write read - Freedom Scientific

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Why are we calling this the Write To Read project, and what is it? There’s no spelling mistake - we want to really highlight that a person with dyslexia sees a sea of words and often can’t comprehend them. The Write to Read project was created by The Westport Club with the assistance of Quantum Technology and the support of ClubsNSW, to provide inspiration, hope and a future to children in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region. The Write To Read project will provide state-of-the-art technology that supports children with significant learning difficulties such as dyslexia, at school. Learning difficulties can affect learning at all levels of education and their impact will vary from child to child. As many as 10% of children in Australia suffer from dyslexia or a similar learning difficulty. The technology, called Wynn, can automatically convert any text into speech, enabling students to listen to their books, assignments and tests; and as each word is spoken it is also highlighted on screen so students can follow along, improving both their reading and listening skills. Many children with learning difficulties experience severe frustration, low self esteem, uncontrollable behaviour both at school and at home and social conflict, followed by unemployment, poverty, family breakdowns, alcoholism, drug abuse and dependency when they are older. To reduce the impact of a learning disability it is important to develop strategies and use appropriate technology to compensate for learning problems, and enable children to work independently and help them achieve their education and life goals. The Westport Club is going to fund the implementation of the adaptive technology into 11 schools in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region. The Club has invested $50,000, with a further $5,000 support from ClubsNSW to purchase enough software and provide appropriate training to teachers in the schools. Project implementation into schools With the assistance of the NSW Department of Education and Training, The Westport Club and Quantum Technology were able to identify schools in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region which would benefit the most from the availability of this adaptive technology. Schools to benefit from the Write to Read project in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region are: Primary Schools • Port Macquarie Public School - Grant Street, Port Macquarie • Tacking Point Public School - Bangalay Drive, Port Macquarie • Hastings Public School - Waniora Parkway, Port Macquarie • Westport Public School - Widderson Street, Port Macquarie • Wauchope Public School - Waugh Street, Wauchope 2
• • • • North Haven Public School - Oxley Highway, Wauchope St Agnes Primary - Boronia Street, Port Macquarie St Joseph’s Primary - Warlters Street, Port Macquarie St Peter’s Primary - Ocean Drive, Port Macquarie High Schools • Westport High School - Findlay Avenue, Port Macquarie • Port Macquarie High School - Owen Street, Port Macquarie Why is The Westport Club doing this? The Westport Club’s vision is to ‘make a significant contribution to the quality of community life’ and in conjunction with the Mingara/Dymocks Literacy Foundation has already contributed $6,000 in books and teaching resources to schools in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region to help improve literacy and instill a love of reading in schoolage children. It was through this initiative that Dyslexia Campaigner, Jim Bond, approached the club to see if it could assist children with significant learning difficulties such as dyslexia. In 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducted a national survey of literacy standards and noted that 52% of Australians aged 15 to 19 had a literacy level that “was insufficient to meet the complex demands of everyday life and work”. When confronted with these statistics, The Westport Club and ClubsNSW felt compelled to make another positive contribution to literacy in NSW. The Write To Read project is a positive opportunity for the club to strengthen its existing commitment to improve literacy in schools. In NSW, 13 schools are already using the Wynn software and their teachers have received training from Quantum Technology. The Westport Club feels that the implementation of the software into another 11 schools will have a hugely powerful impact, almost doubling its availability in NSW schools. This action by The Westport Club, ClubsNSW and Quantum Technology has the potential to help to start break cycles, so that the lives of many children in the Port Macquarie - Hastings region are positively impacted. What are learning difficulties? Children with learning difficulties may seem bright because they can talk well and have good ideas, but they cannot put these ideas down on paper and ultimately don’t do as well as expected at school. Children with learning difficulties may: • • • • • find it hard to write; have poor handwriting; take longer than other children to finish written work; have had speech or language problems when younger; have trouble remembering times tables; 3
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write read - Freedom Scientific

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