​Literacy is an essential skill that children need to succeed in their everyday lives.  As a parent or carer, you will have already made a significant contribution to supporting your child’s learning from an early age.
 
 
 
Now that your child has reached the middle phase of their education, they will be supported by their school to move from primary to secondary education.
 
 
 
It is critical for you to continue to play an active role in helping to develop your child’s literacy so they can achieve the best possible outcomes.
 
 
 
Your vital role as a parent or carer
 
 
 
You might not realise it, but you are already contributing to the development of your child’s literacy skills through regular activities such as discussing the meaning of new words and phrases, the main ideas in books or events in a newspaper story.
 
 
 
Improving your child’s understanding and use of these skills will help to increase their enthusiasm to actively participate in the classroom and build on the foundation of literacy they have already gained in earlier years.  Ensuring that your child feels confident talking to you and their teacher about school work will enhance their opportunity to thrive in the 21st century.
 
 
 
What literacy skills will your child learn at school?
 
 
 
During Years 4 to 9, young people begin to investigate the world beyond home and school and are required to become more independent learners.  Students learn to write for particular audiences and purposes such as describing, explaining, instructing, arguing and narrating.  They read and comprehend different types of texts and visuals.  This involves identifying the purpose, audience, main ideas and order of events in a text, as well as making connections between ideas and information in different paragraphs and drawing conclusions.
 
 
 
Activities to do with your child
 
 
 
Here are some simple yet effective activities you can do with your child to help them apply the literacy skills they learn at school:
 

• read some of the same books as your child and talk about characters, storylines and themes
• when assembling a newly purchased item, ask your child to assist with the reading of the instructions and interpreting diagrams
• read the newspaper with your child each morning — choose an article to discuss and ask questions such as ‘what is the report telling you?’ and ‘what does this word mean?’
• use language that encourages thinking and reflection such as ‘do you agree with what was written in that newspaper article or story?’ — have your child locate sources within the story or text to support their point of view

talk about movies you have seen — discuss why a filmmaker may have created a movie in a certain way, the purpose of the film, the intended audience and what points of view or values are conveyed. Talk about language choices and why characters are represented in certain ways.

  
Many parents worry that their child is not making progress because they are achieving the same grade in both their half yearly report and end of year report. 
 
There seems to be a common belief that progress has only been made when there is a change of grade, say from a C to a B. This often leads to confusion and disappointment, especially if an attempt has been made to lift a child’s grade.
 
But there is more to the grading system than you may have realised. In fact, if your child has achieved the same consecutive grade in both reports they are actually making progress.
 
Here’s why as explained on the Board of Studies Website:
 
“If a student receives the same grade for two consecutive reports they have made progress. For example, if a student receives a Grade C in the middle of the year and again at the end of the year they will be making progress.
 
Between the two reporting periods the student will have learned new knowledge and skills of a more advanced nature. In order to receive a Grade C on the second occasion the student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills in relation to this new and more challenging material.”
 
In other words, if your child has maintained the same grade by the end of the year, they have demonstrated a sound knowledge of all of the new skills which are more advanced in nature.
 
If they change their grade entirely from a C to a B this represents a HUGE leap in improvement.
 
 
 
 
 

​Literacy is an essential skill that children need to succeed in their everyday lives.  As a parent or carer, and your child’s first teacher, you have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to supporting your child’s learning — from the time they are an infant through to adulthood.
 
 
 
When your child starts school, it is critical for you to continue to play an active role in helping to develop your child’s literacy so they can achieve the best possible outcomes.
 
 
 
Your vital role as a parent or carer
 
You might not realise it, but you are already contributing to your child’s understanding of literacy from an early age.  For example, having books in the home and reading these with your child; taking your child on trips to the grocery store; reading the signs and labels on products; and having your child help you prepare meals by reading out the recipe and instructions can familiarise them with reading and writing.
 
