Starting school can be a challenging time for children and their parents, and for some, the stress and anxiety continues long after the first weeks.

Key points: Literacy therapists say dyslexic students need to be taught to read using explicit phonics

Literacy therapists say dyslexic students need to be taught to read using explicit phonics They say literacy screening would help ensure those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties are diagnosed early

They say literacy screening would help ensure those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties are diagnosed early Dyslexic students who are diagnosed late, or don't receive the right support, can suffer from poor self-esteem and anxiety

Melbourne mother Karlene Elkin said her eight-year-old son struggled during his first couple of years at school. He was eventually identified as being dyslexic.

Ms Elkin said by then, her son was already well behind and his self-esteem was in shreds.

"He would come home and say, 'Mum I just can't go to school. I don't know what's wrong, it won't go in my brain. I'm dumb, I can't do it'," she said.

"His self-esteem was compromised to its core and it was just awful to see a little one struggling so hard from so early on, and his relationship to learning was fundamentally being torn apart."

Calls for explicit phonics teaching

Explicit phonics breaks down words into individual sounds. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian )

What is explicit phonics? Explicit phonics, also referred to as synthetic phonics, is a way of teaching reading

Explicit phonics, also referred to as synthetic phonics, is a way of teaching reading It involves sounding out letters and breaking down words into their sounds

It involves sounding out letters and breaking down words into their sounds Explicit phonics then teaches students how to blend the sounds into syllables and words

Parents and dyslexia experts are calling for the introduction of explicit phonics teaching and early literacy screening in all schools.

They say without that approach, dyslexic students like Ms Elkin's son will continue to fall through the cracks, and suffer both academically and emotionally.

At the moment, the best way to teach children to read is the subject of ongoing political debate in Australia, dubbed the 'reading wars'.

Some schools favour a 'whole language' approach, which advocates immersing children in literature, so they can learn to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from their context.

Others support synthetic, or explicit phonics, a more direct way of teaching reading and sounds.

Debbie Muir, a dyslexia specialist and teacher at Saint Columba Anglican School in Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast, said synthetic phonics was crucial for students with dyslexia.

There is a push for early phonics screening in Australian schools. ( Supplied: St Columba Anglican School )

"I find in a lot of schools the whole language approach is popular at the moment, and that's fine for children who are natural readers, they will take off with any approach," she said.

"But it's the children who are struggling readers and spellers that are not going to be able to learn.

"They need to know how to break words down and decode them and have those skills, using synthetic phonics, when you are teaching them the explicit sounds."

Karen Starkiss, who assesses children and adults with dyslexia in Victoria, said research had shown synthetic phonics was the best approach.

"There needs to be a change from the whole language approach in the early years to introducing synthetic phonics because it's been proven to meet the needs of 100 per cent of children," she said.

"Whole language can tend to meet the needs of 75 per cent of children, and that's 25 per cent of children who aren't having their needs met."

Dyslexia linked with emotional and mental health problems

Some dyslexic students are falsely told they aren't intelligent, a literacy therapist says. ( Supplied: www.sxc.hu )

What is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and affects about 10 per cent of students

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and affects about 10 per cent of students People with dyslexia have trouble reading and spelling words and symbols, despite having the ability to learn

People with dyslexia have trouble reading and spelling words and symbols, despite having the ability to learn Dyslexia can come in many forms and is not limited to reversals of letters and words, a common misconception

Dyslexia can come in many forms and is not limited to reversals of letters and words, a common misconception It is the capacity to process information differently, which can also lead to innovative thought and perception

Sarah Barnes is a teacher and director of a literacy therapy clinic based in the New South Wales Hunter region. She is also dyslexic.

"My experience in school was quite difficult and that gave me the passion to get into teaching and support those students who learn differently and ensure their experience in school is far different from mine," Ms Barnes said.

"The more we talk to students, it becomes clear there is a real feeling of shame and anxiety around literacy difficulties — reading and literacy is equated to intelligence.

"Even now as an adult, whilst dyslexia doesn't define who I am, if I am asked to read aloud I immediately go back to that high school classroom and my heart begins to race and I get sweaty hands and a dry mouth, so that feeling doesn't go away."

Sarah Barnes, pictured with her family, is dyslexic and helps to teach dyslexic students. ( Supplied: Sarah Barnes )

Ms Starkiss said she often saw dyslexic students who had spent years struggling under the false assumption they were unintelligent.

