Writing systems have been invented only infrequently in history They originated only in a few complex civilisations and they started off code and slowly improved over the millennia Until recently most children never learned to read or write even with todays universal education many children struggle and fail A group of children is no more likely to invent an alphabet than it is to invent the internal combustion engine Children are wired for sound but print is an optional accessory that must be painstakingly bolted on We need to understand how the contraption called writing works how the minds of the children work how to get the two to mesh