About

Claire trained as a teacher, eventually becoming SEN Team Leader in a large primary school. She qualified for OCR Levels 3, 5, and 7 at Helen Arkell. Claire has seen specialist support make a significant difference to her dyslexic son's academic journey and self-esteem. Her work as a specialist teacher and assessor has further confirmed her commitment to making a real difference to the lives of learners with SpLD.

Claire has worked at Helen Arkell since 2017 as a tutor and lecturer (on the Level 5 Diploma course) and also as a specialist assessor. She's given many presentations to schools and organisations (including the Dyslexia Show and TES SEND Show) and delivered the renowned Parents' HELP course.

Claire will talk for an hour (7-8pm) and then answer questions. Her talk will cover the following:

• Why reading can be problematic for dyslexic learners

• The potentially damaging impact of weak reading accuracy and fluency

• The types of errors commonly seen

• Practical strategies and activities that could help improve reading accuracy and fluency

If you would like to join the meeting on Zoom, please register in advance by emailing your name and email address to [email protected]

The access details will be sent by email on Monday 7 October.

Car parking available on site; bus stops & Purley rail station are very close.

Between them our experts can answer your questions about special educational needs provision. Our panel includes:

• a CDA Helpliner

• a Specialist Dyslexia Teacher & Assessor

• a school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator)

• an advisor from SENDIAS (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Information Advice & Support Service)

• an adult who is dyslexic.

All are welcome to come to listen and ask questions - and do tell friends who might be interested – they are welcome to come along too.

N.B. CDA members are invited to come a bit earlier for our AGM at 7.45pm, before the Open Meeting. It will be quick and informative. Refreshments will be available.

Alison Szalay is Senior Specialist Advisory Teacher for Wiltshire County Council, where she leads the Dyslexia Friendly Schools project. She has worked as a teacher and SENCO.

Alison will talk about what dyslexia-friendly schools look like. Most young people with dyslexia will attend a mainstream school; most classes will include at least one pupil who is dyslexic.

• What is a dyslexia-friendly school

• Why developing dyslexia-friendly provision is important

• What a dyslexia-friendly school looks like in practice

• What developing a dyslexia-friendly school involves

• The impact a dyslexia-friendly school can have on helping all pupils achieve successful outcomes.

The final 15 minutes of Alison's talk will be available for questions.

The talk will not be recorded so we hope, by giving plenty of notice, parents and teachers who are interested will have chance to listen to the live talk.

Please register for the webinar by emailing [email protected]