Supporting the Curriculum for Struggling Readers

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) suggests that teaching of word reading skills are a prerequisite to reading comprehension.  Schools are expected to engage in systematic phonics teaching for all learners, with the emphasis changing towards reading comprehension as decoding skills become established.  Whilst phonics-first teaching has a solid evidence base showing that it is effective for the majority of learners, a range of pupils do not respond well to this type of intervention, including a high proportion of those with oral language difficulties.  This session will first describe language and literacy development across the age span to provide educators with a solid understanding of skill development.  We will then explore the decoding and language strands of the SVR, including important inter-relationships between these skill areas.  Finally, we consider the evidence base in terms of what is known about effective intervention to support pupils with early levels of literacy in both primary and secondary education.