The Handbook That Addresses Reading

Getting children to read and to enjoy reading involves quite a bit more than just teaching them how to do it.

Some children immediately ‘take’ to reading and all you have to do is step out of the way and provide them with an appropriate library; others seem to struggle with it and avoid it wherever possible. But most parents would agree that reading is a key basic in life: it opens thousands of windows and doors onto new worlds, encourages wide and creative thinking, and almost guarantees a higher enjoyment of living.

So what’s the best approach to take with children who dislike reading as well as those who love it?

This groundbreaking programme has been developed for the extension and improvement of reading as an activity in and beyond school. It is built around the child and his or her needs, but also fulfils expected governmental and basic educational requirements and takes them a stage further.

It does this by recognising the chief failings in other approaches. One of the main drawbacks with many reading programmes is that they begin with a set of ‘recommended books’ and other reading materials. This starts the struggling reader off on the wrong foot by beginning to apply a kind of mild duress right from the beginning.

The H.E.A.R.T. programme’s first goal is to remove as much real or perceived duress as possible from a child’s reading activities. It does this by developing new and exciting ways of dealing with recurring difficulties.

You may be a parent dealing with one child or a small group of children; you may be a tutor or running a homeschooling group with a number of children in your charge; or you may be a teacher responsible for a class or set of classes -in each case, the H.E.A.R.T programme can be adapted from this handbook to meet your needs. You will see which aspects are applicable and which are not as you move through the handbook.