Teach Secondary Issue 13.6

FINDING THE FIRE KarenWilson explores how teachers can help learners with SEND retain and further develop their love of reading during the primary to secondary transition L ove books, but hate reading? That was certainly the case for my daughter. Having always enjoyed reading myself, this apparent contradiction was an intriguing, and somewhat alien one. Reflecting onmy years in the classroom, I wondered howmany other children I’d encountered who appeared disengaged with the act of reading, but actually harboured a secret love of books. How could two such seemingly polarised views be held at once?Why would my daughter – who otherwise devours stories, dissects plotlines and holds characters dear – find reading itself so unenjoyable? For her, as for many young people, the barriers to reading can be complex, varied, and easy to overlook in a busy classroom or home. As a summer-born baby, later followed by the disruptions of COVID, we had every reason to believe that reading for her would just take some time to ‘click.’ She was achieving well in other curriculum areas, she was articulate and enjoyed learning. Yet as we neared the end of KS2, it soon became apparent that she saw picking up a book and enjoying reading for pleasure as simply not part of her world. Exhausting and frustrating There was no official diagnosis, though we did have our suspicions. Ongoing difficulties with spelling and a family history of dyslexia pointed to a likely area of need. She also found single-channel focus challenging, whichmade silent reading frustrating for her. Even when listening to a bedtime story, she would often require a fiddle toy, or need to do some mindful colouring before being able to focus and relax. As a teacher, I thought about the way I approached my silent reading and class story sessions at school, and wondered howmany of my pupils might benefit from similar forms of sensory input. Cognitive barriers – like dyslexia, memory issues, ADHD and physical/visual impairments – as well as psychological barriers, such as low self-esteem and stress, can all significantly impact upon a child’s engagement with, and enjoyment of reading. Regardless of any clearly labelled needs in our case, though, the most important thing to understand was what reading was actually like for my daughter. Why was picking up a book the last thing she wanted to do? As she matured through primary school, she would articulate that reading felt exhausting and frustrating. She admitted pretending to read during silent reading sessions, and avoided reading aloud in class. In reading tests, she would deploy her own carefully developed strategies to work out the answers without actually reading the full text – which seemed quite impressive, really! She found the intense focus needed to complete a reading test or extended task so exhausting that she would come home drained and emotional. All of which did little to encourage her enjoyment of reading – yet we persevered. Lighting the spark We took a collaborative approach to addressing her barriers. An optician prescribed reading glasses and a coloured overlay ruler to reduce visual stress. We found decodable adventure books with clear progression, starting at lower levels, to build her confidence. Her school introduced paired reading strategies, which we implemented at home with positive results. We let her lead, reading more on some days and less on others. Her subsequent role as a ‘reading ambassador’ for her school boosted her self-esteem, through the support she gave to younger readers. One notable turning point occurred when a local author, Sophie Cleverly, visited her school. My daughter is a natural problem solver, and these mystery books with a hint of thriller captured her interest. A spark was lit, and real enjoyment began. She wanted to read on after each chapter and even started to sneak books out at night to find out what happened next. An engaging lure Thinking again about my past pupils, I wondered what different approaches might have worked for them. Which books would have suited their personalities and interests?Would giving them easy access to coloured overlays, reading rulers or books with dyslexia-friendly fonts have helped? I’m certain that for the older Y6 learners, accessible novels covering more mature topics would have helped to boost their self-esteemwhile capturing their interest. In hindsight, graphic novels – which were frowned upon by some colleagues – could, and perhaps should have been afforded more prestige in classroom reading areas, where they might have been an engaging lure for reluctant or struggling readers. “Would those barriers tomy daughter’s reading remain in placeas she enteredKS3?” 34 teachwire.net/secondary