Clinic (Katikati, Bay of Plenty, NZ) offers face to face and zoom support for neuro diverse learners with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, autism, global delay and other differentiated learning challenges. We are dedicated to ‘Building Hope and Growing Futures’ for diverse learners.

Jan Bibby 0273796261 thelitclinic@gmail.com\

Learning Solutions 

My Learning Solutions offers a program that incorporates Vision Activity, Cognitive Enhancement, Reading Simplified and a structured writing development program to support the learner’s progress. Each lesson is started with vision and cognitive activities to build the learner’s ability to focus on the task, focus on the printed word and to track the words with both eyes. All of this is done in a relaxed manner. Progress is quick and students’ confidence, and belief in themselves grows quickly. The process follows a strong researched based approach from Reading Simplified Academy. Tutors have direct access to Internationally recognised Dr Marnie Ginsberg learning Academy, https://readingsimplified.com/academy whose research and support team are there to aid in the development of the tricky cases.

www.mylearningsolutions.co.nz/home

marg@mylearningsolutions.co.nz

64 021 101 1970

Altogether Autism 

https://www.altogetherautism.org.nz

Altogether Autism provides a national information and advisory service for autistic people, their families, whānau, professionals and the wider community. Life Unlimited Charitable Trust and Parent to Parent New Zealand provide this Ministry of Health-funded service in partnership.

Services include:

• Individualised information on autism and issues affecting autistic people
• Altogether Autism Journal
• Contact with a support parent whose son or daughter also has autism
• Sibling support for sisters and brothers of someone on the autism spectrum
• Evidence-based information and clinical advice from autism researchers and clinicians
• Lived experience insights from autistic people
• Community network meetings and seminars
• Professional Development workshops
• Trusted Information
• Altogether Autism provides evidence-based autism information tailored to your individual request, including issues affecting autistic people, as well as information on diagnosis, rights and access to education, Needs Assessment Service Coordination (NASC) and support.

• Autism New Zealand 
• https://autismnz.org.nz
• Provides services and support, education and information on autism for autistic people and family/whānau, caregivers, and professionals who engage with them. Autism New Zealand works to:

• Support autistic people and those who make up their support network – who want active assistance – in a collaborative way that helps them and their community, including liaising with other agencies on their behalf.

• Educate individuals, families/whānau, professionals and other interested parties about autism, by providing a range of evidence-based, tailored courses that offer practical strategies, tools and information to manage effectively for the best outcomes

• Inform individuals, families/whānau, professionals and the wider public about autism via a variety of mediums including social media, website, newsletters and resources as well as distributing the latest information and research relating to autism.

• Advocate for autistic people by providing submissions on relevant legislation and providing comment on government policy relating to autism and raising awareness of autism to promote inclusive behaviours in society.

• • OpenDyslexic Font for Chrome( free chrome extension )

• Open-Dyslexic is a font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia. 
• This extension overrides all fonts on web pages with the OpenDyslexic font and formats pages to be more readable.  Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to add a kind of “gravity” to each letter. You are able to quickly figure out which part of the letter is down because of this feature. It aids in recognizing the correct letter and sometimes helps to keep your brain from rotating them around. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent confusion by flipping and swapping.

Read and Write for google chrome (chrome extension)

Boost reading and writing confidence across all types of content and devices, in class, at work, and at home!Wonderfully intuitive and easy-to-use, Read&Write for Google Chrome™ provides personalized support to make documents, web pages and common file types in Google Drive (including: Google Docs, PDF & ePub) more accessible. It’s designed to help everyone engage with digital content in a way that suits his/her abilities and learning styles.Read&Write offers a range of powerful support tools to help you gain confidence with reading, writing, studying and research, including

• • Text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting
• • Text and picture dictionaries to see the meaning of words explained
• • With speech-to-text, dictate words to assist with writing, proofreading & studying
• • Word prediction offers suggestions for the current or next word as you type
• • Collect highlights from text in documents or the web for summarizing and research
• • Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs
• Simplify and summarize text on web pages to remove ads and other copy that can be distracting

Dyslexia screening test

https://www.testdyslexia.com/

This free, secure and confidential screening assessment will give a profile of learning strengths and weaknesses, including a measure of severity of symptoms.Your answers are confidential. You do not need to provide any personal information to complete this assessment.You can answer the questions for yourself, or you can use this evaluation as a way of learning more about the learning profile of a member of your family or a student you are working with.The survey has 5 pages with 41 questions in all.  For best results, you should try to answer as many questions as possible, but you can skip or omit any questions which do not apply.Your results will be printed on screen as soon as you finish answering the questions.  You will have an opportunity to print out your results at the end of the assessment.

