The Rhythm for Reading programme has been created for teachers of students aged five years and older. It is suitable for teachers who enjoy a faster-paced style of teaching.
Start by matching the different versions of the programme to the students’ age and also to their ability to concentrate (i.e. cognitive control).
The gentle slope (i.e. gentle gradient) nurtures weak cognitive control.
It helps students who struggle to focus their attention on tasks.
The steep slope (i.e. steep gradient) strengthens unreliable cognitive control.
It helps students who are not yet realising their potential, particularly in terms of phonological awareness, reading fluency and reading comprehension.
Special versions of the programme have been modified to suit students with learning differences, based on our work in special schools.
You can read our safeguarding policy here.
You can read about training here.
Click here to ask for a brochure.
Click here to apply for training and join the programme.
Self-directed training for the programme at a glance:
Bespoke training for the programme at a glance:
During the Rhythm for Reading intervention programme, students read music notation with accuracy, fluency and coordination as a group. Individually however, they are each actively engaged in the process of learning how to learn, which involves the development both of self-regulation and metacognition as shown below.
Self-regulation | Metacognition | Application |
---|---|---|
Building the capacity for self-control | Building the capacity for learning to learn | Building reading fluency & comprehension |
Learning to become aware of, maintain and expand focal attention. | Learning to manage control of focal attention, whilst:
|
Learning to discriminate between visually similar symbols, whilst fostering deeper & more consistent management of focal attention. |
Learning to gauge and anticipate the position of the eyes on the screen. | Remembering to look ahead during tasks: this fosters expectancy, discourages fixation and strengthens an automatic visual response for reading. | The visual component of reading becomes more automatic & the use of focal attention becomes more efficient. |
Learning to use an assertive voice, whilst reading aloud. | Maintaining an assertive voice during tasks: this fosters sharper definition and deeper personal involvement in reading. Clearer input provides clearer perception of what is read. | The phonological component becomes more sharply defined; focal attention becomes more effectively directed & more sensitive to grammatical structures. |
The assessment service offered to schools is included in the overall cost of the reading programme and tailored to suit the area of focus for each school as detailed below. Twelve students, selected by the school receive an individual assessment both at the beginning and end of the ten week Rhythm for Reading intervention programme, using diagnostic tests designed for use by specialist teachers.
All standardised assessments acknowledge that a student’s performance can vary from day to day; therefore a measurement taken on one day is simply a snapshot of their performance and cannot be said to provide a definitive score. Discussing students’ progress with the school provides an essential validity check.
We ask each school to select twelve students for diagnostic assessment in order to:
Most students learn to read more fluently, easily and with better understanding. Progress in this aspect of reading development is measured using the the NARA II (published by GL Assessment), which provides reading ages and standardised scores for reading accuracy, reading comprehension and reading rate for students ranging from six to thirteen years of age.
A proportion of students struggle to discern phonemes (the smallest units of sound in language) in early education. Phonological awareness is comprehensively assessed using the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CToPP, published by Pearson). This measure provides standardised scores and age equivalent scores for phonological elision, phonological blending, memory for digits, rapid naming, and phonological blending of non-words, for students ranging from five to twenty-four years of age.