We need to keep an open mind about the root of reading difficulties

At what point do we know if a child has a special educational need, or not?

At what point do we accept that there are children, in every school, at every age and every stage, across the country, who have long-term, persistent difficulties in developing their reading (and writing) proficiency...and it is unlikely that yet another round of the school phonics scheme is going to make much difference?

Estimates vary, but according to the International Dyslexia Association, word reading difficulties are prevalent in 15 to 20 per cent of the population.

Difficulties with understanding text (reading comprehension difficulties) are estimated to be around 7 to 10 per cent. Difficulties with broader language development, which would benefit from specialist support, affect two to three children in every class.

A ‘reluctance to accept this sticky challenge’

None of this is new.

Yet, in the education discourse, there does seem to be a reluctance to accept this sticky challenge.

In the recently uploaded Ofsted Academy training materials on Strong foundations in the first years of school, a description of a child’s journey through school is used to highlight the importance of developing reading proficiency and how this affects life chances.

The case study describes this child’s behaviours at different time points through her schooling and concludes that her various difficulties are because she did not learn to read (a failure of school) - rather than because of a special educational need affecting her ability to learn to read.

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This may be so, but, crucially, we have no idea. The case study describes the outcomes. There does not appear to be any attempt to disentangle why she found learning to read within the classroom hard.

Need to be ‘more sensitively curious’

In fact, she may have had a special educational need. She may have had speech, language and communication difficulties or word reading difficulties, text comprehension difficulties or both. Or a host of other challenges - perhaps poor eyesight, hearing loss, physical and motor difficulties, or a series of unrelated traumatic events affecting her ability to engage in education, to name a few. We don’t know.

We will continue to fail to identify and provide appropriately for these children (shall we say about 10 to 15 per cent of the population) unless we are more sensitively curious about why the classroom does not seem to be working for them. Being open to understanding the child as they respond to the opportunities presented to them is crucial.

It is time to start thinking hard about what it tells us when children do not thrive in our classrooms and to be brave enough to find bolder solutions.

Megan Dixon is an associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University