Intervention for Dyslexia - The British Dyslexia Association

writing. To be able to work on words in isolation is not enough; the reader and writer
must also be able to handle those words flexibly in continuous texts.” (Clay, 2005, p.
138)
“When the child’s series of lessons end and he is reading a text of appropriate level he
should be able to solve a multi-syllabic word (one that is new, not yet familiar, or
unexpected) within continuous text without slowing up too much, and by working
flexibly with word parts and clusters of letters from an awareness of how words work.”
(Clay, 2005, p.156)
However, it should be noted that neither Reading Recovery delivered as part of ECaR
nor Reading Recovery in the UK more generally provides systematic phonics instruction
in the sense intended by Rose (2006) and the other authors cited above, namely a
programme with a planned sequence and 10 or more minutes of teaching a day.
According to ECaR (2008, p.34), in a section entitled ‘Every Child a Reader and effective
phonics teaching’:
“High quality phonic work is a fundamental part of Reading Recovery, with teachers
being trained to use close observation and assessment of what an individual child
already knows in order to carefully tailor how best to extend their phonological skills and
phonic knowledge by the fastest possible route. Every lesson with every child includes
phonic teaching. Prior to reading the teacher will, for example, help the child think about
the sounds in a new word and locate the appropriate letters and words in the text.
During reading, teachers will use masking cards to help the child to focus on details
within a new word, drawing the child’s eye across the word from left to right. After
successful reading, teachers will select an appropriate word to model construction using
magnetic letters. Support given for writing helps children to use phonics to spell and
write the words they need for their own sentence or paragraph.”
From that description, from mentions on subsequent pages of ECaR (2008) of
coordination of the programme with the DCSF framework Letters and Sounds, and from
lesson observations provided by Reading Recovery personnel (Gross, 2009, personal
communication) it appears that phonics is now one of the regular components of
teaching sessions, but certainly not a systematic one and not the main focus. Detailed
evidence is now needed on how this plays out in practice, and how it affects children’s
progress. However, despite these reported changes to the Reading Recovery
programme, a fundamental conflict still remains between its approach and the revised
National Literacy Strategy, in which systematic teaching of phonics is now a central
feature (see Section 5.1.4).
Teaching of reading based on the ‘simple’ view of reading has been a legal requirement
since September 2007, and from April 2009 the Communication, Language and Literacy
Development programme has been rolled out to all local authorities. As the teaching of
phonics continues to be strengthened, so there continues to be a need for Wave 2
interventions based on guidance around pace and progression in phonics and
interventions such as the Early Literacy Support programme (thoroughly re-developed
following publication of the 2006 Early Reading Review), and when necessary a wave 3
intervention. Where children are falling behind who have nonetheless had high quality
experiences in both Waves 1 and 2, it follows from the principles in the SEN Code of
Practice that alternative approaches should be tried and personalised to the specific
needs of the child. Reading Recovery is one of those possible interventions but there are
others, as outlined in the review by Brooks (2007) and documented in the Every Child a
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