14/06/2022
What is more important: reading or spelling? My view is that reading is far more important than spelling. Why? If a child cannot read, they cannot access the curriculum, or become independent readers, or search information on a computer, although we do have the speech facility now to speak to computers! When I worked at a school for autistic children, I had a small group of children who also had specific learning difficulties/differences. I used a range of methods to help a couple of children become independent readers within 2 years (actually 18 months), which equates to age 16+. When the two children started in my class they were aged 11, and their reading ability ages were just under 9 years (if my memory serves me correctly), and of course they were struggling in class and had fairly low confidence when reading. I saw these children every day for literacy, numeracy and science. Fast forward 18 months - they were engaged in reading, enjoyed reading, looked information up on their phones or the computer: amazing, and they were much happier in themselves. How did this happen? Using Toe by Toe every day, in addition to multisensory methods and interesting activities. Message me if you'd like to find out more... thank you! 😃
