[senco-forum] Re Literacy

Re Literacy

Clearly the teaching of those with very specific learning differences/difficulties has to be tailored to their particular needs. In many cases, much more research is needed to produce productive remedial strategies which relate directly to the specifics of their learning problems. Low general IQ is rarely a feature of their difficulties. 

No such further research is need for the children in my constituency. We know a lot about them and their needs. We know that they have a very generalised learning problem and that for the most part, they fall into the below average ability band ie. they have IQ in the 75 to 85 range. Such children are rarely able to assimilate phonics skills unless they receive formal instruction such as Ruth Mishkin, Toe by Toe etc. It is a fact of life that these children will never become intellectual giants but they can nevertheless become functionally literate if they are given the appropriate teaching. At the moment, most of them leave school illiterate.

When these children are taught synthetic phonics alongside children in mixed ability groups, their assimilation of the rules is infinitely slower and because they need more repititions to make the rules stick, they can inadvertantly assimilate destructive feelings of inferiority. Where SP is taught to groups in Year 2 that have failed to make progress in reading, the quantity and quality of individual teaching sessions can be geared more precisely to the needs of the group with a similar level of intellectual potential. That again, is one of the principles of good teaching and these children will go on to become functionally literate.

 I labour this point specifically because it would be very easy and very inexpensive to put into effect and the outcomes would be very significant. No further funding would be needed and no further research is required but we are just not doing it. An existing TA could be trained up to deliver a high quality SP training in Year 2 and s/he could beemployed on one year contracts in case their 'wider ranging responsibilities' began to divert them from their core responsibilities.

Eddie C.