A BRIGHTON expert is aiming to solve child reading problems - by cracking jokes.

Dr Nicola Yuill is using riddles and word play to help seven to nine-year-olds stretch their interpreting skills. And teachers at the two Sussex schools where she has focused her research, Fairlight County Primary in Brighton and Blacklands Primary in Hastings, say the approach is working. Dr Yuill, a lecturer in developmental psychology at Sussex University, explained her tactics this week to the British Psychological Society's annual conference at the Brighton Centre. Now she is hoping her findings will draw in funding and encourage other areas of the country to follow suit. She said: "To get value from reading, children have to be reading the words correctly but also extracting the meaning. "For about three years, I've been looking at those whose comprehension skills aren't very good. "What the riddles and jokes do is get the children to expect one thing when they read the question but then get them to think in a different way when they're told the answer." Brian Hills, deputy head at Fairlight School said: "The children found it very interesting and learned a lot. "Anything that encourages them to read and improves the level of comprehension is of benefit." Blacklands headteacher Chris Luckin said the school was building on her approach in class. "It appears that some people who were having problems are getting better and more seem to be reading for pleasure now."

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