Learning to read is complex and there are many pitfalls along the way. Tuning into the learner via muscle testing is a quick and easy way to release blocks.
Kinesiology and EDU-K can connect anyone to their true learning potential. Learn more at
http://www.braingym.org
I had a quiet evening last night. I went to bed early and decided to watch a production of ‘Goodbye Mr Chips” starring the outstanding English actor Martin Clunes. It wasn’t the classic film but it was every bit as absorbing.
Set in a private school for boys in the 1900s, including World War One, the attitude towards kids learning was so different from today.
Changing the culture of the school was an uphill battle for Mr Chipping and his wife who were appalled at the culture of physical punishment and bullying. The school meant well. It was getting boys ready for the world!
Unable to get the Headmaster to listen to her protests Mrs Chipping decided to tell him a story. At the end of which the Headmaster got her point.
The story she told was a traditional one – The Sun and the Wind. One I read when I was six from one of my school primers. It had 2 black and white illustrations.
Here it is. The text in the book is not split by the illustrations which are at the side of 2 pages. As you will see it is easy to read and gives a reader plenty of scope to practise phrased and fluent reading. I have typed it the way it is in the primer and you will see how phrasing has been considered. No illustrations break into the text to divert the reader’s concentration.
The Sun and the Wind
Once the wind said to the sun,” I
am stronger than you. I can turn
a windmill.
You cannot do that.”
The sun said, “I
cannot turn a windmill,
but I am stronger than
you. I can make the
flowers open, and ripen
the corn.”
Just then a man
came along. He wore
a long coat.
“I will show you that I am stronger than you,” said the wind. “I will blow that man’s coat off.”
He blew and he blew, but he could not
blow the coat off.
“Now,” said the sun, “it is my turn.”
He shone brightly, and made the man
feel hot. He kept on shining,
till the man felt too hot, and took off his coat.
“Yes,” said the wind. “You must be stronger
than I, for you have done what
I could not do.”
Story from: Third Progressive Primer. Whitcombe and Tombs Publishers around 1948.
Children respond to traditional stories. This one is easy to learn and would be a great one to tell to your child.
Reading a collection of Aesop’s Fables to your child at bedtime is a way of introducing these stories. There are many collections available.
I have just had a blinding flash of the obvious.
Not everyone wants to read……for I am sure very plausible but self defeating reasons. Many have had a devastating experience at school.
From thinking most people wanted to learn to read and it was external factors that prevent reading success I now know we need to begin with the attitude and desires of the learner.
The reality is many people just do not want to read………….even if it is good for them!
Many because they have no idea how to! Many because they don’t want to!
I remember the man who wanted to improve his reading and when the emotional responses to the effort needed appeared gave up. It was easier to limit one’s life that to take charge of emotions. His emotions had to be dealt with before he could learn to read.
Learning to read is complex and there are many pitfalls along the way. Tuning into the learner via muscle testing is a quick and easy way to release blocks.
Kinesiology and EDU-K can connect anyone to their true learning potential. Learn more at
http://www.braingym.org
If it is true that almost 50% of adults in English speaking countries are functionally illiterate what effect is this having on their children? Why don’t they want to improve their reading skills? Do their children give up on learning to read as well? Maybe we need to ask them.
It seems to me that many don’t value education and don’t want the challenge of learning. If it’s not easy forget it!
But that certainly isn’t everyone.
Learning the mechanics of reading is not impossible and should be mastered in years 1 to 3. It is the parents and school’s job to see this happens.
I think we need to look at the type of reading material we are asking students to read. A lot of it is awful and does not engage the reader.
A person who wants to read can be taught fairly quickly. It then needs to be followed by enlightened support and plenty of reading from the student concerned.
“Can you help me Miss? I can’t read.” The voice of a sixteen year old student who has realised he has no chance of employment. How he wished he had worked at school. But I don’t think he was the problem. I think the way young children were taught under the whole language umbrella and the lack of accountability of each student was the problem. Failing, or preferably ‘has still to master’ was never mentioned.
With all those students I found they could not decode words. It was that simple. But years of lost language development is difficult to make up.
It was this boy and nearly 150 other students in the school during the 1980′s that were the catalyst for me to look at how reading was taught. It left a lot to be desired!
Don’t let this happen to your children. Don’t accept they don’t want to do it and hate school. Their life depends upon it.
Check on their attitude towards learning. Ask them to tell you why they feel as they do. Listen without judgement. Do they really understand the importance of reading for them? Then……….
Involve them in working out how they can improve their reading. Do not give up. Involve them.
Children are often ignored and react accordingly.
We must try with every child to give them the gift of reading in the vital first years.
Does your child enjoy Dr Seuss Books some of the most famous children’s books of all time?
I shared them with my sons and still enjoy sharing them with children. In fact we had a set of the 15 or so Beginner Books and many other titles.
