The background and need
Marylebone Boys School has been using Nisai’s online literacy intervention program, Units of Sound, for over 10 years.
The school has a significant number of EAL students and students with dyslexia. Therefore, they needed an online, multi-sensory literacy intervention program that boosts skills and confidence of students who are behind; a program that helps tutors reach as many students as possible, that can be integrated easily into a busy weekly timetable, that encourages independent learning with one or two tutors monitoring sessions, and one that allows the tutor to report on progress easily.
After seeing a demonstration of Units of Sound and discussing with Nisai how it could be implemented in the school, the Literacy Coordinator, Liz, could see that Units of Sound ticked all the boxes. She has long since been a huge fan of the program and, over the years, has seen the way it helps students ‘catch up’.
The school runs Units of Sound sessions twice a week for approximately 20 students and teachers have observed significant progress and knock-on effects to their class work.
Liz, has been the Units of Sound Coordinator for 10yrs and has trained the tutors who work with the students on Units of Sound. She says:
‘Units of Sound has proven very beneficial, and our students look forward to coming. It’s a very structured program and because of the Placement the students know where they are; they can pick up from where they left off easily. It really helps our EAL students and a large number of boys who have dyslexia.’
Tim, Units of Sound tutor at Marylebone, loves supporting the students on Units of Sound. He comments:
‘We have 20 children using it twice a week for half an hour each time, working on reading, spelling, memory and dictation activities. The Placement sets them at the appropriate level and as they improve it takes them higher, so they get the nice experience of levelling up, which is motivational. It’s been very beneficial – I can see they’re upping their GCSEs and their reading and writing skills have improved a lot.
They look forward to coming to the lessons. If they see me in the corridor, they ask me “When have I got Units of Sound, Sir?”, which is wonderful.’
Hannah MacLellan, Units of Sound Training & Education Manager at Nisai:
‘Units of Sound has been used by hundreds of schools and educational settings over the years; we have schools both here in the UK and across the world using the program.
Units of Sound is beneficial for those with neuro-diverse profiles such as dyslexia and for students whose first language is not English. We find it works really well with students who have bad associations with learning or are harder to reach – the student works at their own pace and they can take ownership of their learning, which really boosts confidence and self-esteem.
It’s so important to address literacy difficulties as early on as possible, as progress in a child’s literacy level has a knock-on effect to their confidence, schoolwork, exams and ultimately job prospects.’
For more information about Units of Sound, click here
