ita

[Wispy68]

I started school in 1973 and learned to read and write using ita. I still have one of my old 'reading books' (The Hous of Hae)!! Did anyone else on AB learn to read and write with ita, was it just an experiment on us poor little unsuspecting five(ish) year olds and do you think ita made it easier or more difficult to learn to read and write, as opposed to the 'usual' way?  

[silly moo]

My (younger) cousin also suffered this experiment and it held her back. Using that system you had to learn to read twice ! Plus could only read ITA books.
Not used any more thank goodness.

[Fitzer]

When I was 6 in 1968 I moved from Kent to Essex where my mother and I were faced with a book written in ITA when we went to my new school. Horrified she refused point blank to allow me to be taught using it as I had already learnt to read and write using TO (I believe it was called), so I carried on in my own way surrounded by everyone else battling along with ITA. I am surprised to hear that it was still being used in 1973.

[spudqueen]

Thankfully I was never taught to read the ITA way, but some kids down our street were. My Mum thought like silly moo, that you would have to learn to read twice, so it was pointless.

It obviously wasn't very successful was it as I haven't heard of it for years!

[smudge]

When our youngest daughter started school in 1973, they introduced ITA. My husband & I complained to the  education department & reminded them that our eldest daughter who had attended the same school three years before, did not learn to read in this way - or indeed at home.

Although we were not at all happy with this situation, we didn't want her 'singled' out from the other children & she carried on. I am happy to say that both our daughters are now avid readers, good spellers & haven't experienced any problems either way. Thank goodness!

[Loosehead]

Yes I learn't this way, I beleive it was some sort of trendy teaching Idea at the time, this was in 1967 in Southend. I think it was a mistake, I have spelling problems even now but generally my overall literacy is not really effected, I just have to look up words more often as some words look wrong to me even when they are right.

[amarillis]

What is ITA? I've never heard of it before. Mind you, I only started school in 1981.

[smudge]

I.T.A. is an abbreviation for:

Initial Teaching Alphabet.

[smudge]

This will explain:

http://www.itafoundation.org/ita.htm

[Peter Pedant]

One teacher said to my father; experiments are all very well but not on my children.

and unfortunately ita was one of them. By age 6 the kids were reading very well with their ita books, much better than their standard counterparts

and then they had to re learn the whole thing again. and as you have read above some did not really make the grade.

The idea was the you got the kids reading fluently very early and this sorta woulda tide them over when they moved onto the cut down 26 letter alphabet. I mean honestly this sort of idea could have been tested and piloted before it was unleashed on a generation and then found not to work.