We investigated whether being poorly skilled in reading contributes to children's reported feelings of anger, distractibility, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and social isolation. Data were analyzed from a longitudinal subsample of children (N = 3,308) participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort. Multilevel logistic…

Suggests that schools cannot supply the reading background and then do nothing to assist their potential poor readers to climb the first step in the development of reading. Suggests that teachers need to devote more energy toward the maintenance of the social and cultural security of possible poor readers than toward the immersion of these pupils…

Provides practical advice about the methods to prevent reading failure that is grounded in the new knowledge that has been acquired about reading and learning to read over the past two decades. Concludes with a discussion of issues and procedures for the early identification of children who are likely to experience difficulties learning to read.…

Offers a case study of one student's struggles with the demands of school literacy throughout his primary school years. Illustrates how such children rely on the innovation, energy, and good will of individual teachers; and how his fragile literacy is under threat in the transition to more fragmented learning environment of secondary school. (SR)

Achievement in most academic areas depends on reading. This study examines the relationship between play therapy and reading. Twenty-four first graders from two North Louisiana schools, who were repeating first grade and who had scored lowest on the Gates MacGinite Reading Test (GMRT) and the Stanford Reading Achievement Test the previous year,…

Reports on the second year of a supplementary reading program. Notes the program was successful with nonreading or delayed-reading students from regular and special education classrooms in grades one through eight. Argues that labels such as at-risk, learning disabled, and dyslexic are excuses for not initially teaching children how to read. (SR)

A fresh look should be taken at the traditional distinction between adults with reading disabilities and those with little or no literacy skills. Although the distinction may still be valuable for theoretical purposes, it may not be as useful as it once was for practical situations. Many adults seeking literacy instruction today have limited…

Notes that poor readers often equate reading difficulty with failure and exhibit stress reactions, and suggests that teachers take these feelings into account to help with remediation. (JC)

The causes of reading failure are numerous and complex. If instruction provided by the school is ineffective or insufficient, even some otherwise capable learners will have difficulty learning to read. Improving literacy instruction through professional development is an ongoing process involving all of the members of a schoolwide literacy team in…