Research

 Past Projects 

• Dyslexia-Friendly Survey in Singapore – Students' views on factors critical for learning (Poster presentation at the BDA and IDA conferences in 2008, winner of Best Poster award at the BDA conference)
• Who benefits from remediation? Dyslexia in a multi-lingual society:  Profile of dyslexic students in Singapore (Poster presentation at the BDA and IDA conferences in 2008)
• Dyslexia and Multilingualism in Children ( Poster presentation at The DAS International Conference in November 2010 and IDA conference in October 2010)
• The computerised-based Lucid Rapid Dyslexia Screening for the identification of children at risk of dyslexia: A Singapore study (published in The British Psychological Society Journal 2011)
• Voice of a Dyslexic Child
• Using oral language therapy interventions to improve outcomes for students with dyslexia  (Presented at The DAS International Conference in November 2010)

Current Projects 

• Arithmetic abilities and phonological processing
• Predictors of Reading Comprehension Ability amongst Singapore Children
• Emotional Literacy of Students with Specific Learning Differences

Past Projects

      1.   Dyslexia-Friendly Survey in Singapore – Students' views on factors critical for learning 

             (Poster presentation at the BDA and IDA conferences in 2008, winner of Best Poster award at the BDA conference)

By 2010, every primary school in Singapore would have at least one special needs officer dedicated to make mainstream teaching more dyslexia friendly. This move toward inclusive education may be enhanced by examining the views of students with dyslexia. Thus, 337 primary school students undergoing remediation at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore were surveyed to explore the factors which hinder or facilitate their learning effectively in the mainstream classroom. Findings indicate that teachers’ positive attitudes, mode of delivery, and use of varied teaching material and methods were considered useful. Students’ need for extra time and assistive technologies were also deemed as important accommodations in their learning. 

2. Who benefits from remediation? Dyslexia in a multi-lingual society:  Profile of dyslexic students in Singapore

              (Poster presentation at the BDA and IDA conferences in 2008)

This study is novel in that it provides some information on who is likely to benefit from specialist remediation, particularly in the multi-lingual context. We demonstrate here that the earlier the age of remediation, the greater the likelihood of improvement in literacy. This is in line with current belief that early intervention is beneficial for a dyslexic student. It also reinforces the need to identify those at risk of learning difficulties as early as possible.

In addition, the results indicate that not all dyslexic students seem to benefit from remediation equally. Those with poor reading and spelling attainment levels at entry seem to benefit more than those who enter with average to above average attainments. This in turn suggests that dyslexic students with average to above average reading and spelling attainment levels may face difficulties improving their scores beyond a “personal ceiling”. Perhaps for this group of dyslexic students, it may be more important to consider improvements in other aspects of their literacy development, such as in writing, as a gauge of successful remediation. 

       3.   Dyslexia and Multilingualism in Children 

             (Poster presentation at The DAS International Conference in November 2010 and IDA conference in October 2010)

This project aims to examine the learning patterns and response to intervention of 394 children with dyslexia from different language backgrounds. This would enable further support of their learning needs. This survey investigated the general cognitive and literacy profile of dyslexic students inSingapore, the impact of their different levels of language proficiency on their literacy development/weaknesses, and the effects of age-of-entry into specialist intervention classes. Results demonstrate the effects of language on the response to intervention across various measures of literacy and the effects of early intervention in the multilingual sample. Implications for multilingual assessment and intervention will be discussed. 

4. The computerised-based Lucid Rapid Dyslexia Screening for the identification of children at risk of dyslexia: A Singapore study

              (Published in The British Psychological Society Journal 2011)

The Lucid Rapid Dyslexia Screening (Lucid Rapid) is a computer based screening tool developed in the United Kingdom (UK). The Lucid Rapid was first used in May 2009 to screen children potentially at risk of dyslexia at the various awareness talks and open houses organised by the DAS. The use of the Lucid Rapid has been expanded to include mass screenings of children in schools.

Exploratory study of the applicability of the Lucid Rapid for children in Singapore was conducted at the DAS in 2010. Results of the study were encouraging and imply the inherent usefulness of the Lucid Rapid in identifying children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties. It has proven to be an effective tool in raising awareness of dyslexia in Singapore as well as providing opportunities for informed discussions with parents about their children’s learning difficulties.

The article was published in the special edition of The Educational & Child Psychology on computerised approaches to assessment published by The British Psychological Society. Volume 28 Number 2, 2011, Page 33 – 51.   

5. Voice of a Dyslexic Child

Learners with dyslexia have difficulties in reading and writing. In Singapore there are about 20,000 primary and secondary school learners with dyslexia. This paper presents research findings on the perceptions and feelings of primary school learners with dyslexia in Singapore regarding their learning of school subjects through English, together with how they use strategies to overcome some difficulties. 

6. Using oral language therapy interventions to improve outcomes for students with dyslexia  

             (Presented at The DAS International Conference in November 2010)

This study reviews the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) program which has been introduced by the DAS as a way to provide the “missing piece” for many children who have multiple factors affecting their reading development. It focuses on the types of support that SLT can provide and examines its impact on the progress of primary school children identified with dyslexia and language delay. 

 Current Projects

1.  Arithmetic abilities and phonological processing

Some studies have found that arithmetic performance to be linked to phonological processing abilities. This study aims to examine this relationship and also other abilities that might be related to arithmetic performance. 

       2.   Predictors of Reading Comprehension Ability amongst Singapore Children

This study aims to compare the predictors of reading comprehension ability between Singapore children with and without dyslexia.   

      3.   Emotional Literacy of Students with Specific Learning Differences

Emotional Literacy is the ability to recognise, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions; and to recognise and respond appropriately to the emotions of others. We hope to gather important information that would help us formulate ways to help children found with difficulties in emotional literacy develop in this aspect.