 
 
Ensuring that your child feels confident talking to you and their teacher about school work will enhance their opportunity to thrive in the 21st century.
 
 
 
What literacy skills will your child learn at school?
 
In the first years of school, children learn through hands-on activities. Your child’s teacher will identify what they already know and can do, and will extend their knowledge and skills through new and challenging situations.
 
 
 
An important aim of the Preparatory Year is to build on your child’s previous experiences with new and different learning opportunities at school. Teachers help children to connect their home language with spoken and written English used in the classroom and other environments.
 
 
 
Children will learn how to speak in different situations, for example, in play, telling a story, or telling what happened on a picnic or on visits to friends or a library.  They will learn to understand that printed words have meaning and together words can describe ideas and events and tell a story.
 
 
 
In Prep classrooms, children see a lot of written language and pictures to help them learn about labels, sentences, directions and routines. Materials for writing, painting and drawing are available to encourage children to use their literacy skills.
 
 
 
In Years 1 to 3, children use language in increasingly complex and unfamiliar situations. They learn to use the language necessary for different purposes such as reading and writing stories, lists, recipes and reports, and understanding charts and diagrams.
 
 
 
Children will speak and write about real-life and imagined events and experiences and learn ways to improve their written work through drafting and editing.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress please contact your child’s teacher.
 
 
 
Activities to do with your child
 
Here are some simple yet effective activities you can do with your child to help them apply the literacy skills they learn at school:
 
• keep blank paper and pencils handy at home for writing activities
 
• read with and to your child every day
 
• have your child collect and sort the mail — who are the letters for and who are  they from?
 
• create a collage using junk mail, old magazines or your child’s drawings with a particular focus — this could include pictures of things beginning with an ‘s’ sound or all pictures showing a particular colour
 
• make a scrapbook — this could be about a holiday or special event, and have your child write captions for the photos and pictures
 
• make your kitchen a ‘cooking’ zone and a ‘reading’ zone — use fridge magnets to make new words and short sentences, or have your child write the weekly shopping list and read names on packages
 
• play word games and do crosswords to help develop spelling and vocabulary
 
• keep a dictionary in an easily accessible place — show your child how it can be used for a variety of purposes and accessed while word processing on a computer
 
• make the writing of letters, notes, cards or emails a daily family activity — you can write notes to your child and encourage them to write notes back to you.
 

​Is this a belief you hold about your child?  Common responses from parents I meet include:
 
“Why can’t he do his homework by himself?”

or
 
“We were in tears finishing his homework last night because he just can’t get it!”
 
or
 
“A lot of the other mothers I speak to say that their child does their homework by themselves, so there must be something wrong with my child.”
 
The truth is, I rarely meet a child who does not get some form of assistance from their parents. In fact, many of the “A” students I have taught at school and at ALA have parents who take a very active role in helping their child/children with daily homework. Surprising? Not really.
 
Here’s why:
 
The pace at which teachers are required to deliver the curriculum to their students is alarmingly fast. They don’t have the luxury of spending weeks on any one skill as the content they must cover is vast. The result is something of a skimming, summary over a given topic before it is hastily changed and sometimes not revisited for months at a time.  Combine this with the daily interruptions of guitar lessons, assemblies, speeches, the school musical and the swimming carnival (just to name a few) and it is nearly impossible to get anything done!
 
So, what does this mean for your child? It means that doing their homework is VERY important and it means that your child will most likely need your instruction on the matter as well as the opportunity to make mistakes and to practise in front of you in order to accomplish the skill successfully.
 
It is possible that the brief instruction they were given at school was not enough to understand the subject at all; and you may have to explain it from the start. You may need extra lessons at home to get on top of it or you may need to get outside help.
 
There may be other factors which contribute to the unattainment of a skill too, such as the way the information is offered by the teacher (it may be confusing) or the classroom dynamics (too hard to hear instruction because of elevated classroom noise).
 