Millions of copies have been sold all over the world.
Titles such as:
- The Cat in the Hat
- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
- Hop on Pop
- Green Eggs and Ham and many others.
Dr Seuss is the pen name of Theodore Seuss Geisel.
Dr Seuss wrote his books by being given a list of sight words from the publishers.
His first book, ‘The Cat in the Hat’ had to be written by him using only 236 sight words.
This was to provide material with the words children could memorize. I still find it amazing that people willingly taught children to read this way.
The damage done to the baby boomers from whole language is immense.
We still have a huge number of people with literacy issues that could have been avoided.
I learned to read using a phonics based graded reading series. Thanks to the internet I have found the whole series including the teacher’s manual. Using 6 graded readers over two years I was a fluent reader at 7. The stories were so interesting I was amazed at how many I remembered.
As a result I assumed this is how all children learn to read. I was wrong.
Dr Seuss had a wonderful quirky imagination and as a result his stories are fun, productive and
exciting with unique illustrations.
Dr Seuss himself, 30 years after publishing his first book, says how he regretted his association with the “look and say-whole word movement”
In June 1981 he said “……………..I think killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country”
I agree. I have sat with hundreds of children all having reading problems and all unable to decode written words.
There also seems to be evidence that the whole word way of teaching young children to read is even connected to such disorders like ADD and Dyslexia. I am not sure of this but I have experienced numerous students reacting emotionally to being taught. I think this means the learning issue is subconscious and the student is unaware of it.
Something happened to the person when learning to read and this is blocking learning.
The aspect of learning to read (phonics) that I am discussing is not difficult to learn of itself.
I have anecdotal evidence from my own experience.
I still remember the severe pain suffered by a middle aged man I was tutoring. He could barely read and was a whole word memorizer. When I introduced decoding principles to him and he began practising he could not go on. The mental anguish and emotional pain was too much for him. He excused himself and left. His distress was painful to see.
If your child is having reading issues check out their phonemic (sound) awareness and level of decoding skills but also look to see whether there are underlying emotional issues first.
There are tests and phonics programs for you to review at www.phonicsforkids.net to help your child when they are ready.
I know the whole language approach to literacy teaching has many positive aspects but please don’t let your child miss out on learning phonics as soon as possible.
“I love this book!”
My student had just read a book fluently with outstanding comprehension.
She was grinning from ear to ear and asked if she could read another one.
What was this book?
It is one of the Fitzroy Readers.
Part of a systematic phonics reading program which builds a child’s reading skills systematically.
Immediately she was willing to have a go at reading other books. These were carefully chosen ones that developed her reading skills and engaged her. Books she would take home to share with her parents.
At school she kept working with the Fitzroy Readers.
This reading series is for establishing reading and comprehension skills systematically.
The Fitzroy Phonics Method is easy to understand, easy to use – and consistently gets great results.
It has been classroom tested in Australia for 20 years and helped thousands of students to well above-average results.
Why it works:
- Proceeds in small, simple steps
- Easy to use
- Systematic and complete
- Starts with stories, not theories
- Fun
- Frequent success experiences
- Gets rapid results
- Teaches all essential phonics building blocks (e.g. letter sounds, digraphs ['ch', 'th', etc.], sight words & spelling rules)
- Avoids rare and abstruse cases that are more easily dealt with as special words.
If you have a child who is struggling with reading have a look at the Fitzroy Readers.
Visit their informative website at http://www.fitzprog.com.au/ where you can also read the many testimonials from successful users.
What is reading?
Reading is a complex process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation. Reading and writing abilities continue to develop throughout life. The years from birth to eight are the most important in literacy development.
Do most children learn to read easily?
- Only 5% of children learn to read effortlessly.
- 20% – 30% of children learn to read relatively easily when formally instructed.
- 60% of children find learning to read challenging.
What can parents and caregivers do to ensure a child learns to read?
- For a child to become a good reader, it takes a partnership that begins at home and continues at school. You can prepare your child to read by sharing your time, talking about the world around you, telling and reading stories and asking and answering questions.
What factors hinder reading development?
- Not understanding the sounds that make up the language.
- Not understanding that letters stand for the sounds in words. (The Alphabetic Principle)
- Do not understand what is being read known as weak comprehension skills
- No motivation to read.
- When there was poor instruction in early years of schooling.
Can a person be taught to read at any age?
- Definitely – It is never too late to learn to read.
What is a learning disorder?
- A learning disability is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. The most common of which is difficulty with language and reading.
What is Dyslexia
- Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability which results in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading, spelling, writing, and pronouncing words.
- People with dyslexia have been found to have problems with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds.
- Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels.
- People who are very bright can be dyslexic. Dyslexia runs in families.
- With proper help, many people with dyslexia can learn to read and write well.
What does the future hold for reading instruction?
