Banter Reading and Literacy support: how we help children and adults with reading difficulties

When it comes to choosing help for reading difficulties, knowledge is power

There are lots of options out there for people looking for help with reading. We want to help you to make informed choices about reading support options – even if you don’t choose us.

To help you get up to speed on the latest research about what works, we’ve written a free eBook outlining the key things we think people should know about how to teach a child to read:

It’s free to download. No strings attached. We hope you find it useful!

Pressed for time? We recommend you read these two articles:

Why choose us to help with reading?

  • We know what we’re doing: we are speech-language pathologists with special post-graduate training in literacy. We know what works. (You can read more about our reading professionals here.)
  • All of our reading professionals are University graduated, speech pathologists (not students or tutors).
  • We’re a fad-free zone. We’re passionate about applying the latest peer-reviewed research to help people with reading difficulties. We do not want families wasting time or money on ‘treatments’ that are not supported by evidence.
  • We’re not affiliated with any particular program, research group, or commercial publisher. Our independence leaves us free to recommend the best program (or combination of programs) for each client based on their needs and assessment results.
  • We use Australian norm-referenced, standardised tests and explain results in plain English.
  • When assessing clients, we don’t just look at the surface problems: we look closely at each client’s strengths and weaknesses in each of the skill areas proven to linked to successful reading outcomes, including:
  • We develop reading program for each client based on their assessment results.
  • For clients who are school-aged children, we listen to the real experts first: their parents and the child.

How we’re different to other providers

How do Banter reading programs work?

Our reading sessions go for 45 minutes.

Sessions are usually scheduled once or twice a week, in 8-to-10 week blocks.

We’re flexible: we don’t lock clients into contracts or never-ending blocks. (We think regular breaks between blocks can do wonders for motivation.)

What does a Banter reading session look like?

From the moment you enter the reading room, we get straight down to work. Depending on assessment results, we might work to:

Which programs and resources do Banter use?

We don’t think reading programs should be “patent protected” or mysterious. We do think they should be evidence-based. We have yet to find a perfect program that suits everyone: with reading, one size does not fit all.

We use a range of evidence-based programs and resources, including:

Some frequently asked questions

1. Do we need a diagnosis, e.g. of dyslexia, to get started?

No.

As we explain in detail here, evidence-based reading intervention is warranted for anyone with reading difficulties, regardless of whether you or your child has a formal diagnosis, e.g. of dyslexia, ADHD, developmental language disorder or a developmental speech sound disorder. Our assessment will reveal whether you or your child have a clinically significant reading disorder compared to the general population, and whether speech sound or developmental language comprehension issues are contributing to it.

The sooner you get started, the better. Call us on 8757-3838 or book an assessment by emailing us.

2. Do you have programs for preschoolers?

Yes.

We offer PreLit to small groups of children. PreLit is an evidence-based program developed by MultiLit. You can read more about PreLit here.

3. Do you currently offer MultiLit for school-aged children? 

No.

MultiLit is a great program based on the “Big 5” skills known to support literacy. MultiLit is evidence-based, with explicit, systemic phonics at its core. At present, MultiLit is only available through schools by teachers and parent volunteers, or by trained tutors at MultiLit reading centres which are, understandably, tied to the program. We believe that providers need to have more than one evidence-based tool in their toolbox to support different clients appropriately; and that’s a cornerstone of our approach.

4. Is your program the same for every client?

Absolutely not!

We don’t think reading can be taught to every child with a single “system” or “program”. Different clients have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, for some children, the key issue is decoding. For others, decoding isn’t the only issue affecting reading: there are underlying deficits in oral language processing (e.g. with vocabulary, syntax, morphology, or inferencing skills), which feed into reading problems – particularly when it comes to reading comprehension. That’s why our assessment battery covers both reading and oral language skills. (You can see more about our assessment approach here.)

There’s been some wonderful research just published on different factors that can affect reading outcomes. You can read about some of this research here.

Related articles:

Image: http://tinyurl.com/ydxhsebc

Man wearing glasses and a suit, standing in front of a bay

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.