The point is, I want you all to know, just because you spend an hour with your child of an evening to help them with their homework does not mean anything is wrong. In fact, I strongly recommend it.
 
It does not mean that your child has a learning difficulty.  It is simply necessary in our current educational climate to make sure that your child is on the right track.
 
On the plus side (for all of you over-worked, tired parents, myself included), there are many benefits for learning with your child too, such as sharing the moment when things ‘click’ and when mastery is achieved.
 
It is wonderful to see a child accomplish something they thought was first difficult and for you, their one-and-only, to watch their confidence flourish.
 

 
 

The attainment of inclusion in any setting is largely reliant on how the stakeholders manage the changes required.  Looking at Ambrose’s (1987) managing complex change model, this essay will analyse what considerations would need to be made to include a child with disability, and how the relevant stakeholders could each contribute towards an outcome of motivated change in a year two classroom, in a public primary school setting.

 

According to Ambrose’s (1987) Managing Complex Change, as cited by Highsmith (2013) five essential requirements need to be met in order for motivated change to take place, successfully.  Initiating, supporting and carrying out a desired change requires leaders who are able to judge the complexity that the proposed changes may actually possess as the change relates to the status quo (Ambrose, 1987).  

 

Inclusive education should therefore be seen as an approach to improve schools’ environments, that inclusive education makes quality education available to everyone and is not just a numbers game, putting children with disabilities in classrooms and not meeting their needs (Skritic, Sailor & Gee, 1996).  This is supported by Department of Education, (2012); Dyson, Howes & Roberts, (2003); Skrtic et al. (1996) Christensen, (1996) and Shaffner & Buswell, (1996), who provide that having children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms goes way beyond just the physical placement.  That inclusive education needs to have nothing less than the changing of regular education by encouraging positive beliefs, systems and practices in the schools and classrooms (Department of Education, 2012; Dyson, Howes & Roberts, 2003; Skritic et al., 1996; Christensen, 1996 & Shaffner & Buswell, 1996).  Howes & Roberts, (2003) and Shaffner & Buswell, (1996), provide that when instigating inclusive education, there are three levels that need attention, they are: the local community, the education system, the schools and the classrooms. 

 

At the local community and education system level, three areas of influence were identified as being pivotal to embracing diversity they were: (a) the policy perspective of the community, (b) collaboration amongst non-government and government agencies, and (c) the partnerships amongst all stakeholders - educators, parents, peers, all school staff, and community agencies (Dyson, et al. 2003; Department of Education, 2012 & King-Sears, 1997). 

 

Oliver (1996) provides that changes must be made at every level of society.  The changes needed are; positively valuing inclusion, support and promotion for all children to be part of one education system coming from the education system, having welcoming environments in schools, educators being dedicated to the positive education of all children and the curriculum modified to include differentiation (Oliver, 1996).

 

At schools, the most significant question is, what proof is available to show that schools can perform in ways that empower all student body participate? (Oliver, 1996).  Dyson, et al. (2003) only found six studies that related to this question and gave reliable and trustworthy evidence.  From these studies they found that, the degree to which schools enable or in some instances prevent inclusion, had two important, prominent themes a) the morals and beliefs held by the schools b) policymaking and leadership.  The latter was also highlighted by Stanovich & Jordan (1998), Schaffner & Buswell (1996) and Ainscow (1995).  Stanovich & Jordan (1998) looked at the education system in Canada, they discovered that the strongest forecaster of successful inclusive was the adoption by principals’ that inclusive education was the norm, that their attitudes towards heterogeneous classrooms allowed for success across the whole school setting.  Aniscow, (1995); Shaffner & Buswell, (1996) & Skritic et al., (1996) all looked at the development of strong school support networks as a high priority for successful inclusion in education, as well as building positive collaborative relationships between professionals, paraprofessionals and parents.  Dettmer, Thurston & Dyck, (2003) provide an overview of the characteristics of an inclusive school, they provide that six aspects are essential if inclusion is to succeed, they are:

• Positive Leadership, 
• Collaboration,
• Changed assessment,
• Supports and
• Building Collaborative Relationships with Families.  

