DAHK December Talk: Hard Doesn’t Mean Bad!

The Dyslexia Association of Hong Kong are excited to host another online event on Thursday 3rd December 2020 from 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm.

Students with a history of literacy-related difficulties often shy away from reading and writing tasks. They’ve learned to connect the hard work of reading and writing to a fear of consequences and in response, avoid literacy in a way that can appear intentional, subversive, or even attention seeking. In turn, teaching and parenting approaches focus on motivation through punishment and rewards, changing expectations, or both. If these strategies no longer seem to improve literacy, this discussion is for you!

This discussion is aimed at professionals and parents interested in learning the evidence-based approach to understanding and helping children and teens transform their relationship with the schoolwork they tend to avoid.

The DAHK-sponsored presenter will offer some insights to help students reduce avoidance of literacy-based tasks. Participants will leave understanding that literacy-avoidance typically results from a lack of skill, not will. Decades of research shows that reducing literacy avoidance begins by introducing students to high-value literacy skills, such as scanning, predicting, selective reading, and summarising. Participants will also learn to help students identify and reduce low-value literacy skills, such as reading or writing for predetermined quantities (i.e. set time, words, pages, etc.), spelling drills or unnecessary editing. By honing in on the highest value skills, participants can, therefore, lead literacy-avoidant children back to engaging with these challenges successfully.