Northern Health School

https://www.nhs.school.nz

We cater for school age students who due to illness, accident or mental health, have been or are expected to have significant absence from their regular school.

Students will need to be enrolled at a New Zealand school.  They will continue to be on the roll of their regular school while they are working with our teachers and as their medical situation improves will then be assisted with the transition back to their regular school. Admission to Northern Health School does not affect any existing enrolment arrangements.

We cater for school age students who due to illness, accident or mental health, have been or are expected to have significant absence from their regular school.Students will need to be enrolled at a New Zealand school.  They will continue to be on the roll of their regular school while they are working with our teachers and as their medical situation improves will then be assisted with the transition back to their regular school. Admission to Northern Health School does not affect any existing enrolment arrangement

Eligibility and application process

• 10 days or more off school with hospitalization, or
• 40 days absence due to a chronic illness as predicted by a specialist, or
• Involvement in a state funded mental health treatment programme
• Parents Complete Northern Health School admission form including parental / guardian consent. Then take the medical verification form to the medical practitioner / specialist for completion. This certificate is not necessary if your child is in the hospital.

ADHD NZ

https://www.adhd.org.nz/

Parent to Parent 

https://parent2parent.org.nz/

This is a nationwide not-for-profit organisation formed in 1983 by parents and professionals to support the families of babies, children, teens and adults with any type of disability or health impairment. 14 branches and a national office in Hamilton help families across New Zealand informing, educating, inspiring and supporting them , as they navigate their way through experiences with disability. Services  are all free and confidential. Parent to Parent operates a network of more than 600 specially-trained volunteer support parents, and connects those parents to families new to the world of disability. Each family is connected to a support parent whose child has the same or similar disability to yours.Support Parents are there to offer a listening ear. With their ‘lived experience’, they understand the challenges and unique joy of caring for a child or family member in a similar situation to yours, and can offer practical solutions. A core part of their work revolves around providing the latest research and information about your family member’s condition so you are equipped with the power of knowledge. Their  dedicated support and information team provides free information to families and those involved in a family’s care, on nearly 4,000 conditions each year, from the very rare to the more common. While their core services are connecting parents with Support Parents and providing research and information, we also offer nationwide programmes and workshops. Their other main role is at government policy level, advocating for better lives for children with disabilities and their families.

Cognitive Assessments

Stephen McCartney, Educational Psychologist at healyxltd@gamil.com

A cognitive assessment is an assessment that involves trying to gain an understanding of the thinking and reasoning skills of children. A cognitive assessment is especially important at trying to establish brain-behaviour relationships. It is NOT about trying to work out the IQ (Intelligence Quotient) of your child. Your child will have been referred for this type of assessment because there have been concerns from other professionals about your child’s learning and behaviour. Your child may have a medical condition that affects their ability to learn and understand, and a cognitive assessment can help to identify those areas that are affected and those that are not. A person that performs a cognitive assessment is a Psychologist or Clinical Psychologist who has received training in this area or who has gained experience in this area over time. 

Speld

Helene Paterson, SPELD assessor at gordon.paterson@xtra.co.nz

SPELDS  Assessors and Teachers are trained to assess, teach and support children with a wide range of learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Qualified teachers work one-to-one with students, creating an individual learning plan to suit each child, based on the findings of his or her assessment. They also offer a range of helpful resources and courses for families and caregivers of children with SLD/dyslexia.

Workbridge

https://workbridge.co.nz/

Jude Lindfield Employment consultant : judel@workbridge.co.nz Ph 021860335

Workbridge supports job seekers with disabilities or health conditions, as well as employers and workplaces across the country, with more than 75 employment consultants in 22 centres nationwide.They also administer New Zealand Support Funds on behalf of the Ministry of Social Development. Workbridge is an incorporated society and a not-for-profit organisation. Services are free for employers and eligible jobseekers. Candidates must be over the age of 16 and have a learning or health issue that impacts on their life. Workbridge assists to facilitate  entry into the workforce with one to one mentoring. 

