DIPL, in line with the national English curriculum, ‘aims to develop students’ knowledge of language and literature and to consolidate and expand their literacy skills’. (National Curriculum Board, 2009, p.5).
DIPL’s logical and systematic approach means that all students can benefit ….. struggling students can learn to develop ‘tools’ that help them, while more able students enjoy finding out why words and sentences are like they are, and can then transfer this knowledge and understanding to more widespread situations.
DIPL is written for classroom use. The explicit nature of the program allows success for all learners.
DIPL is easily adapted for remedial purposes, or individual use. There is also LIZZY, a program that can be used in conjunction with the classroom based DIPL program. It is extremely valuable as a complementary program to be used by learning support teachers in assisting students to reach their potential.
DIPL has been written by a Speech Pathologist, in conjunction with a Primary School Teacher. It incorporates the expertise from both professions and addresses the requirements of the proposed National Curriculum.
DIPL is being used with wonderful success in more than 200 schools, both nationally and internationally. DIPL continues to grow and is widely recognised due to the success of the program.
DIPL will, when used according to the procedures suggested, address the pedagogy requirements by assisting the teacher to enhance the intellectual quality, the quality learning environment and the significance of your work with students in your school.
DIPL is an Australian program, written for Australian school children and published in Australia.
DIPL does not just teach phonics (sounds and the letters that make these sounds).
DIPL helps students to develop the skills needed to recognise and use the fundamental features and architecture of written texts.
DIPL shows students how to put these skills into everyday practice to enable active participation in the meanings of a variety of texts in a functional manner. It is easily integrated with other effective literacy strategies and programs.
DIPL helps students to develop the necessary auditory conceptualisation skills together with the opportunity to learn to effectively use these abilities. This is combined with the understanding of how and why words, sentences and text types are structured.
DIPL uses a systematic, hands-on, practical approach to developing the necessary phonemic awareness skills and processing abilities needed for developing reading and spelling.
DIPL treats sounds in a different way … students learn to feel what our mouths do to produce the sounds ... they do not have to ‘learn’ anything (jingles or special names to prompt their memory) … they simply feel what they are doing with their mouths.
This kinaesthetic feedback enhances the ability to identify and process sounds in words.
DIPL incorporates the use of these skills with the understanding and use of good language skills that can develop into the child’s ‘inner language’ and, therefore, can be used in everything that the child may do, including knowing about and acting on the different cultural and social functions that various texts perform, both inside and outside school.