LEARNING MADE EASY WITH LEXIA

The Newcastle Basic Skills Service (NBSS) offers support to adults who wish to improve their literacy and/or numeracy skills. Working with a wide range of students from those developing their skills to those working towards accreditation, the NBSS has two main bases in the East and West of Newcastle, as well as holding courses across the city. Those attending the courses can either work in groups, in Open Learning, or on a one-to-one basis, using IT to support their learning if they wish.

All students have individual interviews to determine the most appropriate programme for their needs. For those who have problems with literacy due to dyslexia, the NBSS offers dyslexia screening and individual specialist teaching if required. All students are post-16 and mostly between the ages of 25 and 40. The oldest is 83 and the youngest is 16 and whilst all want to improve their reading and literacy skills, some may have been un-diagnosed dyslexics at school and others may not have been interested when learning at school. The aim of the service is to move people through levels of development, in line with UK Government requirements. Some students will remain within a given level in order to practice specific skills. All students attend voluntarily and attend for whatever period they require to reach the level they aspire to. The average study period is 30 hours spread across about 6 months. Some will come for very intensive sessions, depending on their needs, but all students are set up to work individually.

As part of the learning programme for each student, NBSS uses Lexia Reading System to encourage students to be independent in their learning. NBSS Principal Tutor, Chris Murray, explains, “Our main aim is to make the students independent. Lexia is self-checking and fun, but not overly childish, which is good. Some other programs are appropriate in their content, but not their presentation, as they are not designed specifically for mature learners, as Lexia is. Not many of our students are PC-literate, so we start them on a mouse-use program when they first enroll and this is sufficient PC training for them to be able to use Lexia proficiently.”

Lexia Reading System is designed for students to work independently listening to verbal instructions and clicking on images with a mouse or typing. The interactive exercises branch off automatically depending on the student’s performance, providing practice on specific areas of difficulty when needed. Lexia allows the progression on to more advanced areas only when the student is ready. Teachers may override the automatic branching function at any time to specify program units or customise exercises for individuals. The activities are intriguing for the students, with formats and graphics that interest, motivate and make practice enjoyable, even for more mature learners.

Chris chooses the most suitable level for each student and is particularly impressed with the module on short vowel discrimination. She comments, “Some dyslexics may find this area particularly challenging and Lexia gives them the opportunity to re-address the basics in a fun and accessible way. This provides the foundation of their future development and will be built upon with additional levels and other teaching methods that we employ.” She continues, “Another advantage is that the voice on the software is clear to understand, neither Northern or Southern, which is useful for the students with a local dialect. Other software systems are not always as good in this area, which can be challenging in areas like Newcastle, where accents can be particularly strong.”

A typical session for Chris is based on the Individual Study Plan (ISP) that is in place for every student of NBSS. For example, if Chris is working on the early stages of a dyslexic student’s plan, perhaps on short vowel discrimination, she would normally begin with half an hour of face-to-face teaching and then move onto PC-based work to reinforce this teaching. Lexia’s short vowel discrimination level is also in keeping with examples used in other teaching aids, making the transference of learning easier.

Lexia is used by the NBSS more for spelling than reading. “I begin teaching with pen and paper, practicing with the individual one-to-one and then leaving them to practice unaided with the PC,” Chris concludes. “Lexia offers a good reinforcement of the initial teaching practices we employ. I am also particularly impressed with the open and closed syllable module, which clearly addresses a lot of the issues that our students face, through a range of interactive and motivating exercises.”