Advice for parents and carers

Has my child got reading difficulties?

If you think your child has literacy difficulties and is falling behind, you should first talk to your child's class teacher or form tutor. Ask what the child's teacher-assessed National Curriculum level is in Reading and Writing or in English.

This is a rough guide of what your child's level should be at different ages, if they are keeping up with the levels expected of most children:

Some schools will also be able to tell you what your child's reading age is. Their reading age should be at the same level as their chronological age, or above this, if they are keeping up with the reading age expected of most children.

What should the school be doing about it if my child has fallen behind?

Your child's school should be providing your child with what is called 'a literacy intervention'. An intervention is a short period of one to one or small group help using a particular programme.

Is one to one help more effective?

A number of international research studies have documented the greater impact of one-to-one teaching when compared to group instruction. Groups seem to work best when children have already made some progress, and with less disadvantaged children. For other children, providing help in groups may look like good value for money, but it will only work if that help is effective.

Should the help be from a teacher or a teaching assistant?

When it comes to use of a trained teacher rather than a teaching assistant, research points to different effects according to the degree of literacy difficulty that an intervention has to tackle. Interventions using volunteers or teaching assistants can work well as long as the children have started reading, but not if they are non-readers.

Which programme should the school be using?

There are a number of intervention programmes that have evidence of effectiveness behind them. Government commissioned a research report on the evidence for different interventions in 2002, with an update due to be published later this year. The research concluded that effective interventions could at least double children's normal rate of progress, and set out which interventions actually on average achieve this. They are:

If your child's school is not using one of these interventions, that does not mean that what they are doing will be ineffective. But you should be asking the school whether they have evidence that the intervention they are using does at minimum on average double children's normal rate of progress – that is, achieve at least two months gain in reading age for every month the child is on the programme.

What funding is available to schools to provide extra help for children with literacy difficulties?

Schools have several sources of funding to provide support for children with literacy difficulties. A part of their total school budget should be used to make sure all children make good progress. Then they have specific funding for special educational needs, and a grant from government for 'personalised learning'. Some schools have additional funding from government through the Every Child a Reader programme or a pilot programme that funds ten hours of 1-1 tuition for children who are not making good progress. This programme is small in scale at the moment but in a year will expand and bring new money for schools.

What do I do if the school says it cannot provide my child with extra help?

It is helpful to recognise that some schools do have budget problems, often for very good reasons, and may really struggle to provide extra help to all children whose parents or carers want them to have it. They do have to make sure that funding goes to those children who are the furthest behind, rather than perhaps to those who are only a few months behind. You need to listen to and understand the school's position. But ask what criteria are applied to decide who can receive extra help, and for information on how the school spends the funding available to it. Talk to your child's class teacher or form tutor, the special needs coordinator (SENCO) or inclusion coordinator (INCO), and the headteacher. You could also talk to the parent representative on the school's governing body.

It may be helpful for you to talk to your local Parent Partnership service. All local authorities have a service like this for parents of children with special educational needs. You should ask your local council for the contact details of your local service.

Author: Jean Gross, Educational Psychologist

Reading with Synthetic Phonics | Back to School | Reading – How to Make it Fun | Why You Should Bother | What To Do if Your Child Has Reading Difficulties | Parents Rights and Responsibilities

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