Here is a letter from the RRF to Jamie Oliver, in response to his important campaign advocating for improved education and support for those with dyslexia.
The Reading Reform Foundation
Dear Jamie Oliver,
Thank you for advocating for children who have had difficulty learning to read and spell. We in the Reading Reform Foundation (RRF) share your concern that many children do not receive timely or appropriate support under the current system. We wholeheartedly agree that this is a vital issue and would like to share our vision of the best way to move forward.
The RRF is an organisation founded in 1989 of educational professionals and parents who have first-hand experience of working with such children, with government initiatives and with evidence-based research. You can find our website at readingreform.org.
Drawing on years of advocacy, teaching experience and clear evidence, we have been convinced that when all children are taught systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) from the very beginning, the majority succeed in learning to read and write. We are sure that the solution is not about diagnosing dyslexia but in preventing the difficulties related to dyslexia from developing, by early identification and appropriate intervention.
SSP teaches children how to decode and encode words from the beginning, so that they master the alphabetic code. Teaching any code requires mastery to be effective and English has a complex code.
Since 2021 we have been able to add further recommendations to schools based on the DfE document, The Reading Framework. It provides high quality guidance for foundational literacy based on a combination of research findings and classroom experience.
One key recommendation in the framework is that children who show early signs of struggling with reading should be identified within just three weeks of beginning phonics instruction. These children can then receive extra daily practice, using the same programme and familiar content they have encountered in their whole class or group lessons. This should be with a well-trained member of staff, but there is no need for specialist help.
This is what has been missing: early identification and immediate, extra, small group effective teaching for these struggling children, so that they can keep up with their peers.
To give you further background, we point out that there is no exact diagnosable condition of dyslexia – it is on a spectrum, although there are descriptors, as defined by organisations like the British Psychological Society and Dyslexia Action. It is not easy to measure and identify these broad descriptors of dyslexia but it is easy, quick and inexpensive to observe and measure young children’s reading and spelling, and that can be done in the classroom.
Two pieces of longitudinal research over 11 years, and involving about 700 children in a large in large inner-city school, demonstrate what can be achieved when children receive effective synthetic phonics instruction from the beginning of their schooling. The findings – available here – show that none of these children developed serious literacy problems that required a dyslexia diagnosis. This type of teaching smooths the path for children who might otherwise develop the severe difficulties with literacy associated with dyslexia.
We suggest you fight for the implementation of the best evidence-based teaching methods in schools, combined with early identification and extra help for those who are at risk of failing, as outlined in this research. We believe this approach not only equips children for success but also reduces reliance on diagnosis, by preventing difficulties before they take hold, and thus saving these children from future heartache.
Jamie, we would be happy to meet with you, or have further conversations with you. Again, thank you for keeping this very important topic in the public’s consciousness.
Kind regards,
Marlynne Grant, Sue Lloyd, Sara Wernham and Elizabeth Nonweiler
On behalf of the Reading Reform Foundation