In classrooms, the success or failure of inclusion depends highly on what happens in this environment.  Inclusive education is not about separate programmes for different students, rather, it entails using differentiation and multisensory teaching approaches for all students (McDonnell, 1998; UNESCO, 1994).  To make these changes educators should start by prioritizing objectives and establishing the most important ones to address first (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  Adapt environments, programming, planning and strategies to meet the needs of individual learners (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  Use effective teaching approaches, that are designed to accomodate the needs of all learners that are clear, appropriately paced, delivered with enthusiasm and flexible to maximise engagement (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  

 

Inclusive education also necessitates building collaboration between all stakeholders such as regular class teachers, specialist teachers, teaching assistants, therapists, and parents.  Williams, Williams & Ullman (2002) and Davis & Hopwood (2002) provide that the main components of successful consultation models include (a) the general educator having the main accountability for students’ overall programmes, (b) equal status of professionalism of general educators and special educators, (c) collaboration with families in planning and programming, (d) teachers’ aides working with teachers to provide additional support and (e) additional support being given in the classroom, where appropriate, rather than through withdrawal .

Waldron & McLesky (1998); Salend & Duhaney (1999) and Hobbs & Westling (1998) all support the need for effective inclusion and state that schools who successfully apply inclusion highlight the importance of learning for all students.  This involves teachers and all other stakeholder working in collaboration to foster an environment where all students can succeed.  They go on to state that the best measure for judging successful inclusion the progress students with disabilities make.  Salend & Duhaney (1999) highlight that students without disabilities did not indicate that their learning was hindered in any way and that the educators saw many social benefits for all students.  Hobbs & Westling (1998) also support this finding, they found that children with disabilities coped better than students in special classes, and the inclusion did not have any disadvantageous effect on other students.  

 

Every school who adopts inclusive education looks different, but the characteristics of belonging to their community, high expectations, teamwork and collaboration, flexible roles, varied support services, collaborative relationships with parents, learning environments that are flexible, research based strategies, accountability for learning, and continued professional development are all the common threads that bind these schools.   What has been shown is that the attainment of inclusion in any setting is largely reliant on how all the stakeholders manage the changes required, how they each contribute towards an outcome of motivated change.

 

Bibliography

Ainscow, M.  (1995).  Education for all: making it all happen.  Support for Learning 10 (4) 147-155.

Ambrose, D. (1987).  In Highsmith, J. (2013).  Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems ebook -  http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CVcUAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=ambrose+1987+managing+complex+change

&ots=5qFEaAMCxG&sig=mJBkTwkS6wELpA_-1UFaWTEEoto#v=onepage&q&f=false – Accessed 3/3/2014.

Christensen, C. (1996). Disabled, handicapped or disordered: What’s in a name?  In C. Christensen and F. Rizvi (eds.), Disability and the dilemmas of education and justice (pp.63-78). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Davis, P. & Hopwood, V. (2002). Including children with a visual impairment in the mainstream primary school classroom. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 2(3), 139-147.

Dettmer, P., Thurston, L., & Dyck, N. (2005).  Foundations and Frameworks for Collaborative School Consultation (pp. 30-45).  Consultation, Collaboration and Teamwork for Students with Special Needs.  New York: Pearson.

Department for Education and Skills (2007). Every parent matters. Nottingham: Author.

Dyson, D.A., Howes, A. & Roberts, B. (2003). What do we really know about inclusive schools? A systematic review of the research evidence. Paper presented at the AERA Meeting, Chicago.

Evans, P. (2004). Educating students with special needs: a comparison of inclusion practices in OECD countries.  Education Canada, 44(1).

