In his review, Jim Rose said, 'The indications are that, when children do not get a really good start ['quality first', Wave 1, synthetic phonics teaching], they are likely to need interventions to enable them to 'catch up' and 'recover' ground that they should not have lost in the first place. (Rose 2006. 100)

The Options:

1. Rely on 'in school' support based on the content of an IEP (Individual Education Plan) which, presently, due to the wide-spread lack of knowledge of the most effective way to teach reading, usually amounts to little more than learning the high frequency words as 'sight words'; ''I am working with some who know loads of the NLS high frequency words but who cannot blend an unknown CVC word unaided'' (Y2 TA doing reading intervention work)

Ruth Miskin (ex. headteacherand early reading expert) visited..'an Islington school of 400, 120 children were on the SEN register. 115 of these could not read. The SEN co-ordinator was so busy filling in Individual Education Plans that she had no time to teach them. Comments would be made such as ‘He needs to learn his sounds’. Ruth’s response was ‘Then teach them!’ Schools often want children on the SEN register: the more children it has there, the more excuse it has in OFSTED inspections. In two months, Ruth managed to get 80 children off the register '(RRFnewsletter 59 p21)

'Across the country more than one in five of all pupils are on 'Special Needs' registers - and in some schools the figure is as high as a staggering 55% or more' (Marks. RRF46. p12) The majority of the children with unstatemented SEN are on the register simply because they have not been properly taught how to read. All schools should have a PREVENTION strategy in place for those children who are slower, for whatever reason, learning to read. This should be more of the classroom synthetic phonics programme, or one that follows exactly the same principles, but done one-to-one for a short period daily for however long it takes to get the child 'up to speed', and keep them there.

The DCSF's own 'Wave 2' small group, intervention programmes (ELS /ALS/ FLS) for the primary stage were based on whole-language/mixed methods.
- ELS was rewritten (Jan 2008) with the aim of bringing it in line with the Rose Report which stated that, 'High quality (synthetic) phonic work, as defined by the review, should be a key feature of the provision in each of these 'waves' (Rose 2006. 133) Though better than the original ELS, the revised ELS appears to consist of the original whole-language programme bolted on to the DCFS's early reading programme, Letters and Sounds, rather than a genuine rewrite. It still includes a miscue analysis assessment, uses whole language books (Recovery Recovery Book Bands) rather than decodable texts, and contains 'busy-work' which will not help your child learn to read.
- ALS was transformed (Mar. 2007) into 'Year 3 Literacy Support (Sir Kit's Quest)' Discussion of the updated ALS intervention programme here: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2900
- FLS, the DCSF's Wave 2, whole-language intervention for Y5 is STILL available online unrevised from 2002, and therefore complete with the pre-Rose multi-cueing strategies. Along with 'Sir Kit's Quest', the unrevised FLS is a key plank in the DCSF's Making Good Progress one-to-one literacy tutoring project for 10 and 11yr.olds.
- The DCSF recommended Wave 2 intervention programme, Better Reading Partnership, was ''developed by Bradford Local Education Authority (LEA) in 1996 and is based on the Reading Recovery Programme''...''The reading partner notes the child's use of the three BRP reading strategies: grapho-phonic (visual), syntactic (structure) and semantic (meaning). Weaknesses are addressed through prompts: "Does that look right?", "Does that sound right?", and "Does that make sense?" www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/Dunford.html

The DCSF's new (Sept. 2009) Wave 2 intervention for KS3, 'Literacy Plus', is not designed to teach struggling or non-readers HOW to read, but simply to, 'move Year 7 and 8 pupils quickly from level 3 to level 4 in English' http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/search/secondary/results/nav:5027 There are, presently, no government-produced synthetic phonics intervention programmes available specifically designed for secondary age pupils. see- teenagers

WARNING: Inexplicably, the programmes recommended by the DCSF for Wave 3 interventions (highly personalised interventions for children on School Action, School Action Plus or with a Statement of special educational needs) for the primary stage; Reading Recovery and its copies, Catch Up Literacy, Sound Linkage and FisherFamilyTrust Wave3, are based on whole language/ mixed-methods and should NOT be used. They teach children the multi-cueing strategies, which the 2006 Rose Report rightly rejected, and rely on the memorisation and predicting (guessing) of high frequency words through the use of repetitive/predictive text found in whole-language books; any phonics element is of the intrinsic/embedded variety. They do not teach the Alphabet Code systematically, directly and discretely or the skills of sounding out all-through-the-word and blending. The result is to 'add insult to injury' and your child is likely to have limited reading ability on completion of these programmes. They will not have learnt the complete code, the Alphabetic principle or how to de-code novel words, and the unhelpful guessing habit will have been strengthened. ''Only 12%–15% of Reading Recovery children completing their programmes between 2003 and 2007 achieved a Level 2a or above in Key Stage 1 Reading National Curriculum assessments, the level at which children can tackle unfamiliar words and have therefore developed a self-sustaining word recognition system'' (Singleton p11)

Dr. Chris Singleton was a key contributor to the DCSF-commissioned Rose report on Dyslexia (Rose. 2009). He said, on the subject of Reading Recovery, ''Since the ‘simple’ view of reading is the theoretical framework that currently underpins Wave 1 phonics teaching, it is difficult to understand current government endorsement of Reading Recovery as a Wave 3 intervention because this endorsement is in conflict with what the National Strategies team is now promoting as quality first teaching'' (Singleton. 2009 p10) Jim Rose, himself, described Reading Recovery as 'a multi-cueing, non-systematic approach' at the Australian 'Dyslexia Speld Foundation' 2009 conference.

www.rrf.org.uk/RRF_Newsletter_61.pdf see p22: Why we don’t need Reading Recovery; an interview with Shahed Ahmed, Head Teacher at Elmhurst Primary in Newham, London

For evidence-based, high quality, phonics intervention programmes see Resources 10 and Sound Reading System .