Scientific research is now providing insights on how to prevent the development of poor reading and all the problems that come with it. Scientifically based reading instruction techniques can be used to improve the brain function of those with reading difficulties enabling them to read better.
What do you do if your child has a learning disability?
- Don’t ignore your concern. Children want to please their parents and teachers and want to learn and succeed.
- Do not blame the child for their lack of success. Be sure to search for the reason for their difficulties.
- Begin with the child’s school and seek other professional help until you have an answer and your child is receiving the necessary support.
- Have your child’s hearing and eyesight checked regularly. Ear infections can cause problems.
What programs are available to help my child’s learning?
- Begin by asking for help from your child’s school.
- Many online programs are now available and interest the modern child.
- Look at the links on this page to learn about some outstanding online programs
The following quotes are from reading experts.
“When the child has reached the maturity level at which he can make the best use of formal instruction in phonics, certainly no time should be lost in launching an extensive and carefully organized program to promote the wide and independent use of phonics in attacking new words, regardless of the grade or the time in the school year when this occurs”
Nila Banton Smith
International Reading Association Founding Member
“Phonics instruction serves one purpose: to help readers figure out as quickly as possible the pronunciation of unknown words”
Dolores Durkin
International Reading Association
“Early, systematic, explicit phonics instruction is an essential part, but only part of a balanced, comprehensive reading program. Phonics and other word-identificaztion skills are tools that children need to read for information, for enjoyment, and for developing insights. The intensity and form of phonics instruction must be adjusted to the individual needs of children by a well prepared teacher”
John J. Pikulski
International Reading Association President
1997-1998
Reading is the single most important skill everyone MUST learn during the years at school. We think using language and the larger our vocabulary the greater is our ability to think. It is reading that enables us to develop the vocabulary powerful enough for real intellectual development. Reading allows access to the recorded knowledge of humankind.
READING OCCURS WHEN THE SOUND SYMBOL OR ALPHABETIC SYSTEM THAT RECORDS WORDS AND IDEAS IS MASTERED.
It is vital every child consolidates phonics knowledge (letter sound relationships) in the three or four early years of schooling. Often this doesn’t happen and the reader believes he or she is at fault rather than realising there are skills still needing development.
This needs to be done systematically and step by step to avoid confusion. Poorly taught phonics knowledge creates confusion.
CHECK YOUR PHONICS KNOWLEDGE USING THE CHECK LIST BELOW:
THIS WILL MAKE CLEAR TO YOU WHAT NEEDS TO LEARNED:
You are:
- Aware of the individual sounds that are made when speaking. In English around 44. This is called phonemic awareness.
- Know that the alphabet is used to represent these sounds in words that are written down.
- Recognise the 26 letters that are used to spell hundreds of thousands of words in lower and upper case form.
- Realise that there are more sounds than letters to represent them. One, two, three and sometimes four letters are used to spell one sound. Letters c, q and x are superfluous. C has the sound of either k or s, qu stands for kw and x sounds like ks.
- The sounds of the language are divided into 2 categories. Vowel sounds and consonant sounds.
- Know 25 sounds are consonant sounds and 19 are vowel sounds. Six consonants are semi-vowels. (l,m,n,r,y,ng)
- Know 19 vowel sounds and that every word or syllables in a word have to contain a vowel sound
- A number of vowel sounds can be spelled in a variety of ways.
- Recognise the all purpose muttering vowel or schwa sound
- Recognise the 2 difficulties with the English alphabet and spelling. Too many sounds and too few letters to spell them. Some of the single letters are used to spell 2 entirely different sounds (a,e,i,o,u,c, g)
The Natural Sequence for Learning any Phonic Method follows:
Step One: Introduce the five short vowels and consonant sounds that are spelled with a single letter.
Step Two: Present the consonants and consonant combinations spelled with 2 or 3 letters
Step Three: Introduce vowels and vowel combinations spelled with 2 or 3 letters.
Step Four: Present the five long vowels
Step Five: Introduce irregular spellings.
For beginning readers the many skills involved in reading do not come easily. Many struggling readers flounder at steps 4 and 5.
Today, due to technology learning to read can be fun and engaging with a successful outcome and done at the rate determined by the learner.
Outstanding programs are available for home study.
Check out the following programs that are excellent for children. I recommend them all as they are based on the solid reading research that has been undertaken over the past few years. Each program is step by step and not overwhelming for the beginning reader or the child who has not mastered the early stages of reading.
http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=850002
http://www.readingdoctor.com.au/
ClicknRead Phonics is another excellent program. Click the icon on the left to view this program
If you have any questions or concerns please email support@phonicsforkids.net
In future posts I intend explaining phonics for adults so keep tuned!
One of the most colorful, child appealing and informative websites is that of the Reading Doctor. www.readingdoctor.com.au Go there now and see how great this program is and download and experience part of it without pressure.