Assistive Technology DTSL

http://assistive.dtsl.co.nz/   Thomas Roberts tomas.roberts@dtsl.co.nz

The  role of this company is to work alongside and support the nationwide assessors, funders and individuals in all areas of assistive technology. They can assist with

• Software – from cause and effect through to mainstream curriculum support
• Alternative input access – to give the client an alternative way to access their technology
• Toys – to engage, entertain, educate and communicate
• Visual and sensory – devices to provide auditory, tactile and visual stimulation
• Communication devices with grid sets for talking with symbols or text
• Computer systems and IT accessories – as a nationwide IT computer company we source and support the most popular international brands, from computers, monitors, touch screens, printers, and carry bags to the wider range of IT accessories
• Training and support – are essential as this ensures the equipment is best used to meet the client’s needs. We provide nationwide support for all the equipment we supply
• Evaluation library – lets the assessors and clients try out the equipment to see if it best fits their needs
• Tell us what you need – we will do our very best to ensure we find a solution

Kaiko Fidgets

https://kaikofidgets.com/

Kaiko Fidgets is based in Melbourne, Australia and is co-founded by Kai, who is both autistic & dyslexic. The Kaiko range of discreet and noiseless fidgets is for both adults & kids to assist with mental health, anxiety & focus. Kai started making fidgets for himself, at age 11, and soon realised there was very little available. Kai (now in his teens), with the help of his Occupational Therapist mum Jo, have created designs to suit a wide range of needs.

There are some that assist with picking and harm minimisation (spikey range), rhythmic stimming (hand rollers and his chain fidgets) and soft soothing (caterpillar & caterpillar necklace).  We carefully source and select additional products to compliment the rage we manufacture for their ability to help, support & assist in daily life. 

Support Net

Rebecca Spiers 07 5773322 Rebecca.Spiers@bopdhb.govt.nz

Support Net is obliged to establish if people meet criteria to be eligible to receive NASC services. Staff will talk about this and will work with you to find out about your abilities, resources, goals and needs. After an assessment has taken place we will help you to identify which of these needs are the most important and work with you to plan what supports or services are available to help you. This also includes the supports that are available to you from family, friends and community contacts.

Support Net will identify with you which supports you are eligible for and we will then facilitate the commencement of these services and supports.

If funded services are required these services are often delivered by provider organisations contracted by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board or the Ministry of Health. These services could include help in the home, help with personal care, respite, support for living independently and others such as individualised funding arrangements.

https://www.bopdhb.health.nz/health-and-support/health-wellbeing-services-and-advice/support-net-disability-services-and-support/

Rural Youth and Adult Literacy Trust

Free Literacy Lessons

https://www.adultliteracy.ac.nz/

Phone: 0800 891 339 | 09 280 4348

Email: admin@adultliteracy.ac.nz

Volunteer coaches help our students with reading, writing and spelling.

Coaches talk with the students by phone or Skype for 30 minutes a day, for 3-5 days a week.

There is nowhere in NZ that is too far away for us to help you.

To become a student, you need to live in a rural area anywhere in NZ where you can’t get to an adult literacy center, or to be isolated by other circumstances.

Free Short Courses

For Anyone Who Finds Reading and Writing Difficult

All you need is a computer with internet – or even just a phone!

One-to-one coach

Do it at your own speed

Learn in the comfort of your own home

You Can Do These Courses by Phone

How to Use Your Smart Phone

Letter-writing Course

Form-filling Course

Essay-writing for Teenagers Course

Learn to Do Crosswords

Learn to Spell

How To Use Snapchat

You Can Do These Courses if You Have a Computer and Internet:

How To Surf The Internet

How to Use Skype

How To Use Trade Me

How To Email

How To Use Facebook

Catchup Literacy Camps for High School Students

Camps are run during school holidays. Over time the Trust expects to provide camps for both girls and boys and for junior secondary school level (years 9-10) as well as senior secondary school students (years 11-13).

The pilot programme being run in 2018 is limited by funding to 20 boys from years 11-13.

The camps are free to the families. We ask schools to make a donation of $100 per student but this is not mandatory.

In 2018 camp sponsors are Waikato District Council and ANZ Staff Foundation.

Literacy Hubs in Your Community

We collaborate with other community organizations to provide free adult literacy tuition for their local community. You can start a hub with just one student. We can:

Provide you with volunteer literacy coaches OR train your own volunteers to be literacy coaches.

Provide supervision and mentoring for the coaches – yours or ours.

Provide access to online practice software to speed up learning.

What the other organization contributes:

The people, the place, the computers and the internet

A designated liaison person

 Download more information about starting a literacy hub

(0.74 Mb PDF)

Workplace Literacy Tuition

Workplaces can access the free literacy service.

Should a company require a literacy tuition service tailored for its own situation, we can provide a tutor on a cost-recovery-only basis, which currently works out at around $60 per hour plus travel.

