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Reading Problems
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Reading Problems

The UK National Literacy Trust reports that one in six people in the UK do not have adequate literacy skills in that they cannot read, write or communicate well. They further state that good literacy skills lead to happier and healthier lives where people are more able to contribute to society.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) states that literacy is indeed a human right which promotes personal empowerment as well as social and human development.

The Importance of Literacy
A good education should provide children and young adults with the necessary literacy skills for life. There is evidence to suggest that literate parents are more likely to send their children to school and indeed literate societies are more able to access further educational opportunities, with literate societies being more likely to move ahead in all areas of development (UNESCO).

Poor Reading Levels
In 2005, the UK Parliamentary Select Committee on Education published its report showing that one in five eleven year olds are not able to read adequately.
The US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) suggests that the inadequate levels of attainment in schools is both an educational and public health concern. More...

Reading Comprehension
Studies suggest that the following factors determine how well a child can understand what they have read:

a) Those children who do understand well are able to tap into their relevant background knowledge whilst reading (they can able to easily relate what they have read to their own background and experiences.

b) Good comprehension abilities are related to oral language comprehension, which also depends on the acquisition of a good oral vocabulary.

c) Individual differences in reading comprehension reflect the reader's ability to "summarize, clarify and predict while reading" (Reid Lyon, G.)

Reading Disabilities
NICHD studies have found that 74 percent of those children who have reading difficulties in the third grade will still have reading challenges at the end of high school (Reid, Lyon.G,).

What are the Risk Factors?
It appears that those children who start school with insufficient exposure to the English language and who do not have a good understanding of concepts related to phonemic sensitivity, letter knowledge, print awareness, the goal of reading, as well as oral and verbal skills.  Those children living in poverty, or with a limited grasp of English, children with speech and hearing impairments, and also children from homes with a general low reading level, are  "relatively predisposed to difficulties learning to read." (Reid, Lyon, G.)

What does a reading disability 'look' like?
Those children and adults with reading disabilities tend to exhibit a slow, laboured approach to trying to decode unfamiliar words in addition to "frequent misidentification of familiar words". The individual reading aloud sounds hesitant, frequently stopping and starting with many mispronunciations.

What can be done?
The importance of exposure to language and vocabulary development from birth needs to be encouraged with parents and educators understanding the potential damaging  effect on children who are denied access to books and/or spoken language.

There is consistent evidence showing that reading aloud to children plays an important role in developing essential language skills. More...

For more information, please see ourResources section.

Education Secretary, Michael Gove calls for children to read 50 books a year