Hobbs, T., & Westling, D.L. (1998). Inclusion promoting successful inclusion. Teaching Exceptional Children, 31, 12-19.

King-Sears, M. E., & Mooney, J. F. (2004). Teaching content in an academically diverse classroom. In B. K. Lenz, D. D. Deshler, & B. R. Kissam (Eds.), Teaching content to all: Evidence-based inclusive practices in middle and secondary schools (pp. 221-257). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Lipsky, D.K. & Gartner, A. (1999).  Inclusive education: a requirement of a democratic society. In H. Daniels & P. Garner (eds.) World yearbook of education 1999: Inclusive education (pp.12-23). London: Kogan Page.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E.  (2010).  Career and technical education and transitions.  In The inclusive classroom:  Strategies for effective instruction (4th ed., pp. 391-414).  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

McDonnell, J. (1998). Instruction for students with severe disabilities in general education settings. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 33(3), 199-215.

Oliver, M. 1996). Education for all? A perspective on an inclusive society.  In M. Oliver, Understanding Disability: From theory to practice (pp.78-94). Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Salend, S. J., & Duhaney, L. M. (1999).  The Impact of Inclusion on Students With and Without Disabilities and Their Educators.  Remedial and Special Education, 20, 114-126.

Shaffner, C.B. & Buswell, B.E. (1996).  Ten critical elements for creating inclusive and effective school communities.  In S. Stainback and W. Stainback (eds), Inclusion: A guide for educators (pp.49-65). Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.

Skrtic, T.M., Sailor, W. & Gee, K. (1996). Voice, collaboration, and inclusion: democratic themes in educational and social reform initiatives. Remedial and Special Education, 17(3), 142-157.

Stanovich, P.J. & Jordan, A. (1998). Canadian teachers’ and principals’ beliefs about inclusive education as predictors of effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms. Elementary School Journal, 98(3), 221-238.

UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Paris: Author.

Waldron, N., & McLeskey, J. (1998). The impact of a full-time Inclusive School Program (ISP) on the academic achievement of students with mild and severe learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 64, 395–405.

Williams, B., Williams, J., & Ullman, A. (2002).  Parental Involvement in Education.  London: Department of Education and Skills.

 

​

​Kids develop at their own pace, but generally can be expected to meet certain milestones.  These are typical milestones for reading.
 
0-12 Months –
 

• Begin to reach for soft-covered books
• Look at and touch the pictures in a book
• Make cooing or nonsense sounds to respond to a familiar story
• Helps turn pages

 
12-36 Months –
 

• Name familiar pictures such as dog, cup and baby
• Answer questions about what they see in books
• Pretend to read by turning pages and making up a story (24+ months)
• Recite the words to favourite books
• Recognise the cover of favourite books

 
3-4 years –
 

• Know the correct way to hold and handle a book
• Recognise that the words tell a story
• Understand that the words are read from left to right and top to bottom
• Start hearing rhyming words
• Retells stories
• Recognise about half the letters of the alphabet
• Recognise and “read” familiar labels, signs and logos
• Start matching letter sounds to letters
• Perhaps recognise their own name and other often seen words

 
5 years –
 

• Read some sight words
• Use story language and vocabulary in play and conversation e.g. “the dump truck is here”, said the guy
• Begin matching words they hear with words on a page
• Recognise and match letter to letter-sounds
• Identify the beginning and ending (and sometimes the middle) sounds/letters in words like cat or sit
• Sound out simple words
• Tell the who, what, when, where, why and how of a story
• Put a story in order either by retelling or ordering pictures
• Predict what happens next in a story
• Begins writing or dictation their own stories
• Sounds out new words using phonics or word families (such as adding the beginning sounds to at to read cat, bat, sat, hat)
• Starts reading or asks to be read books for information as well as entertainment
• Answers basic questions about what they have read

