Did you miss Speld conference 2009

Speld NZ held their annual conference in New Plymouth from 19th to 21st June, 2009.

Two hundred people sat enthralled listening to speakers, national and international, speaking on their fields of expertise. It was a wonderful weekend.

Prof. Linda Silverman, from the University of California, noted that one sixth of gifted children have learning disabilities. She said children are forced into a mould that doesn’t fit. When right hemispheres are dominant, children excel in imagination, visualisation, creativity, intuitive knowledge, science and technology, multi-dimensional perception, artis­tic expression – these are gifts crucial to the 21st century.

Jan Polkinghorne, from South Australia, software adviser to Speld Australia, told us that today’s students are not the people our education system was designed to teach. Tutors speak in outdated language. Using technology we must research other ways to modify the means ­– not the task. MS Word has tools that can help our children.

Prof. Tom Nicholson, from Massey Albany, spoke about his ongoing research covering the positive effects of extra tuition in phonics, alongside a good phonemic awareness, spelling and text reading which had produced significant gains.

A former principal, David Wardell, spoke about his work with Irlen lenses and the benefits for some children with reading difficulties. He touched on Cellfield, a neuro-scientific intervention programme which developed neural pathways.

Captain David Chadfield, himself a dyslexic, gave an insightful talk on his school experiences and how he followed his dream when he left school and became a sea captain. He gave an empowering message to a group of children – find out what you are good at and follow your dream.