“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it’s stupid.” – Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Steven Spielberg, Lee Kuan Yew, Whoopi Goldberg, and Lewis Carroll all shared one thing in common — they all faced the challenge of living with some form of dyslexia. Stemming from the Greek word dys (meaning difficult or hard), and lexia (which translates to words), dyslexia is characterised by difficulties in word recognition and spelling.
Dyslexia is without a doubt one of the most common learning difficulties encountered by students, parents and educators with estimates indicating that between one in ten, and one in twenty of the world’s population experience some form of it. Within the educational context, students identified as having some form of dyslexia, require strong support and excellent differentiation to support their learning needs. Educators require timely professional development, in-service support, and access to adequate resources to ensure that they can give the best possible support to their students. Parents need to feel that they are working in partnership with the school and their child’s teacher, and that the school is providing them with a strong and stable support system while providing their child with suitable differentiation and tools for learning.
Dyslexia is without a doubt one of the most common learning difficulties encountered by students, parents and educators with estimates indicating that between one in ten, and one in twenty of the world’s population experience some form of it.
The Dyslexia Association of Hong Kong (DAHK) is committed to identifying best practice and excellence in research in SEN and then to making this available to interested stakeholders living in Hong Kong and the wider region. DAHK is working in partnership with 21st Century Learning International, a specialist educational events, research and consultancy company, to establish the Asia Pacific Dyslexia Conference (DYSCON) to support this mission.
The conference is aimed at educators and parents who are interested in finding out more about the impact of dyslexia and learning within the classroom setting and beyond from leading academics in the field as well as from experienced teacher practitioners. The conference will be held from 21 — 22 May, 2016 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Themes
DYSCON 2016 will aim to equip parents and educators with expertise from the following areas:
- TechLexia: Exploring tools that have aided individuals with dyslexia.
- Multilingualism: Impact of a multilingual environment on the diagnosis and treatment of Dyslexia
- Skills, Strategies & Interventions: Successful research based methods and systems to support those with dyslexia — inside and outside school.
- Future of Dyslexia: What is the future for dyslexia
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Linda Siegel
With over 200 publications on early identification and intervention to prevent dyslexia, Linda Siegel is the former Dorothy. C. Lam Chair in Special Education and an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Her recent book, ‘Understanding Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities’, is a book written especially for parents, teachers, and professionals.
Dr. Julian Elliott
A Professor at the School of Education at Durham University, Professor Elliot created waves in the world of Special Education with his book titled ‘The Dyslexia Debate’.
Highlighting Dyslexia as a “useless term” that should be abandoned, Dr. Elliott is of the opinion that schools should detect reading difficulties at an early stage, and treat all of those who deal with these obstacles equally.
Dr. John Rack
John Rack is synonymous with Special Education Needs in the United Kingdom – an area in which he has 25 years of extensive experience. He currently leads the development and evaluation of professional initiatives at Dyslexia Action, and is pushing for reform of legal and professional frameworks in the UK.
Neil Mackey
As a consultant specialising in Dyslexia and other SEN issues, Neil has worked with Education Departments in several countries, and is an International Consultant for the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand. His latest initiative, which teaches parents how to support their children at home with aspects of reading, writing, spelling and learning for tests and exams initially gain ground in Liverpool, but has now spread across Europe and the APAC region.
The conference is aimed at educators and parents who are interested in finding out more about the impact of dyslexia and learning within the classroom setting and beyond from leading academics in the field as well as from experienced teacher practitioners.
You can view all the latest developments about the Asia Pacific Dyslexia Conference on our website:
