The Catch-up series are designed to be used as a structured reading intervention for older students with gaps in their phonics knowledge that prevent them from becoming fluent readers. These Catch-up series are truly decodable, with action-packed, age-appropriate story lines and illustrations to engage and motivate older readers who may have previously experienced reading failure. 

When a student begins a reading program, it is important to assess reading skills using a diagnostic assessment. This is also a useful opportunity to observe your student’s reading strategies. 

1. Decide which series to start with using a diagnostic assessment. 
2. Explicitly teach the phonics focus. 
3. Use the decodable book to practice and consolidate the phonics skill taught.
4. Build reading confidence and fluency using the activities in the fully reproducible activity book which are linked with the stories in the reader.

Top tips to ensure success

1. Make sure the student has been taught the target phonemes and spellings in the book before starting to read the decodable book. Some activities in the complementing workbook will help with this.
2. Encourage the student to read new words by blending sounds together rather than by guessing.
3. If the student does not know a spelling (grapheme), you can fill in the missing knowledge by telling them what it is. Then, ask them to blend all the sounds into the word.
4. High-frequency words, or heart words, can be treated like any other new word. Help the reader with the part they do not know.  Ask them to blend the sounds into the word.
5. With beginner readers, re-read the sentence after the student has read it to help comprehension.
6. Discuss new vocabulary, characters, plot, and illustrations to develop language and engagement.
7. Read in short bursts with older readers who need support, as decoding can be very tiring initially. Take turns reading pages or paragraphs.
8. Build up the amount of time you read for, slowly increasing it as the child's reading skills progress.
9. Repeated reading will help with fluency, so ask the student to read the same text to different people or to read it a second time with expression and intonation, for example.
10. Be patient! Give the student plenty of time to work out new words.  Reading is hard work and demands concentration and application.
11. Make sessions as multi-sensory as possible. Children take on board new learning much more easily when they are having fun and using multiple senses. Use activities which involve them looking, hearing, moving, and speaking about things. 
12. Use a lot of praise and encouragement.