25 years, helping students to read.

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Time flies when you are having fun.

In 1991 Dr Julia Solomon launched the Reading for Sure program and, in the 25 years since, thousands of children in Australia and overseas have gained the skills to enable them to enjoy reading.  This amazing women saw a problem and through research and lateral thinking solved the problem so many students struggled with – difficulty reading text. Her coded phonics approach was way ahead of its time.

Today we still have a large number of students in the education system who struggle to read the printed word, many with no other learning problems.  New figures show that the adult population also has a large number of people who are functionally illiterate. There is a large section of society marginalised simply because they have low literacy rates.

If those struggling with reading could have access to Reading For Sure then most of them would be able to improve their word attack skills, improve their literacy and go on to have access to new opportunities in society.

I have had the joy of being a Reading For Sure tutor for the last 18 years and have seen the achievements students can make when they have our alternative way of learning to read. Once their reading improves these students go on to do amazing things.

Recently I had a call from a parent whose children I taught over 12 years ago. Both these children were dyslexic and were getting nowhere with their literacy in the school system.  After completing the Reading For Sure program they were able to take full advantage of  class room learning and have both gone on to study at university with excellent results. Without intervention, I have no doubt that these children would have struggled to even finish early high school, which would have be an absolute waste of the talents that they have in other areas. We would have missed out on their future contribution to society.

This year it is time to celebrate 25 years of this amazing program. We welcome everyone to come to our head office at 67 Oats St Carlisle (near Oats St train station) and join in the celebration. We will have displays of our research and teaching materials. Reading for Sure providers will be on hand to answer questions and share their stories.  We will be open on Sunday 4th December between 1pm and 5pm so I hope you can come and meet our team.