Working Groups

The Network has defined five areas of particular practical interest for research and collaboration and has set up a Working Group of relevant experts to deliver activity and contributions in these areas. A research prioritisation exercise is being carried out in Aug/Sept 2023 within the SLDN network generally to identify potential research questions to be taken forward with most urgency by the working groups.

The working groups are in the early stages at present (August 2023) and will provide updates on progress and current activity as time goes on. The five Groups are:

Setting Research Priorities

Generate research questions with stakeholders and people with lived experience.

Terminology

Map definitions in use to identify similarities and differences. Agree on definitions for research and practice.

Improving Education Resources

Explore four nations differences and how theory translates to practice. Create decision-free tools to help teachers identify dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Mapping Available Data Cohorts

High quality data from large samples are a key resource to address important research questions around, for example, the identification or risk factors or the effectiveness of intervention studies for specific learning difficulties. Our working group is conducting a mapping exercise to catalogue existing cohorts and to describe and associate each with relevant measures and criteria. Doing this will help us identify which datasets are most relevant to current research projects and will inform decisions around the need for novel dedicated resources, such as the creation of a new dataset.

Technology

Help people make the most of technology. How can machine learning, multi-dimensional analysis, and open-source tools aid our research?