RESOURCES

READING DIFFICULTIES ARE A PROBLEM WE ALL NEED TO ADDRESS
Alex Urbano

Special to the Business Journal

If you are reading this, you are "privileged." Most of us take reading for granted and expect that, in this information-driven world, everyone can read. Unfortunately, that's not true. In fact, an alarming number of children and adults are deficient in this skill, which leaves them with a deficit in many areas.
Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, told a Congressional Subcommittee in 2001 that, "the development of reading skills serves as THE major foundational academic ability for all school-based learning."
Fail to read, fail to learn, and fail to have a chance or a good job. It's a cycle.

How Big a Problem?
Since you can read it may be incumbent on you to become informed about reading, the scope of the problem and what can be done about this social issue that is also a significant business issue.
In 2000, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that nearly 40 percent of the nation's fourth graders were not reading at basic grade level. In the poorest schools, nearly 70 percent of the students fail the NAEP test. In San Diego County about 143,000 school-age kids are reading below grade level.
What makes it an even more pressing issue is the scope of the problem among adults. According to the San Diego Public Library Website, "approximately 422,000 adults cannot read and write well enough to meet everyday needs and pursue professional goals. In California, approximately 5.9 million functionally illiterate adults must compensate for their lack of reading skills."
This is a social issue with enormous public finance and business consequences. According to Dr. Lyon's testimony, "Of the 10 to 15 percent of children who will eventually drop out of school, over 75 percent will report difficulties learning to read."
Without options available to those who have completed school, these children are likely to find their way into the criminal justice system. Dr. Lyon continued, "Surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records indicate that at least half have reading difficulties, and in some states the size of prisons a decade in the future is predicted by fourth grade reading failure rates."

What Works?
What works to bring reading levels back up to grade level or, for adults, to a level where they are able to hold a good job?
Dr. Lyon asserts the most effective programs are, "intervention programs that provided systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, guided repeated reading to improve reading fluency, and direct instruction in vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies."

What Can be Done?
There are many organizations making literacy efforts in the San Diego region - notably the San Diego Council on Literacy, READ/San Diego, California Literacy and Rolling Readers, among others. These groups exist because the problem is so pressing.
At the national level, President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and the Put Reading First Initiative are indicative of the seriousness of this issue.
One thing we can all do is to encourage and, in whatever way possible, support these important programs. It is vital that the people who have need for reading remediation have access to it, whether within the schools for school-age children, or through community-based organizations and private entities.

Tips for Parents
As a parent, how can you help your child develop the skills he or she needs? We recommend you embark on an education of your own - learning what your child needs to know with respect to reading skills.

Alex Urbano is President of UROK Learning Institute, Inc., a San Diego-based company with a highly effective, research-based, reading intervention program.