Evidence 1 ~ Anecdotes & Data

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

Memories from years past – but these are the stories I continue to hear. Behaviour and literacy often go hand in hand and young people who have made little literacy progress in all their years at school can take off with That Reading Thing. Both of these arrived via email recently.They both tell their stories in different ways.  I especially love how the anecdote acknowledges the importance of a tutor who won’t give up in the face of resistance.  I … Read More

Greg Brooks’ What Works 5th edition – 2016

posted in: Dyslexia, Evidence |

What Works for Children and Young People with Literacy Difficulties? The latest edition of Greg Brooks’s review of intervention schemes for children and young people with literacy difficulties is out. (See Greg’s assessment of That Reading Thing here.) That Reading Thing is now included in the Key Stage 3 section with a note that it’s still very appropriate for young people 14 plus and outside the system. I’d like to add that it’s still very much aimed at that older … Read More

Evidence 4 ~ One Story

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

One particular line of numbers caught my attention. F 13 05:11 06:05 00:06 5 hrs continuing White British truancy It’s the “Data Story” of a thirteen year old white British girl with truancy issues who struggles with reading and agreed to start meeting with a ThatReadingThing tutor.  I’m going to call her Amber. At their first session, her reading age was 5 years and 11 months which is what we would expect of a child at some point in Year … Read More

Evidence 3 ~ A Second Look

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

Here is the same data with a few extra details.  Here are the things I notice: Those with the greatest gains, started with a reading age of 8 or so One of the girls made a 2 year gain in one week.  I would assume that her spelling age is now well behind her reading age. Of the three with the smallest gains, one has English as an additional language and a head injury, one is very new to the … Read More

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