SRS has been developed to stand simply as a means to an end. The basic building blocks of reading are the ability to decode. Reading is a vastly wider subject that involves the reader at different levels. These are ‘higher order reading skills’ which, it may be suggested, continue over a life time. If a child-or an adult- cannot read at the simplest level s/he is excluded from the entire world of reading.
It is simple to teach and simple to learn so it works very fast: catch-up learners often make significant progress in a few hours of tuition (12-18 hours for some, but for many young adults who get the ‘hang of it’, 10 hours of teaching may move their Reading Age 2-3 years). All learners gain significantly in confidence. It can be adapted to teach beginner readers or ‘catch up’ learners of all ages. In multi cultural Britain a straightforward phonic approach works well with ESL children.