Special Education Teachers

Stabannon School offers lots of support to children with special educational needs.

Dyslexia

The Literacy Tree

NEPS use this literacy tree to outline the importance of a balanced approach to literacy development.

Language is seen as being at the core of reading – it is the trunk of the tree. Reading and writing are essentially language skills. The language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing are in a reciprocal relationship.

In order for the tree to grow well, it needs healthy roots. These roots need to be present before reading begins, and to continue to develop and grow as reading develops. These are the Essentials for Reading and they are represented as the roots of the tree: Access to books, Oral language experiences, Reading at home, and Motivation.

Growing from this language truck are the strong branches, which represent the skills of reading: Recognising words, Written communication, and Meaningful reading.

Each branch has many leaves or subskills – the Recognising Words branch has the following leaves: Phonological awareness, Phonics, Sight words, and Word reading strategies.

The Meaningful Reading Branch has the following leaves: Vocabulary, Fluency (repeated and guided reading), and Comprehension.

The Written Communication branch has the following leaves: Meaningful writing, Handwriting, and Spelling.

There are further elements needed for a tree to grow: sunshine, rain and good soil.

The tree needs sunshine, identified here as Rich Reading Experiences, which include: Interactive read aloud, Shared reading, Guided reading, Reading at the just-right level, and Independent reading.

Below are some links to help our tree grow!