Teens, anxiety and reading

posted in: Secondary literacy |

I want to talk about relieving the anxiety experienced by struggling readers. Some hide their anxiety and suffer quietly while others express it in disruptive or self-harming behaviour. There are young people who panic at the sight of text in every secondary school. Many have a vague idea that they should ‘sound out’ words they’re not sure of or work them out from the rest of the sentence, but those strategies are like telling an anxious person to ‘chill out’. … Read More

That Reading Thing and EBLI Compared

posted in: Secondary literacy |

Since the Sounds-Write speech to print symposium, I’m getting lots of questions about how That Reading Thing compares with EBLI. Both TRT and EBLI are rooted in exactly the same phonics soil and have both been around for the same number of years so there are many conceptual similarities. Here are some of the differences I’ve gleaned from tutors who are familiar with both programs: That Reading Thing costs £170 which comes out to about USD$219 (+ tax & shipping … Read More

Linguistic phonics for secondary students

posted in: Secondary literacy |

What kind of results can you expect from an age-appropriate linguistic phonics programme in a large urban secondary school? Does it work with young people who have given up on reading and school? Report from That Reading Thing in Tower Hamlets Note from Tricia – The voice in this report is that of Sarah Warburton who was the TRT lead in the now closed Gap Project in Bethnal Green. She delivered That Reading Thing as a linguistic phonics intervention to … Read More

DfE validated programmes & Phonics for teens with SEN & Dyslexia

posted in: Phonics for older students, Secondary literacy |

Quick answers to two frequently asked questions about phonics for secondary schools. Question 1: Are secondary and special schools required to choose from the DfE’s list of validated phonics programmes? No! Those programmes are validated for primary only and may be inappropriate for both the age and stage of students at secondary school. That Reading Thing meets the DfE’s criteria for phonics interventions for older students as laid out in the 2021 Framework for Reading. Read more in this blog post. … Read More

Why not to teach syllable types

posted in: Secondary literacy |

Teachers who have been teaching rules, syllable types etc for years might think there’s ‘something missing’ from That Reading Thing. What’s missing is the burden on memory that prevents students from learning to read quickly. We ask our tutors to ask themselves, am I tearing down a barrier to reading or building one up? Dyslexia tutors who are trained in programs like Orton-Gillingham are showing an interest in linguistic (speech to print) phonics and this has led to more frequent … Read More

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