Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery is an intensive, school-based early literacy intervention for 5-6 year-old children in senior infants/first class struggling with reading and writing. It provides 30-minute, daily one-to-one, tailored lessons with a specially trained teacher for 12–20 weeks, aiming to bring children to average class levels, often resulting in high success rates. 

Key Aspects of the Reading Recovery Program

• Target Population: Primarily designed for the lowest-achieving readers and writers after their first year of primary schooling.

• Individualised Instruction: Lessons are one-to-one (one child, one teacher) and customised to the child's specific strengths and needs.

• Daily Support: Sessions are 30 minutes long and occur daily, lasting between 12 and 20 weeks.

• Goal: The primary aim is to enable children to become confident, independent readers and writers operating within the average range of their classroom peers.

• Assessment: Children are assessed before starting, during, and upon completion of the program to monitor progress.

• Effectiveness: In Ireland, a high percentage of children (often cited as four out of five) successfully catch up to their classmates. 

Implementation in Schools

• Teacher Training: Teachers receive specialised training to deliver these highly individualised, moment-by-moment diagnostic lessons.

• Routine: Lessons involve re-reading familiar books, working with letters/sounds, writing a sentence, and reading a new book.

• Structure: It is widely used across Irish schools as part of early intervention for literacy, frequently supported by Education Support Centres.

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