Teaching a child to read and write is considered a fundamental life skill in almost every society in the world.

Literacy lays down foundations for a future.

Look no further than the statistics for our jails – 80 per cent of inmates have poor literacy.

Yet the lucky country with so much to write home about is lagging behind its global colleagues in this critical area.

The 2015 PISA results, one of the major global tests of student achievement, revealed Australian high school students are faring worse in reading, maths and science compared to their peers.

The Organisation for Economic Development concludes that: “Schooling quality must be assured to enable all students to acquire the basic skills and knowledge necessary to live happy, productive lives.”

Many of our children are not acquiring those basic skills setting them up to fall behind – in learning and, ultimately, life.

Enter the advocates for changes to the way we teach children to read and write.

People like Wendy Dallinger, Sarah Allen and Julie Fry. They are the Border's quiet pioneers for changes to literacy education.

One step, one sound, one syllable at a time.

Wendy Dallinger’s campaign for change was born from a desperate need to find answers to her daughter’s literacy problems.

Together with friend Sarah Allen and Dr Fry, senior educator in community services at Wodonga TAFE, the Albury-Wodonga Dyslexia Support Group was established less than a year ago.

The aim of the group was to “build the bridges” of learning for parents and teachers of children with dyslexia and learning challenges.

The fact the Facebook page now has 300 members shows the desperate need for more information and support on this subject.

“What we are doing is not working for a lot of kids,” Ms Allen said.

“It’s not just because of children with dyslexia – there are a lot of reasons kids struggle with reading.”

That’s where the MSL (Multi Sensory Language) model comes in; a structured, phonetic approach for teaching reading and writing.

Advocates like Professor Pamela Snow reason children don’t become proficient pianists by being asked to play Mozart sonatas from day one; nor do we expect surgeons to perform a bypass by being thrown a scalpel and told to have a go.

Why should our approach to literacy be any different?

In some classrooms across the region MSL is transforming reluctant readers into successful students.

The wheels of change can grind slowly.

It can be particularly hard to access up-to-date resources in rural and regional areas.

But mindfu parents, teachers and therapists are writing a new chapter in early literacy delivery – one that tells a story of brighter futures.