This two hour course will be appropriate for teachers and learning support tutors or others who wish to find out about what it is like to be dyslexic and who are looking for practical ideas to support learners of all ages. Being dyslexic is not just having reading and spelling difficulties! This course will consider the wide range of difficulties that can be associated with dyslexia and the support strategies that should be in place in a mainstream classroom.

The course will cover:

• Definitions of dyslexia
• Strategies for supporting dyslexic learners of all ages
• Dyslexia as a ‘specific learning difficulty’
• Making the learning environment ‘dyslexia friendly’
• Identifying learners who may be dyslexic
• How dyslexia friendly is your school?

The course tutor is Lia Castiglione.

Lia Castiglione

Lia has been teaching and supporting learners of all ages for over 30 years and in varying educational settings. She is a specialist teacher assessor who is highly experienced in all aspects of access arrangements, has held a current Assessment Practising Certificate since 2008 and regularly assesses in schools and colleges. An accomplished educational trainer, Lia is the co-creator of a postgraduate access arrangements assessor course and is the author of the Patoss/JCQ book, ‘Assessing the Need for Access Arrangements’. She works as an independent educational consultant through her company ‘Castiglione Consulting Ltd’.

Courses can be viewed in either of the following ways:

1. Each member of staff has an individual login and accesses the training on their own device. This has the advantage of flexibility, as the course can be accessed at a time/place to suit the individual (in school/college or at home). OR
2. A group of staff accessing the course together at the same time. For this we recommend that you use a digital projector and large screen with speakers to amplify the presentation. This has advantage of group interaction and monitoring of involvement.

Each login will give access to the chosen course for 10 consecutive days and the course (or parts of the course) can be accessed as many times as required within this 10-day period.

Our course tutors can come to your school or college to run the training face to face. Please email for more information (admin at communicate-ed dot org dot uk).

For over two decades we have been running courses across the country, aiming to provide high quality, value for money training for education professionals working in the area of special needs. We know from speaking to many of our delegates, that it is increasingly difficult for busy professionals to take the opportunity to attend courses off-site. In response to this, we also offer a broad range of online training courses, focusing on Examination Access Arrangements, Assessment, and Supporting Students with SEND.

The advantages of online courses are clear:

• They can be accessed at the delegate’s convenience, in the workplace or home
• Delegates don’t need to travel, saving time and transport costs
• Running costs are lower, allowing us to pass savings on to our delegatesWe offer both individual courses and group courses (moved).

We offer both individual courses and group courses.

Our online courses are designed to be administered in one of two ways depending on whether one member of staff or a group are accessing the course. Courses can be viewed at any time, and in any venue where there is a good internet reception.

Group courses can be viewed in either of the following ways:

1. A group of staff accessing the course together at the same time. For this we recommend that you use a digital projector and large screen with speakers to amplify the presentation. This has advantage of group interaction and monitoring of involvement. OR
2. Each member of staff has an individual login and accesses the training on their own device. This has the advantage of flexibility, as the course can be accessed at a time/place to suit the individual (in school/college or at home).

Each login will give access to the chosen course for 10 consecutive days (Language Modification is 20 days and exam helper cousres are for the rest of the academic year) and the course (or parts of the course) can be accessed as many times as required within this period.

If a group of delegates are accessing a course together, all delegates must be from your centre; you may not use the course to train staff from other centres.

N.B. Delegates will need a good internet connection to access our online courses.

If you are already registered for an online course with us, please click here to log into your course.

There is an optional multiple choice assessment to participate in after accessing the training.

There are 15 questions randomly chosen from a bank of 30 and you will have 15 minutes to complete the assessment. There is no pass mark, this is simply an activity to help consolidate the information you have learned on the course. If you choose an incorrect answer you will be able to see the correct answer when you have completed the assessment.