What would you have had me do, Mem?
The evidence is extremely clear: at least 30% (National Year of Reading suggests 41%) of children will NOT learn to read adequately unless they are TAUGHT using evidence-based programs.
We see the sad ongoing consequences of this daily, in miserable, angry kids who go on to be miserable, angry teenagers and adults who have been let down by a wilful ignoring of the facts.
Fact and fiction with Mem Fox
On telly’s Today show last week, celebrated children’s fiction author Mem Fox talked about the importance of reading to children, something with which absolutely everyone agrees.
Teaching Your Child to Read: How to Guarantee Your Child Becomes Truly Literate
Debbie Hepplewhite 2 March, 2015
Chatter, Books and Phonics: How best to guarantee your child becoming truly literate.
Open letter to Mem Fox
“If every parent, or carer …read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to children in their care, we could eliminate illiteracy within one generation.”
Dear Mem,
The first time I saw this quote of yours was on a poster in our school library. My daughter had just been diagnosed with Dyslexia. I was already filled with enough parental guilt for not intervening in her schooling earlier. I really didn’t at that point to need any more guilt. It made me so sad and so angry. For a few years I had been asking teachers questions. They would answer …”she seems so bright!” “We don’t know why!” “Don’t worry she will get it.” “Do you read to her?”
Now I know better. I know I did do all the right things to give my daughter the best chance to read. But my daughter has Dyslexia and she did not receive the instruction she needed in school to teach her to read. I know that reading to your child is foundational to learning to read. But I also know that for most children it is not enough and they need to be taught explicitly how to read.
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