If the assessment report indicates a need for our one-on-one tuition, we can put you in touch with a SPELD NZ Teacher. The teacher will create a highly individualised learning plan, based on the findings of the assessment.
We have a national network of SPELD NZ teachers and will try to refer you to one as close as possible to where you live. Usually lessons are one hour, once a week, during school terms. Teachers normally work from their homes or in some instances, tuition can take place at a child’s school.
Ella Barnes is flourishing at school. But it wasn’t always the case. SPELD NZ’s Financial Assistance programme enabled her to have an assessment and then get the support she needed.
All SPELD NZ Teachers are fully qualified teachers with classroom experience. We equip them with highly specialised skills via our training: The 600 hour, SPELD New Zealand Teaching Certificate in Specific Learning Disabilities.
SPELD NZ aspires to very high professional standards. For those who struggle with literacy, our teachers use Structured Literacy programmes grounded in phonenic and phonological awareness. Our methods are based on international best practice and endorsed by research analysed by the University of Auckland.
We have the evidence to prove they greatly enhance educational and cognitive ability.
In 2011 SPELD NZ carried out a pilot programme in collaboration with RTLB (Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour). The data obtained was analysed by Dr Karen Waldie of Auckland University, who noted the vast and surprising improvements in achievement skills.
“Not only are children increasing their predicted reading success by 20-44% in areas of sound blending, phonemic awareness, verbal comprehension and reading fluency, but their general cognitive abilities also significantly improved. We saw vast improvements in thinking ability, cognitive fluency and processing speed.”
In July 2014, the New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies published an article about this study, which concluded that SPELD NZ’s teaching was effective in improving the academic skills of children with reading disabilities and also significantly increased overall intellectual ability.
The article also noted that the improvements were “testament to the ability of the brain to be modified, presumably via strengthened neural connectivity, following even a relatively brief (60 lesson) exposure to an enriched environment of learning in the form of SPELD intervention.”
SPELD NZ support has transformed lives. Read about our success stories
Personal Stories
Find out how SPELD NZ has helped both children and adults overcome their struggles with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities.
We never cease to be amazed at the courage of SPELD NZ students. Once they’ve had the support they need, their confidence soars.
Inspired by her own students, SPELD NZ Teacher Ali Fullick taught herself to write, illustrate and publish her own decodable books.
“The challenge ahead was daunting – but he soon realised there was a plan in place to help him.”
“I previously thought I was the only one in the world, but now I have found my tribe.” Phil Parker looks back on a lifetime struggling with numbers.
