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Struggling Readers

It is often true that those primary school children who are good at reading will have few obstacles in learning at this stage of their development. Despite this, evidence from UK studies shows that an unacceptable number of children who finish primary school, fail to attain the minimum standards for English.

Over the past quarter of a century, there have been significant developments in research and policy, in terms of providing guidance to schools for those children who are struggling with reading. National testing for 7, 11 and 14 year olds was first introduced in the UK in the 1990s. The results of these tests showed that only about 50% of children  were attaining the required level of English expected for their age. A LIteracy Taskforce was consequently formed and schools were expected to adhere to its guidelines.

An important component of the UK policy for struggling readers is Every Child A Reader which is based on the Reading Recovery programme. Reading Recovery was first developed in New Zealand in the 1980s and was seen as the solution for children, in that it was hoped that its comprehensive training would eliminate reading failure. One of the tremendous benefits from such one-to-one tutoring for struggling readers such as Every Child A Reader is that it not only raises their attainment up to their reading age level but also results in these children becoming confident readers.

See our Resources and Links sections for more information which include the following for struggling readers:

• Reading Rockets - teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle
• Our Right to Read - Provides tuition for struggling readers
• 'Sterling And The Canary' by Andy Stanton - a 'dyslexia-friendly' book which is also suitable for struggling readers.
• That Reading Thing - for older struggling readers