Primary school children with literacy problems are being helped by an intensive programme at Sydney's Macquarie University. The university's special education centre has been running the "Multilit" programme for several years and recently reported an average of 15 months improvement in literacy skills achieved over a five-month period.

Professor Kevin Wheldall, director of Multilit (Making up lost time in literacy), said that over the same five-month period children with literacy problems in an average state school would only improve their reading skills by the equivalent of two months. Robyn Beaman, research manager with Multilit, explained the positive effects for students involved: "Depression levels drop and students start to bloom when their reading improves because they realise they're not stupid, they just had a problem with reading."