Te Kura

Summary of Government-funded dual tuition Te Kura Enrolment and Dual Tuition Policy: www.tekura.school.nz/dual-providers/first-steps/eligibility COVID-19 help for schools: www.tekura.school.nz/te-kura-and-covid/te-kura-enrolment-enquiries-and-covid-19/ Te Kura Relationship Coordinators: www.tekura.school.nz/dual-providers/first-steps/regional-contacts/ 2021/4 Year Level Ministry of Education Enrolment Criteria *Enrolment criteria are subject to change No. of Govt Funded Subjects Te Kura Enrolment System (TES) Reason Years 1–15 Curriculum adaptation Learning Support needs Requires an Individual Education Plan which is less than six months old, with a statement from the school describing the learning support assistance already provided to the student. Applications are considered on an individual basis and accepted at the discretion of Te Kura. Up to 75% of the learning programme (approx 4 subjects) • Years 1–8: Special Education needs • Years 9–15: Remedial Gifted Applications must be supported by an Individual Education Plan which is less than six months old, and evidence of exceptional academic, creative, social, cultural and/or physical ability must be provided. 2 Gifted Years 7–8 Curriculum capability Technology Geographically isolated schools with no Year 7–8 technology tuition. Requires Ministry of Education approval. 1 Technology Te Reo Requires Ministry of Education Manager approval for all levels of Te Reo Māori. Second subject may be from the Kaupapa Māori learning area. 2 Te Reo Māori – access Years 7–15 Curriculum adaptation Reintegration To support a student’s reintegration into a local school. Registration is at the discretion of Te Kura and requires supporting documentation. 4 Reintegration Years 9–15 Curriculum capability Subject not available Secondary schools with fewer than 600 students. Subjects not offered or that are not available in that school’s language of tuition (e.g. English or te reo Māori). 4 Subject not available Cultural affinity Student has a demonstrated family or cultural affinity with an ethnic group and requires tuition in that language. 1 Language for ethnic Student transfer For students who have transferred from another school during that year. The maximum period of dual tuition is for the remainder of the school year. 2 Transferring student Years 11–15 Curriculum capability Small senior classes – NCEA Level 1–3 courses only A school has only a small number of students studying a subject at Year 11, 12 or 13 levels. Maximum total of six students for this category per level per subject for each school. 2 Small senior classes Summary of Government-funded dual tuition Te Kura Enrolment and Dual Tuition Policy: www.tekura.school.nz/dual-providers/first-steps/eligibility COVID-19 help for schools: www.tekura.school.nz/te-kura-and-covid/te-kura-enrolment-enquiries-and-covid-19/ Te Kura Relationship Coordinators: www.tekura.school.nz/dual-providers/first-steps/regional-contacts/ 2021/4 Year Level Ministry of Education Enrolment Criteria *Enrolment criteria are subject to change No. of Govt Funded Subjects Te Kura Enrolment System (TES) Reason Years 9–15 Curriculum capability Cultural exchange For students on an approved cultural exchange in New Zealand who require subjects on return to the country that they are from. 2 Exchange student Summer School To enable short-term registrations over the summer break (between Terms 4 and 1) for students who need to earn additional credits or specific internal standards to complete an NCEA level. Limited to 1000 students per year. 12 credits (Students register on the Te Kura website) Emergency: COVID-19 1–2 (Contact Enrolments or the Relationship Coordinator for your region) Years 1–15 Curriculum capability Emergency staff vacancy No suitable applicants are available. Minimum of four weeks and a maximum of one term. Approvals can be reviewed each term. Subject related Emergency staff vacancy School emergency Where a community has suffered a natural disaster, which has impacted on the school’s ability to provide education for a significant peAttached units Curriculum capability Students are attending an Activity Centre, Alternative Education Centre, or Teen Parent Unit. 4 Activity Centre or Alternative Education or Young Parentriod of time. Approved by the Secretary of Education. Approved at time of emergency response (Contact Enrolments or the Relationship Coordinator for your region) Emergency: COVID-19 For domestic students who were overseas on or after 2 February 2020 and are unable to enter New Zealand due to travel disruptions or restrictions related to the novel coronavirus outbreak. No limit Emergency staff vacancy Regional Health School Curriculum adaptation Health School students may enrol for all or part of their learning. Individual Education Plan required. No limit Regional Health School Specialist schools and specialist institutions Curriculum adaptation Requires an Individual Education Plan which is less than six months old and specifies the required tuition duration. Registrations are accepted at the discretion of Te Kura. 2 Special Schools and Govt Inst Realm Country Schools Curriculum capability For Realm country (Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau) students whose school is unable to provide access to subjects. As approved on application Subject not available Attached

https://www.tekura.school.nz/assets/schools/Summary-of-Government-funded-dual-tuition.pdf

https://www.tekura.school.nz/assets/enrolment/Enrolment-Policy.pdf