There have undoubtedly been improvements in the reading attainments of children during the past ten years and these have been reflected in the higher attainments of school leavers.¹ Although reliable figures are not available, it is reasonably certain that fewer children are leaving school illiterate or semi-literate. These improvements have been due to a determined effort on the part of the L.E.A.’s and teachers to tackle the problem of backwardness. The provision of more special schools, special classes, remedial departments and diagnostic clinics; the provision of more courses and lectures for teachers; and an expansion (although limited and inadequate) in research into the reading process and teaching materials, have all played a part in raising reading standards.

Experience with severely backward children, particularly older children, reveals that one of the principal causes of failure is teaching which has failed to take into account the importance of not introducing children to learning situations before they are ready. This is particularly true in the teaching of reading, largely because reading assumes greater importance in a highly literate culture and is thus taught as soon as possible. Teachers are generally anxious, indeed over-anxious, to ‘get on with reading’. It is this anxiety which often leads to children being pushed into reading before they are ready. It is important, therefore, that all teachers concerned with young and backward children should be fully conversant with the educational and psychological principles involved in reading readiness. They should be trained in the recognition of readiness signs. They should be capable of organizing activities and providing experiences which will foster readiness and possibly hasten it.

In devising a reading readiness programme, it is important to remember that intellectual, physical, emotional and social developments are involved. It is also important to realize that growth in these four areas of development may be uneven. A child may be physically and intellectually ready but be too immature emotionally and socially to be able to benefit from teaching. Yet another may be emotionally stable and well-adapted socially but be intellectually retarded or be suffering from some physical or sensory handicap. Nevertheless, it often happens that a child can make a satisfactory beginning to reading even when readiness in one or more of the areas of development has not been reached. An example of this would be the maladjusted child whose maladjustment arose from reading failure. The ‘cure’ in such a case centres round remedial education to achieve feelings of success in reading, since overcoming the reading difficulty will remove the cause of emotional disturbance. Two further aspects of readiness must be stressed. One is that readiness is itself a developing, dynamic process. The learner is always getting ready for the next step in the learning process. This is why the ‘programming’ of learning situations is so vital. The second is that all learning is a means of helping the individual to accept, analyse, integrate and appropriately respond to a variety of stimuli which impinge upon him in a variety of sensory modes: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting. The efficiency with which this process is performed can only be assessed by what the child says or does, i.e. vocally or by motor activity. The readiness programme must therefore be based on a multi-sensory approach and must involve the child totally. Thus the child must learn to listen as well as to speak, to observe as well as to draw, describe or imitate, and to respond in mime as well as in words.

It is not the intention of this book to give a comprehensive description of all the forms of play, types of activities and experiences which should be included in a reading readiness programme. This can be found in many textbooks dealing with the subject. However, the following may be useful in helping teachers and parents to assess readiness.