Home reading schemes

[teamcullen]

My youngest, who is 7, took part in a scheme called Reading Recovery in school last year and his reading age improved by 16 months in 16 weeks. It also identified that he had Irlans syndrome. His teacher said that he would benefit from further lessons but the course was finnished and there other children waiting to access the scheme. Since then his progress has slowed again and I feel he really could benefit from further help.

Also my older son, who is 10, has shown no improvement in his writing in 12 months - maybe longer. His reading has improved but I think its a combination of finally remembering high frequency words and guessing. He hates reading and wont try to break words up.

Ive come across a reading scheme called EASYREADSOLUTIONS. its a web based programme which teaches reading to children who are finding it difficult to read. it takes them right back to basics and teaches reading using the visual part of the brain and it claims to be very good for the majority of dyslexic readers.

Ive sort of bit the bullet and signed both boys up for this, which, gives them a web based lesson which takes about 15 minutes a day to complete and lasts abut 9-12 months. The children get regular prizes for completing lessons which is great encouragement. So fingers crossed it will help.

Has anybody else heard of this scheme or used it themselves? If not I will keep you posted about my boys progress!

[mrz]

It is very common for children who take part in Reading Recovery to make dramatic gains while they are receiving daily 1-1 support (they would with any method)and to fall back when it stops so in fact the gains are lost within a couple of years.

[teamcullen]

Im not knocking Reading Recovery. It was invaluble. My son is much more confident with reading and writing. He still has an ILP and receives small group help, but I understand schools cant fund 1-1 help to everybody all the time and I need to do more to help myself.

[mrz]

I don't know EASYREADSOLUTIONS so can't really comment but I'm very sceptical about online schemes that prey on parents concerns.
Personally I'm in favour of 10-15 mins a day with a parent practicing reading including phonics and sharing books for enjoyment.
Good Luck with the course will be interested in how you find it.

[mrz]

Actually my personal opinion is Reading Recovery is outrageously expensive for what it achieves long term.
?The data indicate that the cost for Reading Recovery ?for 30 hours of instruction for one child - exceeds the national average per pupil expenditure for one full year of schooling.?

It reaches very few children and if the cost was used in the classroom far more (possibly all )children would benefit.

[mrz]

Interesting report from the House of Commons
LITERACY AND NUMERACY INTERVENTIONS

43. Since 2005, the Government has supported a number of reading schemes. The Every Child a Reader (ECAR) pilot programme cost the Government £5 million (it was matched with charitable funding). The Every Child Counts (ECC) and Every Child a Writer (ECAW) national programmes cost £169 million over three years. Every Child a Talker (ECAT) cost an additional £40 million. (ECAR and ECC are controlled by the Every Child a Chance Trust; ECAW and ECAT are separate Government-run programmes.)[34]

44. In 2006, the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced the nationwide rollout of ECAR, only a year into the three-year pilot. This is problematic from an 'evidence-based policy' point of view, but even if the Government had waited for the pilot to finish it would have had little evidence to go on: the pilot only demonstrated that the ECAR interventions were better than doing nothing, because they did not include control groups conducting other kinds of reading interventions. As for the other projects, a recent Policy Exchange report commented: