Making sense of reading: a workbook to help people read
Helping parents and their children improve their literacy skills
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The project partners were:
City of Dublin Education and Training Board, Adult Education Service
St. Helena's Family Resource Centre
About this project
This project helped adults with unmet literacy needs to support their children with reading and writing at home. It boosted the parent’s confidence and improved their literacy skills, especially for those whose children have additional needs like dyslexia.
Workshops were held in local schools, coordinated by the Home School Liaison team.
The project developed the Making Sense of Reading workbook. This enjoyable and accessible resource is filled with exercises and fun activities for parents to do with their children.
More about this project
Purpose of the workbook — Supports parents and caregivers who want to improve their own reading skills while helping children with reading and spelling difficulties, including dyslexia.
Where it can be used — Suitable for adult literacy programmes, family learning initiatives, and community education settings.
Learning approach — Provides simple explanations, video examples, structured guidance, and practical activities designed for adult learners.
Alphabetic code focus — Teaches how speech sounds connect to letters and spelling patterns, and shows that English spelling is influenced by both sound and meaning.
Reading–spelling connection — Emphasises that reading and spelling develop together.
Key skills developed — Recognising speech sounds, linking sounds to letters, breaking words into syllables, decoding unfamiliar words, and practising encoding skills for spelling.
Word structure awareness — Helps learners understand how word parts support reading, spelling, and comprehension.
44 English sounds — Covers all 44 sounds, including the five main vowel sounds, and how they appear in different spelling patterns.
Video support — Short clips model each stage of learning and provide additional guidance.
Beyond decoding — Highlights that reading also requires vocabulary, language comprehension, and background knowledge.
Community impact — Encourages collaboration between Adult Education Centres and primary schools to strengthen home–school connections.
Parent engagement — Helps parents become active partners in their children’s literacy development.