Topics covered include: The reading process: What does skilled reading involve? Teaching methods and specific strategies The need for a balanced approach to instruction Learning difficulties in reading and Assessment, intervention and support. Though it draws extensively on research from the fields of developmental and cognitive psychology, Reading and Learning Difficulties is written in a straightforward, jargon-free style that will appeal to the busy teacher. Both students in pre-service teacher education courses and postgraduate students will appreciate the extensive reference list.

One in Eleven identifies language learning disabled students and offers suggestions for teaching and learning strategies to address this difficulty in various school contexts, especially in subject areas. The emphasis on modifying the curriculum and employing explicit teaching strategies for these students is supported by many case-study examples. Practical recommendations are made through the use of photocopiable materials.

You begin by asking questions about the changes that occur in the cognitive processes of proficient children as they learn to read. You call what they do constructive and discover how you can interact daily with low-achieving children so that they too conduct literacy tasks constructively and independently. Then you consider some provocative alternatives: How do you describe children's progress? Do you check book levels off a list? Do you count the letters, the sounds, the correct spellings? Or is there another option? What if you give prime attention to processing - how the brain works with the text to get the message? Are the children shifting from simple processing to more complex ways of working? Are they initiating more independent problem solving on harder texts and getting better at it day after day?