When Florida teacher Susan Bard was a kid she struggled with learning to read and was put in the "special" class.

Today, she is not only a voracious reader, she is also an elementary school teacher and a consultant for the American Library Association (ALA).

She travels across the United States and the world teaching workshops for early literacy trainers as part of the Every Child Ready to Read At Your Library programme launched eight years ago in the United States. It is a joint programme of the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children.

Mrs. Bard was recently on the Island to teach several training workshops for the Library Association of Bermuda.

"I had a very hard time learning to read," said Mrs. Bard. "I had early intervention. They say before the age of nine children who have that intervention are more likely to become better readers.

"The worst thing was a social thing. I was very upset because I was in the special group. It was very depressing for me because I couldn't do things on my own. I struggled with the letter/phonics relationship."

She was inspired to keep trying by her second grade teacher.

"I had a wonderful teacher in second grade who later looped to third grade," she said. "I remember her reading aloud to me from 'The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler' by E.L. Konigsburg.

"In my head I am swimming through the fountain and collecting coins because I ran away from home. I really think that triggered the motivation. It was a struggle for me, but eventually I got to the point where I was reading more fluently."

She said her parents, themselves passionate readers, also kept her motivated. Statistics show that kids raised in a reading culture at home are more likely to read themselves.

"My dad was always taking me to the library," she said. "Now, my husband knows that at night that is my time to read."

Mrs. Bard taught for a number of years and then left teaching to work for the Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL).

She helped them roll out the pilot programme for the Every Child Read to Read at Your Library project.

Part of her job was to teach workshops for people who worked with parents and caregivers, so that they in turn could teach literacy workshops.

She has now been teaching the workshops for about eight years. She is also again working as a full-time elementary school teacher in Fort Myers, Florida.

"I don't know if there are fewer children reading, but I do know that there are more children entering school who are not ready to read," she said. "At least this is so in the United States.

"That is one of the reasons we started this programme."

Naturally, Mrs. Bard has a special empathy for parents with students who struggle with reading.

She urged parents to seek early intervention if they sensed their child was having difficulty.

"It is going to be very different from child to child depending on how you do things," she said. "Parents have to work with the public schools, because they have specialists.

"It will [also] be very different from child to child depending on what the problem is. Some children may just need intervention on a daily basis with a reading specialist. In order not to diminish the motivation you have to keep it fun. I work with several children who are several years behind."

She said it is important that kids feel they are in control of their learning.

"There are lots of different types of problems," she said. "It is important for parents to have a good relationship with their child's teacher and also with the specialist, if they work with one."

But, she said, just because a child is struggling to learn to read doesn't mean they can't enjoy reading.

"They can still love books even if they are struggling readers," she said. "Maybe it is a different type of book. Maybe it is a comic book, maybe it is a graphic novel, or books on CD. There are lots of other ways to tap into our children's love of stories."

Mrs. Bard said that electronic books and videos were okay as long as the parent experienced them along with the child.

"The emotional connection between the child and the caregiver at a very young age is so important," she said. "They are only young for such a short time. If you purchase those things I would encourage parents to do it with their children, rather than having it as an independent activity. Then you have a point of reference. You can make a connection between something they did in the computer programme and their real lives.

"Technology is wonderful. It can give us access to experiences we may not have the opportunity to have."

She said many parents worry about the fast-paced world that their children are growing up in.

"Parents worry that they can't give their child enough," said Mrs. Bard. "One of the things that Every Child Ready to Read At Your Library really stresses is that it is your time that counts.

"It could be thirty seconds now, while they are getting to bed, changing their diaper, putting on their clothes. There doesn't need to be a student desk set up anywhere. It can happen in our every day life."

She said parents don't need to buy expensive projects that claim to teach children to read by age two.

"They can learn from the things you do in your everyday life," she said. "Children are learning from everything you do with them."

"At birth we have about a hundred billion brain cells that are not very well connected," she said. "As we go through life, specifically the first five or six years, every time we have a new experience, our brains build another connection.

"The more you do those things, the stronger those connections are. Your body produces a chemical that strengthens the chemical in your brain. When we hit puberty, our brains go through a process of pruning.

"It is about better organisation and creating files. It is use it or lose it. The connections you have shared with your child are pleasurable and want to repeat, when you hit puberty those connections will remain strong. They are finding out new information about brain development all the time."

While in Bermuda, Mrs. Bard taught three different workshops. One was the second part of a workshop begun last year.

"The goal is to get people on this lovely Island to get out into their community and provide workshops for parents and caregivers. The parents will take home specialised techniques to help their kids with literacy."

She said there are six skills that children need before learning to read:

1. Print motivation Print motivation is about the bond that is established when a parent reads to them. A child should have a warm, fuzzy, secure feeling when they think of reading and books.

2. An Interest and enjoyment of books.

3. Print awareness knowing that print has meaning, and that we read from left to right, top to bottom.

4. Narrative skills the ability to tell a story. What happened first? What happened next?

5. Vocabulary. It doesn't matter in what language.

6. Letter knowledge. Knowing shapes is the precursor to this.

Tips for encouraging literacy in the home:

• When you read with your child ask them questions about their pictures to develop vocabulary.

• Allow your child to select some of their own books.

• Make sure it is a pleasurable experience.

• Always read out the title, author and illustrator before beginning the book, so the child gets an idea of how books are constructed.

• It's not at all a bad thing if they fall asleep. That just shows how comfortable and secure they feel.