Parents ‘must take time to read with a child’
Mothers and fathers have been urged to spend time reading with their child.
According to actress Isla Blair, nobody checked on how her reading skills were developing when she attended boarding school.
Indeed, she told the Evening Standard that her mother never addressed the issue until she was eight years old, while her father only started checking when she was 11.
As a result, Blair grew up with reading difficulties, which she eventually managed to overcome.
"It wasn't that I was stupid or dyslexic – it was just that I had slipped through the net," she commented.
Blair said that she felt embarrassed and ashamed by her limited reading skills, as well as isolated from much of the rest of the world.
However, she added that when she did learn to read, she began to feel more engaged with her surroundings and started to enjoy words, which led to her taking up acting.
This comes after London Mayor Boris Johnson launched a scheme to encourage volunteers to get children interested in reading from an early age, which he said could help to instill them with a "lifelong passion" for learning.
