Reading Recovery

Whitecross NS Reading Recovery

Whitecross N.S. has had Reading Recovery in operation for a number of years. Reading Recovery is a research-based intervention programme with the primary goals of accelerating literacy learning and reducing reading and writing failure difficulties by targeting children who may need support in Senior Infants/First Class.

This programme was developed in New Zealand by educator and psychologist Marie Clay, who used evidence from her intensive research and observation of good classroom practice to develop Reading Recovery.

Reading Recovery:

  • identifies students experiencing reading and writing difficulties after the first year of school
  • provides an intensive, individually designed and individually delivered series of lessons for 30 minutes each day
  • is supplementary to the ongoing literacy activities in the classroom.

A Reading Recovery teacher has specialised training to identify exactly what your child finds hard about reading and writing. Your child’s Reading Recovery lessons will be based on what the child knows and will be adapted to make it easy to learn. The teacher will give your child an individual 30-minute lesson every day for 12 to 20 weeks. In that time, you should see your child’s reading and writing improve quickly. This new learning usually helps children feel more confident about classroom work too.

With information gained during Reading Recovery lessons, teachers can make good decisions about future support your child may need.

Reading Recovery is therefore not a remedial programme. It is based on early identification to prevent reading failure from occurring.

View the Reading Recovery Facebook page.

Watch the video to see Reading Recovery in action: