It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of
two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language
comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only
develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the
books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and
songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy
working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the
speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription
(spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring
them in speech, before writing).
