Imagine three children in a Year 5 reading intervention. One reads (decodes) the words correctly but struggles to understand them. Another rushes and makes mistakes. A third finds it hard to work out unfamiliar words. None has a diagnosis of a specific learning difficulty, but all three need our help with reading.
Schools need to respond to these differences, but a separate programme for every child isn’t practical.
Earlier this year, I attended the Children with Reading Difficulties: From Identification to System Level Support conference at Durham University. I came away buzzing with ideas and keen to put them into practice. My main takeaway was simple: we don’t need a different programme for every child. We need to understand what they find difficult and give them enough practice and teaching to help.
Quality First Teaching is the starting point. Good classroom teaching is central, and any intervention should build on it. That means the teacher and the person delivering the intervention working together, with clear links between what children learn in class and the extra support they receive.
Using classroom texts can help make those links. A trained and supported teaching assistant can model reading aloud, talk through what the text means and help children practise the parts they find difficult. The teacher plans the support, checks progress and makes changes when needed.
So, back to our three readers. Start with what we know. Plan the support, make time for it and get started. Then check whether it’s helping and adjust.
We don’t need to wait for a diagnosis, the perfect programme or ideal staffing. We do need a clear purpose and support for the person doing the work.
Further Reading: Austin et al. (2026), Dispelling Myths and Misunderstandings About Defining and Remediating Dyslexia.