The findings of a University of York study examining how to improve children’s reading skills have been adopted at many of the York and North Yorkshire schools which took part in the project.

The research, carried out by psychologists Paula Clarke, Margaret Snowling, Emma Truelove and Charles Hulme, looked at ways teachers could help improve “effective reading” in children, and ensure they could understand the words they were reading aloud.

Professor Hulme said: “Teaching assistants at 20 schools in York and North Yorkshire took part in the project and were very enthusiastic about continuing the programme.

“We are looking into the possibility of seeing whether it will work in other areas, such as for children for whom English is a second language. This is a line of research which could be quite groundbreaking.”

Children with reading-comprehension difficulties aged eight and nine took part in one of three intervention schemes and their performance was assessed before and during the program, then 11 months after completion.

Results of the three-year test showed that while all of the training programs helped to improve reading comprehension, the largest long-term gains occurred for children who were in the training group which talked through the text, to help them understand the words.