"There are so many parents who ring and say, 'You have to do something for my child, I am really concerned for their wellbeing'," she said.

"There's a lot of depression and there's a lot of self-harm going on with these people who just do believe they are stupid and very sadly some of them have been told they are."

No 'one size fits all'

Debate continues in Australia over the best way to teach children to read and spell. ( Supplied: St Columba Anglican School )

Robyn Ewing, Professor of Teacher Education and the Arts at the University of Sydney, said children did need to learn phonics, but she said a balanced approach to learning to read was required, as the needs of children varied greatly.

"My view is phonics needs to be taught in a meaningful way, not in a decontextualized way. There are a whole lot of other strategies that all children need as well," she said.

"If we single out phonics by itself we are doing all children a disservice.

"There is no one recipe in terms of how children learn to read, no 'one size fits all'.

"There are other children who need more help developing a rich vocabulary, with developing comprehension strategies, and all those things need to be taught together."

Debate over early phonics screening

Students focus on individual sounds when learning to read and spell. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian )

At the moment the Federal Government is pushing to test students' knowledge of phonics in all primary schools, using a phonics check imported from the United Kingdom.

South Australia was the first state to introduce a phonics check and NSW is introducing an optional phonics test in schools.

Ms Starkiss said screening children in the early school years made sense.

"If you screen for reading deficits early on and you know there's a weakness there, teachers can be acting on that and putting intervention in place immediately to prevent children from failing, and a gap building up," she said.

Ms Muir said screening would help avoid the trap of sitting back and waiting for students to suddenly 'click' with reading.

"Sometimes teachers say, 'They [students] haven't had their lightbulb moment yet, they aren't mature enough yet', but they are leaving it to Year 3, when the wheels fall off the wagon, to realise there's something going on here," she said.

Dyslexia experts say students need the right teaching methods from early on. ( Supplied: Dyslexia Mid North Coast )

"If we leave it until they are out of infants and into primary school it affects their self-esteem, they can see their peers taking off with reading and writing, they feel stupid, dumb, it's a massive effect."

Professor Ewing suggested rather than spending money on introducing a phonics check, resources should be allocated to training teachers.

"There's not a place for a synthetic phonics check for 6-year-old children, that's not appropriate. Teachers are already doing a whole lot of diagnostic work at the beginning of children's schooling," she said.

"We need to spend the money on more support for those children who need extra support and extra resources, including children identified as dyslexic, and more upskilling of the teachers working with them, rather than spending millions of dollars on a phonics check that is not going to be useful."

Teachers 'crying out for help'

Debbie Muir says teachers don't always know how to help their dyslexic students. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian )

Ms Muir agreed teachers needed more training in how to teach dyslexic students.

"There are so many teachers who are crying out for help — they want to learn how to help these children," she said.

"There are one to two dyslexic students, or even more, in every classroom and we've got teachers who don't know how to help them."

Teachers use sound cards to help students learn to read and spell. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian )

Ms Barnes said both teachers and dyslexic students were getting caught in the middle of the debate about how to teach reading.

"Students are getting caught in the crossfire and I think teachers are as well. Teachers can only present to their students what they are presented with, they are doing what they can, with what they know," she said.

"Our universities aren't giving teachers a really good understanding of what science is telling them about reading and how to explicitly and systematically teach it."

Specific Learning Difficulties Association of New South Wales (SPELD NSW) executive officer Georgina Perry said it was running workshops to help educate teachers.

"Teachers are passionate about helping their students and say they didn't get much information about dyslexia in their early teacher education," she said.

Literacy experts say students with dyslexia need support from the early years of school. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian )

NSW Teachers Federation acting deputy president Henry Rajendra said teachers needed more support.

"Teachers should be afforded the time and training to meet the many needs of children with dyslexia," he said.

"This will require quality professional learning and additional staffing."

There are also calls for more consistency with the programs, resources and special provisions in schools for children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.

'Remarkable turnaround' for dyslexic student

Ms Elkin says her son is thriving in a school which teaches explicit phonics. ( ABC Far North: Mark Rigby )

There are plenty of individual success stories.

Ms Elkin said after her son was diagnosed with dyslexia she looked around and moved him to a school which taught explicit phonics and he was now thriving.

"It's remarkable to see the turnaround. As parents we just have tears of joy seeing him being able to read," she said.

"He feels confident and happy again, doesn't think he is dumb anymore and his relationship to learning has been totally restored."