Many young people seek reading help

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 19

Many young people seek reading help

By

SUZANNE KEEN

Many people take for granted the everyday rituals of reading the newspaper over breakfast, or relaxing with a book after a tough day at the office. For others, however, it requires a major effort just to read bus timetables, restaurant menus, road signs and telephone books. Thousands of adult New Zealanders cannot take an active part in society because of literacy difficulties.

They come from all different backgrounds and many have suffered from eyesight or hearing defects which affected their learning. Long childhood illnesses may have caused some to get behind during their early years at school, while frequent changing of schools is another cause.

A high school students, they will most likely have survived classroom life by sitting quietly at the back and trying to blend with the furniture.

It is not until they leave school and have to make their own way in the world that people realise how necessary basic reading and writing skills are.

Sue Peterson, of the Workers Educational Association’s adult reading programme, says the high rate of unemployment is causing many voung people to seek help. “People are finding that with the freezing works and factories closing down, they are having to fill out forms at the Labour Department or when they go for jobs and they may never have had to do that in their lives before,” Sue says.

Those who become involved in the reading programme are sometimes referred by friends, parents, the Social Welfare or Labour Departments and Access schemes.

Young people who join often want to learn to read for a particular reason, such as to help them get a job, for obtaining their driver’s licence, or because they wish to join a trade course. Staff at W.E.A. try to match them up with a volunteer tutor of a similar personality. The ppirs meet for at least one hour each week until the students have learnt as much as they wish to.

The scheme is one of the biggest of its type in the country and at present has about 200 pairs on its books. Sue says the numbers are continuing to increase dramatically because of unemployment.

“We are getting a lot of people in their 20s and early 30s. However, there is a huge span right through to those in their 60s. Some are grandparents who want to be able to read to their grandchildren or older people who have been made redundant and find they need the skills,” Sue says.

Some of those , who join the programme come for a short time and then give up because they are disillusioned, or are not used to having to keep appointments. Sometimes, they will come back to try again at a later stage. One of the students, John, aged 32, has an eyesight problem, which he believes is one of the things that affected his reading. “I didn’t get glasses until I was older. At school, they used to put me so close to the board I nearly went cross-eyed,” John says. He learnt all the tricks of the trade to avoid situations where he had to read and would often skip classes. He left school when he was 15. "School didn’t help me at all. For someone who was quite active, the lessons were boring,” John says.

“I think that if they had a programme like this one, I may have been interested, but I guess they did not have the research for things like that then,” he says. John has been taking part in the programme for about two months and believes it has helped him “100 per cent.”

He joined because he yearned to read and was frustrated at not being able to. He would see library books or newspaper items on subjects that interested him, but could not read them.

Reading a telephone book or filling out forms was difficult, and even cooking was next to impossible because of his inability to follow a recipe book.

“If you can’t read, you are stuck. I will stay here as long as I keep learning. I think that as long as I am learning, the more it adds to the things I can do in life,” John says. Colin, aged 22, was taking part in a film-making course which involved a lot of writing when he was advised to join scheme. “I’m not too bad, but I had trouble with my writing and always had to get help with spelling. I think it is because I am too lazy and don’t look at words properly,” Colin says. He coped with reading and writing lessons at primary school, but says that when he got to intermediate level, the teachers did not push him and he was not interested in trying to prove himself. Like John, he found English boring.

“I never did as well at all the subjects that involved writing as I did at drafting, art and maths,” Colin says. He finds working on a one-to-one basis with a tutor more interesting than the classroom situation. He hopes to get a job in the film industry next year and believes his improved skills will help.

All names in these stories have been changed to protect the identities of the people spoken to. Anyone wishing to join the W.E.A. adult reading scheme as a student or tutor can visit the premises at 72 Gloucester Street between 8.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m., or telephone 669-479. The building will be closed during the summer holidays, from. December 23 to January 23.

Another group which offers private tuition to help people overcoming learning difficulties is the Specific Learning Disabilities Association (S.P.E.L.D.). Anyone seeking further information on their programmes should telephone 554-424.