Hope I'm not out of place to add a couple of thoughts to this thread? I'm about to start SP tutoring the parent of a struggling reader because she cannot support her child - her own reading is very shaky. So teachers are sometimes the only reference point for becoming a reader for some children and ...

This is a really interesting report and has given me a bit of food for thought about types of books for my children to read; fun and laughter are definitely higher on their list of priorities than they were for me as a child (I loved adventure and mystery). It's very revealing in the report that a l...

Thank you Debbie - that's very detailed information, and shocking. I have read that interview before Jim, thank you - it is so informative and for me, deeply saddening when I think about my son's journey through primary school. I also found this on the same Children of the Code website: "Reid L...

Hi. I'm the parent of a 12 year old boy who was assessed with a Specific Learning Difficulty (dyslexia) aged about 10. He really struggled at primary school to learn to read, spell and write. For years he was given extra help from the school SENCO (special needs co-ordinator) and the educational psy...

Thank you for reminding me of this resource Debbie. I came across it earlier this year and was profoundly moved by a discussion between two professionals on the impact of poor reading and the feeling of shame. It seems to me to be an extremely interesting area of study - how poor literacy in the Eng...

Thank you for these really helpful posts. I have only been teaching synthetic phonics for a little over a year but I think the excerpts above reflect my experience to date. My eldest son was assessed as having a 'Specific Learning Difficulty of a dyslexic nature' by a school educational psychologist...