Oakfield High School & College

Child A is a 12-year-old student in Year 8 in a Secondary school for SEN learners. He has always struggled with reading and spelling. He is a typical, energetic boy who loves joking around and making his friends laugh. At the start of the year, Child A wasn’t very interested in reading and often avoided tasks that he thought were boring or hard. His reluctance stemmed from a fear of making mistakes, which made him feel embarrassed and discouraged in front of his peers.

In addition to his reading and spelling difficulties, Child A is easily distracted, particularly during independent learning time or longer tasks. He often fidgets or looks around the classroom, finding it hard to stay focused on one activity for more than a few minutes.

Child A was reading below expected level and struggled with decoding new words and spelling. Although he didn’t lack confidence socially—he loved to be the centre of attention—he was quick to give up when learning got hard. His reluctance to engage with learning tasks and his distractibility made it difficult for him to make progress.

During the student’s annual review, parents/carers commented on how they wanted to improve their child’s reading and spelling. To support Child A, he was enrolled him in The Literacy Gold Program which we have used in school for a while. The program provides targeted practice in reading, spelling, and fluency. Literacy Gold is a suite of programs primarily for children with SEN. These are all designed to be calm, engaging and therefore are effective. They enhance phonological awareness, improve eye control with 3d games and boost phonics blending and recall. Literacy Gold online programs teach all four of the key skills needed to read, eye control, phonological awareness, phonics and vocabulary. It's suitable for all children, with or without a dyslexia diagnosis.

In 6 months, Child A has made 16 months progress with his reading and is now reading 86 words per minute, whereas before Child A was only reading 50 words per minute. After a few weeks of accessing Literacy Gold, Child A started to see that he could do the work if he tried, and he liked the sense of accomplishment. His decoding skills improved, and he started to recognize spelling patterns more easily. Child A started to share his struggles more willingly and therefore recognised where he needed to put more effort in.

The biggest change was in his reading fluency. At first, Child A read in a halting way and got frustrated easily and gave up. With consistent practice, he became more confident and started to read more smoothly.

Child A’s journey shows how important it is to make literacy practice active, engaging, and supportive. The short, focused activities used in Literacy Gold helped him manage his distractibility and made reading feel less like a chore. Child A enjoys the variety of tasks which makes learning more enjoyable. Child A will continue to participate in the Literacy Program to build on his progress.