2. Obtain a Statement. It is assumed that most children with less severe learning difficulties will receive 'in school' help for their difficulties with funding from the school budget, the type of help being specified in their IEP (Individual Education Plan) The only way to get extra LEA funding for more specialist help is to obtain a 'Statement'. This is a document that sets out a child's needs and all the extra help he or she should get. Statements for 'dyslexia' are notoriously difficult to obtain and the experience of trying to obtain one can be extremely stressful, time consuming and expensive. Also, unless you manage to employ the services of an educational psychologist to help you, who is keen on, and knowledgeable about evidence-based reading programmes, your child's statement is unlikely to result in the school problems disappearing and in them being taught how to read. It is the CONTENT of the statement which is important. By law, the content must be "specific, detailed and quantified". Unless it specifies the use of a fully evidence-based, remedial reading programme and resources, (see Resources 10) and there are trained personnel READY, ABLE and WILLING to deliver the specified content one-to-one, the statement will be of no use whatsoever..

3. Only for the wealthy, or for the few who can obtain a grant - an independent, specialist 'dyslexia' school. This usually involves the child boarding, which can be an extra trauma for an already unhappy child, and there is NO guarantee that the school will use the most effective remedial method (a high quality, synthetic phonic intervention programme) to teach reading. Some of the methods used to teach reading in these schools are decidedly 'quirky'. www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=3432

4. Home education, possibly on a short-term basis only whilst the parents, or a tutor, concentrate on remediating the literacy problems -alongside a basic curriculum with activities that enthuse your child and restore their self-esteem- see UK Home Education.

5. Privately arranged specialist tuition. Carefully chosen remedial reading tuition can be the solution if it can be afforded, and as long as the child is happy to attend. For school-attending children specialist tuition can take place, legally, off the school premises during school hours at the discretion of the school, as an 'Approved educational activity off-site'. For the youngest children, 6-7 yr. olds, this is really essential as they are far too tired after school. Parents should approach the school in a spirit of co-operation and negotiate a mutually agreeable time to withdraw their child for tuition. It is, after all, in the school's interest to have their pupils able to read and write effectively.

In law it is always the PARENTS' duty to provide a SUITABLE education for their children, including catering for any special needs. Normally parents delegate this duty to a school. If parents believe that the school is failing to provide their child with a 'suitable' education then the parents are obliged to do something about it. It would irresponsible of them if they didn't do so. By arranging specialist tuition during school hours, they are merely trying to fulfil their lawful duty by setting up what the school can't/won't provide. The school needs to have a very good reason to withhold consent - is the school is able to provide equivalent tuition (time and room space for one-to-one, plus expertise in using synthetic phonics remedially) on the school premises, paid for by the school? Probably not! If the school refuses, then the parents should contact their LEA's SEN department and explain the situation.

A parent comments: 'The parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place. A position I experienced when my child was going through school.
THE ROCK. You want to do the best for your child and do what you can at home to support them. You look for private tuition, sit with them to do homework etc. However the child is often very difficult because they don't want to do the extra lessons at home, they don't want to do their reading etc. The constant battle to get homework done or even getting them to school etc creates a very stressful environment of arguments and tantrums and can have a negative effect on your relationship with the child and can affect other family members. The reason the child is being difficult at home is because they find school a very stressful place where they're constantly put under pressure to get work finished, struggling with reading, or are fighting emotions where they've been told their work is just not good enough. They're very much aware of their limitations when they compare themselves with their own peer group. They often keep their emotions in check in school and vent their frustrations, anger, upsets at home. The last thing they want is to come home and find it's a continuation of school more reading, more work etc.
HARD PLACE. When the homework, reading practise etc fails to get done at home, you are viewed, by the school, as unsupportive parents. If you go into the school asking for help etc. you are viewed as "pushy parents" (quote with permission Sheridan Sharp)

Choosing a remedial reading tutor:

If you plan to use an independent tutor to help your child, then check the CONTENT and the TIME FRAME of the programme that the tutor will provide, extremely carefully. A good programme will usually take between 15 - 25, one hour, one-to-one sessions to remediate effectively. A few children, who have been left very confused and damaged by whole-word reading practices, may take longer, as may those with additional learning difficulties. Some specialist programmes for 'dyslexia' take years to complete and leave children still unable to read properly. They should be avoided for your child's (and your wallet's!) sake.

Make sure that the tutor uses a evidence-based, highly structured, intensive, synthetic / linguistic phonic programme -see main methods 3 as the basis for their teaching. Avoid any tutor who claims to 'tailor the lessons to a child's individual learning style' or uses a 'mixture of methods'. See- What NOT to do

The chosen programme must work rapidly with positive advances to the child's reading and writing skills being perceptible to all involved - parent, child and tutor - within a short time. Furthermore, the tutor should, 'Involve the parent... directly in homework so that she has a positive role and can maintain gains between sessions and after sessions have ended.' (D McGuinness WCCR p320)

http://www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=91 'Must read' article by an independent tutor.

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