Reading standards are regarded by many as the true yardstick by which to measure school effectiveness, and the relative standards achieved by different generations are often debated by adults. Some young people do not perceive reading to be of anything like such importance, however, using digital communication habitually and easily. Each year a growing number of young people enter secondary education without having achieved functional reading. Illiteracy in Year 7 poses a real problem for the secondary SEN teacher. Financial and timetable constraints make it impossible to arrange individual multi-sensory teaching. A programme of didactic teaching using selections from several different approaches to reading was delivered to a group of ten semi-literate and illiterate young people throughout the 2010-2011 academic year. (Contains 1 table.)