Parents should be aware that if their primary school child has been assessed with a STen score of 4 or less for reading and/or spelling, the child will almost certainly need extra help to bring their reading and spelling skills up to speed. Otherwise, it is highly unlikely that they will reach their true academic potential, because they will simply fall further and further behind at school.
 
Here is an actual example of the action that was taken by parents when they discovered that their child’s progress wasn’t quite what they had expected:
 
“Rory” was just six years old when his parents found out from reading his end of year school report that “he had grasped a general understanding of letter sounds and names but needed a little more work”.
 
 
They knew Rory was very bright and, because he had already attended two years in a Montessori pre-school, and one year in junior infants; this revelation caused his parents to become very concerned. He obviously wasn’t progressing as expected and had already fallen behind his peers. Although Rory’s parents were told he would 'grow out of it', they decided that something else had to be done and decided to find out more about his difficulty. So, they arranged for him to have a language and literacy assessment.
 
The outcome from this assessment was that, although his overall language skills were within the 'average' range, his language comprehension was surprisingly low. It was also discovered that he was performing at a pre-reading and pre-spelling stage of literacy development.
 
 
They decided to embark on the remedial strategy that was recommended and, because of his young age, it was spread over a nine-month period. Rory was reassessed when he was 6:11 years old, and the results were as follows:
 
  • His reading accuracy improved to a level that was 17 months ahead of his actual age.
  • His reading comprehension improved to a level that was 10 months ahead of his actual age
  • Although his spelling had improved, it was still below his actual age level - spelling always takes more time than reading to improve, because it is a more complex skill to acquire.
 
He was then put 'on review' to allow him time to 'catch up', using his newly learned literacy skills and strategies.
  • Rory was re-assessed for spelling when he was 8:03 years old, and his spelling had improved to a level that was 16 months ahead of his actual age.
 
 
In addition, his latest school report at that time indicated a STen score of 9 on the Drumcondra Reading Test, which meant he was very advanced for his age-group.
 
At the same time, with the huge gains in his literacy skills, his overall language skills had also improved to the 96th percentile, which meant he was in the top ability range for his age group.
 
Rory is now performing well above his age level and excelling at school; he is a confident and happy child, who loves learning.
 
The bottom line here is that every child must ‘learn to read’ to be able to ‘read to learn’, and this applies for all academic subjects across the curriculum. Children with undiagnosed or diagnosed but untreated reading and spelling problems will simply struggle all the way through their education, probably never reaching their true academic potential.
Speech & Language Therapist - specialising in reading & spelling difficulties (like dyslexia)

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