This is a 3 day residential course designed in response to increasing demands from individuals, often working in 1 to 1 and small group situations, who seek access to POPAT Training.

• Specialist teachers in the field of dyslexia, dyspraxia, moderate learning difficulties, PMLD, Autism, Downs Syndrome.
• Learning Support Assistants working in supporting roles in a variety of educational settings.
• Speech and Language Therapists.
• Educational Psychologists.
• Class teachers who are interested in using a phonologically based programme as a central part of their literacy curriculum.
• Parents concerned about their children’s learning difficulties or who simply wish to accelerate their literacy learning.

• An outline of the underpinning theory of the programme with an explanation of what makes POPAT uniquely different from all other phonics programmes and why it is the most efficient way of raising phonemic awareness in young children.
• A session with workshops to acquaint people with the phonemic and phonetic structure of language. This knowledge is necessary to the proper and effective delivery of POPAT.
• Training in the first two stages of the programme.

Listen and Choose

Before letters are introduced POPAT teaches learners how to listen to the consonant speech sounds of English and pick them out from among others. It then makes obvious the order and phonemic detail of these sounds in words.

Transition introduces the five short vowel sounds and goes on quickly to forge permanent links between speech sounds and letters at which point 4 and 5 year olds will write spontaneously.

Each part will be demonstrated by Trainers and followed by workshops to ensure good practice. These sessions are supported and monitored by the Trainers and will contribute to the final accreditation.

• Feedback: an opportunity for the discussion of issues arising from the previous day’s training.
• Training in the third and fourth stages of the POPAT programme.

‘Listen and Write’ develops and fixes the mechanical skills of segmenting phonically regular words of increasing length into their component syllables and phonemes, writing the words down and reading them back on a different occasion.

The Sentences.

‘ The Sentences’ introduce the Learners to the concept of irregularity and are primarily designed to teach the spelling of a bank of high frequency words that are embedded in sentences of otherwise regular words. But they also present the basic rules of punctuation and grammar.

The process of working through the sentences develops proof reading and self-monitoring skills, both essential to producing a piece of coherent and readable writing.

• POPAT and independent writing:an opportunity to examine evidence of the programme’s ability to accelerate emergent writing in young children and increase independence and confidence in people with general and specific learning difficulties.
• Individual tutorials: each participant will have the benefit of a 1-1 session with a qualified POPAT Trainer; its purpose will be to ensure a solid and comprehensive understanding of the theory and practice of the programme.

This part of the programme calls into play all the mental skills and processes so far honed and practiced by learners. These are required to analyse a representative sample of words, first with long vowel phonemes, then, in Part 2, words with irregular short vowel and consonant spellings. Through this process of analysis and discussion Listen Sort and Spell reveals the variety and probability of the spelling choices. The method leads Learners to become both reflective and critical in their approach and enables them to make increasingly better judgements.

• Individual Tutorials: A final 1-1 session offering participants the opportunity to raise questions and issues about the use and delivery of POPAT in their own particular educational setting.

• Plenary session

Course Fee: 

The course Fee is £400 (excluding accommodation and meals).   
The cost of the manuals and materials for the complete programme is £97.50
                                            
Course enquiries:  For on-line enquiries please click here

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