Letter from Phil Beadle
Hello,
I take it that if you have got this far either you have difficulties with reading and writing, or you know someone with these and would like to help them.
If you are helping someone out, forgive me for speaking directly to the person you're helping. Please either print this off and read it to them, or read it out loud to them off the screen.
What I have to say to the person with the reading difficulty is this:
Firstly, well done. Not being able to read well is probably more common than you know, but that doesn't make it any easier for you. All your life you will have had to come up with many different and incredibly ingenious ways to cover up or to compensate for your problem that, if you stop to think about it, they kind of prove how clever you really are. From what I have seen, not being able to read well makes life shockingly hard: you might not be able to use buses, because you don't know where they are going; it might be that it makes car travel difficult, as you can't read the signs. It's a heavyweight burden and it takes sheer bloody-mindedness and raw guts to do something about it. If you've got as far as having this read to you it means that have the ability to do just that. You can do something about it.
There are many ways you can progress. Either you go the formal way, and seek help from experts. Despite the fact that some of the materials on some of these courses aren't much cop, this is not to say the teachers aren't. All you need to be able to read is day-to-day commitment and a very good teacher, and there is every chance that one of the numbers of organisations at the bottom of this page will put you in touch with a brilliant teacher.
Alternatively, you can try and do it yourself. This is entirely possible if you have someone who will work with you for ten to twenty minutes every day. If you have someone who loves you, and is willing to make this commitment to you, then do what Teresa from the programme did.
Buy a copy of The Phonics Handbook: A handbook for teaching reading writing and spelling by Sue Lloyd (get this book), do a letter every day. Keep going with it. In parallel with this, buy a copy of Toe by Toe by Keda and Harry Cowling (get this book), do ten minutes every day.
For the twenty minute commitment every day over a couple of months, there is a solid chance that you may find you will start to read within that time.
After this, you buy the green set 1 of storybooks by Ruth Miskin (Read Write Inc Phonics: Green Set 1 Storybooks – get these books) and work your way through these. By the end of these you should be able to read. To develop your reading from this point you move through all of the Ruth Miskin books, from the purple set 2B, to the pink set 3B. They are properly structured and you will pick up stuff. You keep doing toe by toe until you have finished it.
There is no guarantee that you will definitely learn to read through these, but it is worth a try. It worked for Teresa on the programme, and she had not been able to read for 58 years!
If this doesn't work, then it is likely that you are dyslexic. If it becomes apparent that you are not picking anything up in the first few weeks, there is every likelihood of this. If this is the case, you should consult one of the professional agencies. But don't worry, dyslexia just means you learn differently and a dyslexia specialist teacher will be able to help you to learn to read.
If you are dyslexic you might also have problems with writing, comprehension, maths etc. The specialist teacher can help you with that too.
Dyslexia is a combination of strengths and weaknesses and lots of very successful people are dyslexic and have struggled to learn. It's about getting the right help.
There is a quick and easy 20 question free dyslexia test on our website www.xtraordinarypeople.com but this is not a diagnostic test, or there is a more in-depth screening test which costs £25.99 on www.amidyslexic.com.
The British Dyslexia Association have a helpline they can be contacted on, the helpline number is 0845 251 9002.
PATOSS (www.patoss-dyslexia.org) can help you to find dyslexia specialist teachers. And Dyslexia Action provide support for adults.
But whatever you do, do not give up hope, no matter how long it takes. You must be tenacious and you must be determined. It is your right to know how to read properly, claim it. It is never too late to make a final start.
Phil Beadle
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