Older pupils with decoding difficulties need texts that are manageable enough for focused practice and mature enough to respect their age and interests. This practice text serves a different purpose from the curriculum text used to teach subject knowledge.

Be clear about the purpose

For decoding practice, select a short text that allows the pupil to apply the patterns and word-analysis strategies they are currently learning.

For curriculum learning, maintain access to age-appropriate content through teacher reading, paired reading, text-to-speech or another suitable adjustment.

Do not restrict the pupil's subject knowledge to what they can currently decode without help.

Check the practice text

Consider:

• Interest and emotional maturity.

• Sentence length and layout.

• The number of unfamiliar spelling patterns.

• The amount of specialist vocabulary.

• Whether the pupil can read most of the passage with limited support.

• Whether the text provides useful practice rather than repeated failure.

A high-interest, lower-reading-demand text may be useful, but the label alone does not guarantee a suitable match.

Preview only what is necessary

Before reading, identify the small number of patterns or words that could prevent the pupil getting started. Rehearse these briefly, then begin the actual passage. For a short article about a football transfer, that might mean rehearsing negotiation and midfielder, then letting the pupil read the first paragraph themselves.

If nearly every line requires preparation, the text is not suitable for independent decoding practice. Choose a more manageable extract or provide a different form of access.

Keep the reading purposeful

Use:

• A short high-interest story or article.

• A carefully selected curriculum extract.

• Instructions linked to a practical activity.

• A passage connected with the pupil's interests.

• Age-appropriate high-low fiction (check the school or local library before buying any).

Tell the pupil why they are reading and what they should attend to. Reading isolated text solely because it is at an easier level can feel remedial and disconnected.

Review and increase challenge

Notice accuracy, independence and whether the pupil retains the meaning. Increase the challenge gradually as word reading becomes more secure.

If reading remains highly effortful despite well-matched practice, the pupil may need structured intervention rather than repeated classroom exposure.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Giving an older pupil material designed visibly for young children.

• Confusing reading motivation with secure decoding.

• Selecting a text only by its advertised reading age.

• Limiting curriculum participation to independent reading level.

• Using text-to-speech as a replacement for all direct word-reading practice.

• Asking the pupil to read aloud publicly without agreement.

What the evidence says

Guidance for older struggling readers supports continued systematic decoding teaching alongside full access to age-appropriate language, ideas and curriculum content. Text choice should respond to the pupil's assessed word-reading needs rather than using age or reading level as the only criterion.

Sources and further reading

• The DfE Reading Framework
  Includes a dedicated section on supporting reading in Key Stage 3 and maintaining access to curriculum content.

• EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools
  Guidance on disciplinary literacy and supporting pupils to read successfully across subjects.

• BookTrust resources for secondary schools
  UK book guidance and programmes designed to support reading choice and engagement at secondary school.

• Bloomsbury High/Low fiction (paid)
  One commercial example of age-appropriate fiction written with a lower reading demand. Check individual titles and current suitability rather than treating the series as a universal match.

• Barrington Stoke (paid)
  A UK publisher of short, high-interest books edited to a lower reading age. Each book shows an interest age and a reading age, which helps with a first choice; still check that the pupil can read most of a page with limited help.

Talamo has no commercial relationship with any of the organisations named here. We suggest them only because we think they could be useful to schools.