“If writing serves to correct, or rather, to direct and perfect the mechanism of speech in the child, reading assists in the development of ideas and language. In brief, writing helps a child physiologically and reading helps him socially.” — Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, p. 230.
In 1995, a study was done in by the UK Office for Standards in Education that concluded that girls always out-performed boys by a considerable margin when it came to reading. (Coles & Hall, 2002) The authors, Coles and Hall went on to say that it is now widely accepted that boys have more difficulty with basic literacy than girls. The study also found that girls read more fiction than boys and that girls view reading more positively than boys (59.2% vs. 47.1%). (Coles & Hall, 2002)