 
6-8 years –
 

• Recognises up to 200 sight words
• Uses context clues (pictures, surrounding words, topic-specific vocabulary) to decode unfamiliar words
• Go back and re-reads when a mistake has been made (self-correcting)
• Starts answering questions that requires them to think about what they have read
• Starts writing stories using inventive spelling
• Imitates the styles of favourite authors when writing

 
9-13 years –
 

• Makes the move from learning to read to reading to learn
• Reads with purpose (entertainment, information, directions etc.)
• Explores different genres
• Recognises words without hesitation
• Puts the events of a story in order
• Reads out loud with accuracy and inflection
• Identifies and articulates the main idea
• Summaries what has been read
• Understands similes, metaphors and other descriptive devices
• Finds meaning in what has been read

 
14-17 years –
 

• Relates events in stories to their own lives
• Compares and contrasts different reading materials
• Discusses character motivation
• Makes inferences/makes conclusions about a story
• Supports a thesis/idea using examples from a story
• Identifies examples of imagery and symbolism
• Analyses, synthesises and evaluates ideas from texts

 
Learning to read isn’t always this clear cut, and not all children follow the same path.  If your child isn’t meeting these milestones, consider talking to his doctor or teacher about whether an evaluation to look at his skills might be helpful. Once you have a better idea of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, you can find strategies to make reading easier.





 
 

​Lately I have been getting a lot of enquiries regarding comprehension skills.  The main theme all of these enquires follow are their child is struggling with comprehension, how can they help them.  It is very important to know exactly what type of comprehension they appear to be struggling with and most parents are not informed of this.  I have put together this information in the hopes of making this area a little clearer. 
 
Comprehension is, understanding what is being said or read.  When it comes to reading, it is an active process that must be developed if a learner is to become a proficient reader.  Effective reading skill development is further accomplished when the learner becomes proficient in literal, inferential and applied comprehension.

Literal comprehension involves what the author is actually saying.  The reader needs to understand ideas and information explicitly stated in the reading material.  Some of this information is in the form of recognising and recalling facts, identifying the main idea, supporting details, categorizing, outlining, and summarizing.  The reader is also locating information, using context clues to supply meaning, following specific directions, following a sequence, identifying stated conclusion, and identifying explicitly stated relationships and organizational patterns.  These organizational patterns can include cause and effect as well as comparison and contrast.  For example, some questions and activities may include:

1. What words state the main idea of the story?
2. How does the author summarize what she/he is saying?
3. Outlining the first paragraph of the story.
4. What happened first, second and last?
5. How are these things alike? How are they different?
6. What things belong together?

Inferential comprehension deals with what the author means by what is said. The reader must simply read between the lines and make inferences about things not directly stated.  Again these inferences are made in the main idea, supporting details, sequence, and cause and effect relationships.  Inferential comprehension could also involve interpreting figurative language, drawing conclusions, predicting outcomes, determining the mood, and judging the author’s point of view.  The following questions are usually asked:

1. What does the author value?
2. What is the theme?
3. What effect does this character/event have on the story?
4. How do you think this story will end?

Applied comprehension concerns itself with why the author says what he or she says.  This high level of comprehension requires the reader to use some external criteria from his/her own experience in order to evaluate the quality, values of the writing, the author’s reasoning, simplifications, and generalizations.  The reader will react emotionally and intellectually with the material.  Because everyone's life experiences are varied, answers to some of the following questions will vary:

1. Could this possibly happen?
2. Is this argument logical?
3. What alternatives are there?
4. Is this a fact or an opinion?
5. Do you agree or disagree with the author?
6. What is the best solution to this problem?

To conclude, literal, inferential and applied comprehension is what makes a skilled, strong reader.  This skill must be learned and developed.  It does not just happen.  With that thought in mind, it has also been shown that strong readers make good writers.  Sustained exposure to the English language does allow for an expanded vocabulary and knowledge of correct grammar usage. When this is combined with literal, inferential and applied comprehension, it enables writers to better express themselves.