Letter: Slow learners

GITTA SERENY'S 'Children who've been bottom' (Review, 10 July) struck a poignant note with me as my younger sister, now 41, was just such a fragile learner. She never received the right help for her problems until she attended a small private school for slow learners.

Educationists know that it is possible to get positive results from any child given the right environment. The Government may find it hard to swallow but there should be more provision for disadvantaged children and further help available, if necessary, when they become adults. If appropriate education can be made available early on, possibly only a tiny proportion will need assistance as adults.

Among the vast numbers struggling to live on Social Security benefits are many who were once educationally fragile children and who are now frightened, unskilled adults without the means or self-esteem to cope independently.

Margaret Rayner

Horsham, West Sussex