This online reading and writing program has the support of educators and parents as well as state and federal governments in Australia.
Many testimonials from satisfied users are readily available.
The Reading Doctor is Bartek Rajkowski a speech-language pathologist and reading researcher specialising in literacy improvement. The program adjusts itself to the individual needs of every student and acknowledges the student’s established strengths as well as the skills that need developing.
“In order to become independent, competent readers, students must learn to ‘break the code’ in written language.”
When this is done in the early years of formal education a child can make the best of the educational opportunities available today.
Remember the link is www.readingdoctor.com.au I cannot recommend this program too highly.
This easy to use spelling software can be used at home by your child to master spelling.
Click on the link to learn about how your child’s spelling can be improved and for free spelling lists.
“My daughter used SpellQuizzer to help her prepare for the county spelling bee and she came in 2nd place over 4000 other students thanks to SpellQuizzer!”
- Julieanne Miller,
Roseburg, Oregon
SpellQuizzer is a spelling software application for both home and school that runs on your computer and quizzes your child or student on their spelling words. With SpellQuizzer children master their spelling lists and ace their spelling tests. It only takes a few minutes a day for children to learn their spelling words using SpellQuizzer and it frees the parent or teacher from the chore of drilling the child each day on their words.
Click onto the link below to learn how SpellQuizzer will help your child develop spelling mastery in a fun way.
http://www.spellquizzer.com/?RefAff=HSB127
Technology allows our children to develop at their own rate and is bringing about an educational revolution.
The phonics knowledge needed for fluent reading is less than you might think
If the English Alphabet Code is taught systematically learning to read can be enjoyable because the Alphabetic Code will be understood.
Knowing what letter or combination of letters represent the sounds in words is a fundamental reading skill.
Phonics is a method of teaching someone to read. It is the relationship between sounds and their alphabetic symbols and how words are written.
There are 44 sounds used to make hundreds of thousands (and growing) English words.
There is an Alphabet of 26 letters to spell these 44 sounds. It is obvious that not all sounds have one letter to spell them. One two, three and even four letters are used to spell sounds in English words.
This makes English spelling complicated but it does have rules and patterns.
The language sounds are divided into 2 groups.
- Vowel sounds
- Consonant sounds
It is important to understand this because every word must contain at least one vowel sound.
A vowel sound is a speech sound that when it is made the tip of the tongue does not touch the top of the mouth, the teeth or the lips. The vowel sounds in words gives depth of sound.
The spelling of English vowel sounds which have been influenced by French is what makes spelling challenging. Consonant sounds are speech sounds in which the breath is at least partly obstructed.
Consonant sounds and a vowel sound when combined form a syllable.
A syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound with or without surrounding consonants and forming all or part of a word.
A digraph is a combination of two letters to spell one sound.
How the 26 letters of the English Alphabet represent the sounds in written words:
Short-Vowel Sounds /ă/ in ant /ĕ/ in egg /ĭ/ in ink /ŏ/ in orange /u/ in umbrella
6 Long-Vowel Sounds long /ā/ in make long /ē/ in seen long /ī/ in pie long /ō/ in coat long /ū/ (yoo) in mule
long /ōō/ in new
3 r-Controlled Vowel Sounds /ur/ in fern, bird, and hurt /ar/ in park /or/ in fork
Diphthongs and Other Special Sounds
/oi/ in soil and boy /ow/ in cow and house
short /ŏŏ/ in cook and pull
/aw/ in jaw and Paul
/zh/ in television
18 Consonant Sounds /k/ in cat and kite /d/ in dog /f/ in fat /g/ in goat /h/ in hat /j/ in jam
/l/ in lip /m/ in map /n/ in nest /p/ in pig /r/ in rat /s/ in sun /t/ in top /v/ in van /w/ in wig
/y/ in yell /z/ in zip
Consonant Digraphs /ch/ in chin /sh/ in ship unvoiced /th/ in thin voiced /th/ in this /hw/ in whip */ng/ in sing /nk/ in sink * (wh is pronounced /w/ in some areas)
Let me explain how writing and spelling words works.
chicken ch i ck e n The word chicken has five sounds /ch/ /i/ /ck//e//n/
It has 2 vowel sounds therefore it is a 2 syllable word. It has 2 digraphs /ch/ /ck/
All beginning readers whether child or adult must be introduced to 70 phonograms in a systematic order.
A phonogram is a letter or groups of letters that is the symbol for one sound in a given word.
Learning to read and write English is of course a complex process. However every student who receives explicit instruction in phonics in a systematic way will easily master the core reading subskill.
If you would like to read more about English and the important role of phonics in learning to read and write please download a free copy of my ebook:
A Guide to Reading and Writing English on this website www.phonicsforkids.net
I hope you gain many insights from it.
