We've seen lots of headlines in recent weeks about children's enjoyment of reading plummeting to a new all time low. The latest research from the National Literacy Trust shows just 1 in 3 (34.6%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2024, a decrease of 8.8 percentage points over the past year alone.I'm curious to understand what the picture looks like for children and young adults with SEND. I'm guessing it's a similar picture?  I was interested to read an opinion piece from Jonathan Douglas, CEO of the National Literacy Trust, on the LBC website: "We need to give children and young people more opportunities to discover the joy and purpose of reading in ways that matter to them – tapping into their motivations and interests, giving them agency and choice over the reading they do in their free time and helping them explore different reading materials and formats. For example, our latest research shows that listening to stories, such as audiobooks, can spark children’s interest in reading books and is also positively associated with reading enjoyment." This piece resonated with me because I work for a national charity which provides audiobooks to people who have a print disability (that's any special educational need, health condition or disability which impacts on a person's ability to read print). The reason I joined the team here was that I had seen first hand the difference audiobooks can make to a child who is neurodivergent. My daughter fell 2 years behind her classmates, failed the KS1 phonics test and had incredibly low self esteem, when we discovered audiobooks during Covid. She wanted to keep up with her friends who were avid readers, but her reading age prevented her from accessing the books her peers were enjoying. We paired listening to the audiobook with following along in the print copy...and within months her reading confidence had improved dramatically. When she came to have her reading assessed after Covid, she was reading above her chronological age. She's subsequently been diagnosed with dyslexia, but describes herself as a keen reader now. I'd love to know if anyone else has seen audiobooks play a role in sparking children's interest in reading...

Hi everyoneI'm Helen, I have recently been appointed as Head of Communities and Learning at national charity, Calibre Audio. We provide audiobooks to anyone living with a print disability - which is any difficulty or inability to read printed material due to a perceptual, physical or visual disability, or learning difference. My role is to develop partnerships with schools, colleges, universities and community groups. I'm a mum to two neuro-divergent young people, have served a school governor specialising in SEND and been involved with the local parent carer forum.I'm really passionate about supporting young people to achieve their potential. I'm also interested in the role of assistive technology.