Clayton South Primary School uses Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI). EDI enables our teachers to deliver well-developed, carefully planned, and effective lessons that can significantly​ improve outcomes and learning support for all learners, including students with specific learning disabilities-difficulties (SLD).
We offer comprehensive intervention in all year levels. We have specialist intervention tutors trained in Sound Write to target word-level reading and spelling. A Speech-Language Pathologist guides our literacy intervention practice and assists children with oral language delays. The RTI model is used for literacy and numeracy.
At Clayton South, we have adopted the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning delays, including impairment in reading (dyslexia). Clayton South Primary School children in tier 2 or 3 intervention access a multi-tiered support system with systematic and explicit instruction.
Most learning difficulties experienced in primary school tend to be literacy. Children have learned (and sometimes been taught) guessing strategies that 'mask' their core phonological awareness and decoding issues. A grade 3/4 reading 'slump' can occur where struggling students aren't noticed until they reach middle primary. Where the expectation jumps as texts become more complex; there are more multisyllabic words, fewer pictures, and the emphasis changes from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn'!
We aim to catch as many children as early as possible at Clayton South before they fall with quality, research-informed tier 1 classroom instruction and assessment! "Early, Early, Early - 8 is too late" - is a catchphrase by Tanya Forbes, Founder Dyslexia QLD Support, Producer of Outside the Square, Research Development Manager at Bond University!
The window for early intervention can close very quickly and widen over time. Enter the Matthew Effect. This term describes how when children begin their learning journey successfully, they will continue to do well later in school, while the gap will exponentially widen for those children who begin poorly and do worse.
More information on learning difficulties and the RTI model is available on the DET website: