Hi Katherine, Automaticity comes through practice of the component parts. As word reading becomes easier and more proficient, passage reading will follow, unless there is an eye tracking issue. This was the case for my daughter. She had an eye stutter, in which she would continually loop back to the beginning of the word without finishing it. I used something like the notched card to help her get out of that. She had to read each sound once all the way through the word before she could say the word. It was really the antithesis of the fluency practice you are describing.:001_smile: However after a week of this slow, laborious reading, her speed zoomed forward. She already had the decoding knowledge, just not the skill of smooth, left to right tracking, all through the word. The decoding knowledge is key. Many kids cannot or will not generalize the full alphabetic code. Most thorough phonics programs (not even taking into account less rigorous programs) teach 150-180 correspondences, whereas adult level text contains 300-350 correspondences. This discrepancy leaves a minimum of a thousand words (this from an analysis of only 17,000 words) that some part, and usually a less than obvious part as these are the less common correspondences, is not known. This dramatically slows reading. I also worked with her on prosody and expression. This helped her own understanding of what she was reading because she could make use of punctuation and key words to make her reading sound like talking. I guess my concern is that fluency is usually boiled down to speed and speed for its own sake seems counterproductive in reading. I am somewhat skeptical of the NRP report. I have had a long email discussion with the writer of the fluency section and one of his graduate students and feel that his understanding of the nature of the alphabetic code hampers some of his conclusions. He did not even know that multiple letter spellings are read at the same speed as single letter spellings. This is really important if what you study is how fast people read. He did not understand the different mechanism of reading a "sight" word learned as a whole and a word decoded appropriately and how this could affect reading fluency. He assumed full knowledge of the alphabetic code and then measures and studies fluency from there. As most struggling readers are far from understanding or picking up the full alphabetic code, this compromises fluency research results. Also, the NRP sections were determined by the panel members themselves, which makes the results somewhat suspect. I agree that early decodables, those that include just the alphabet and a few digraphs can be extremely stilted and there is little that is geared toward the older student. However, book reading can be eliminated while the knowledge and skills are learned. It took my daughter about 9 months to learn most of the alphabetic code, then she could pick up anything she wanted. Once eye tracking is in place, and enough of the code is learned that a student is willing to give anything a go and not be discouraged and feels comfortable picking up any new correspondences along the way, fluency will develop on its own. I do agree that repeated readings can be a very helpful tool for cementing skills and knowledge and helping the student feel comfortable with their own abilities. I just think its important to know what the point of the activity is. Fluency for its own sake just doesn't make sense. Any whole-language reader can learn to "read" fluently, but in reality they are not reading. Encouraging skipping words, without helping them understand their component parts, seems counterproductive to the point of reading: full understanding. Those nitty-gritty details aside,;) I think you and I agree on many important aspects of reading instruction. * Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1) *For those following this discussion, I used a few term that some may not know so here's a small glossary (let me know if there are other terms): correspondence: a letter or group of letters that represent(s) a single sound. For example, 'ti' is a correspondence for the sound /sh/ in words like partial, patient, spatial, nation, etc. alphabetic code: the full range of correspondences in English, the most complex, common language on the planet (Though some think Thai has more oddities). Cheers!:001_smile:

I would suggest the I See Sam books. They are a complete phonics program in disguise! Each set of 20 books costs about 40 dollars. You can find them at these websites: http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com, http://www.iseesam.com, and http://www.piperbooks.co.uk. The last site has the best discussion of the books. ABeCeDarian is a solid program, and will ensure that multisyllabic words are mastered as well. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Lynn, I don't think you sound infantile! I have the same problem with Shurley Grammar. My daughter loves it, she is learning from it, I hate it. We are switching to something I can stand to get out. I have been studying reading programs and reading research for 5 years, ever since I encountered troubles instructing my oldest daughter. I ended up analyzing the phonetic structure of 17,000 words so I could create my own reading program that fit the research and would be incremental enough, logical, and thorough enough for my daughter. One thing that might help you is to realize that you ALREADY knew phonics when you were being made to sit through those lessons. You may not have been conscious of it, only knowing that you could read, however, if you could work from left to right, saying the sounds in a word, adjust the sounds till the word made sense, then you knew phonics. Explicit phonics is designed to teach this. Some kids get it without much help. Others need it taught very clearly and thoroughly for them to be able to use it in their reading. It makes sense to be prepared to teach as extensively as necessary so that your children do not face the opposite experience you had, that is, a sense of failure because not enough information was taught and enough practice done for them to read comfortably on their own. I am currently using the program I developed for my kids. I am so glad to have this because it has made things so much easier, as after all my research and seeing where kids go wrong, I am a perfectionist about reading instruction. Jolly Phonics Handbook has actions and coloring pages and is a good start (I would only suggest, as I can't remember exactly how its presented, to teach the tricky words as sounds instead of as wholes. You can just say, this is a spelling you haven't learned yet, but it's useful in this word.) ABeCeDarian is a solid program, though it is workbook based and may activate your sense of rebellion.:) Sing Spell Write Read is not one I am directly familiar with, so I can only give anecdotal information. You might look at homeschoolreviews.com to get other people's experiences. Those that did not like it mainly said that the activities were too much, too repetitive, and too time consuming. There is little info available about its scope and sequence, so I can only infer from posts that there is a large sight word component, which is not a good thing to start with. I would suggest the I See Sam books. Its a complete reading program in books. Its incremental and thorough and easy to use. The stories are engaging, and there are easy mechanisms to ensure proper sounding out. You can look at them at these sites: roadstoeverywhere.com and iseesam.com. The best help information and exposition of the books is at a UK site: piperbooks.co.uk I would recommend starting with Jolly Phonics and then moving on to the I See Sam books. Best wishes, Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

While Zoo Phonics is not one of the programs I purchased when remediated my daughter, I noticed a few things while going through their website. 1)their emphasis on lowercase letters and letter sounds (as opposed to letter names) is wonderful. It eliminates confusion. 2)the emphasis on the alphabet as a "whole" is misplaced. The alphabet represents the letter shapes used in our writing, however, our reading and spelling system is based on the 43+ sounds of English, employing those 26 letters in varying positions and groups. Each letter represents multiple sounds. 3)it uses word families. This is not the most efficient method, and can be detrimental for some children. Word families represent a small group of words, so they are not particularly transferrable. The teaching of word families can cause some kids to become confused and about the direction of reading and develop eye tracking problems as the emphasis of practice and instruction is the end of the word. Every word needs to be worked through from left to right. On the other hand, other kids can get lazy and not pay attention to the end of the word because the patterns make it easy to zone out when reading a list; this can lead to part word guessing. Finally, often the rime unit (the ending of the words, such as -at) is memorized as a whole, rather than each letter. This increases memory load which can complicate instruction. 4) The fact that common "sight" words are taught phonemically is a plus. 5) It really teaches very little. The alphabet, plus a few digraphs (14 according to the scope and sequence), the long sounds of the vowels, plus final-e. There are over 400 possible letter-sound units in English. Adult level text has 300+. Most thorough phonics programs (such as Phonics Pathways and OPGTR) teach about 150. This one teaches about 50. So you are not getting much information for a lot of money. 6) and just a thought based on my own kids. They would really struggle to read a word with the animal pictures as part of the letters, because the animal names would interfere with trying to "hear" the word in the sounds. 7) research into cognitive load theory would indicate that the animal mnemonic could slow learning the sounds as it introduces an extra step in linking the letters and the sounds. The extra step can lose some kids. In general, this has some quality ideas about instruction (phonemic instruction for all words, emphasis on sounds rather than names of letters), but it is mixed in with a lot that has been discredited in some circles (word families), and other things that haven't been validated (the animal mnemonic theme) I agree that many kids need something fun. For a lot less money and instruction in about the same amount of material try Jolly Phonics Handbook. Available from Amazon.com, it is a program developed in the UK and has hand signals and coloring pages for each spelling. Depending on your children, they will take off with this, or they may need much more thorough explicit instruction in the rest of the code (my daughter needed about 220 sound-spelling correspondences taught before she was confident enough to read on her own). You can decide what to go on to when you get to that point. Best wishes, Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Katherine, I love these kinds of discussions!! Thanks for engaging with me.:D What is the purpose of fluency practice? The two ideas I can think of are that the child can feel like a competent reader, and perhaps eye tracking, that is, comfort with moving the eyes quickly across the text. Either way, there are better ways of accomplishing this than giving him text that is beyond his ability to read and expect him to read it well. I did suggest giving text that is completely decodable to practice with. This will remediate both concerns above, without creating a habit of skipping what is not easily read. In learning a musical instrument, passages are learned slowly first. When they can be played correctly at a slower speed, then is the time to speed up. Speed and fluidity of sound is the last technical component to be put into place. I doubt that a violin teacher would suggest skipping or fudging through parts the student did not know in order to get the piece faster and somewhat smoother. I completely agree. The notched card is for the purpose of training brain and eye to coordinate in the right direction. Once that is completed (my daughter took about a week), it can be discontinued. I agree that the passage I used as an example would be beyond many struggling readers--it is what I used with my daughter several weeks ago. The technique could easily be adapted using much lower level text. I just wanted to give an accurate picture of the learning of one child who struggled dramatically with reading and spelling. In general, my suggestions were based on the information that her son was reading Pinocchio, so having some reading success. This was not my experience. I had completely taught all the code to my daughter, she could read just about anything, but she hated it. I listened to her read and realized she was struggling to track in the right direction. So I did the intensive practice I described and her reading speed, "fluency," and enjoyment went up immediately. However, I completely agree about PP. It was what we started with and what got us into so many technical troubles. Thank you for the links. It's interesting to see how things are set up in schools for reading troubles. I am not a fan of Orton-Gillingham in general as I feel that it is too complex a system, however, I know that lots and lots of people have great results with it. It just didn't work for us. I myself prefer synthetic phonics. It can be learned about at http://www.dyslexics.org.uk, http://www.rrf.org.uk, and http://www.syntheticphonics.com. Synthetic phonics is the type of instruction mandated by the British and the French governments last year after intensive review. It is simpler in structure than many phonics instruction types in the US. It generally reduces the rules to those which are most functional, such as the sound of 'c' before 'e', 'i', and 'y'. The program Reading Reflex is based on this type of instruction (though its own application of the principles leaves much to be desired). Kind regards, Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

I disagree about this. Fluency is a result of accurate, automatic reading of words. Skipping words does not support this. In fact it sets up a bad habit that will only hamper comprehension in the future. You could give him the sound for the letter or letter group he doesn't know, then have him read the word. More ideally, ask, "What other sound can this letter (letter group) spell?" first, then, if not, known give the sound. Fluency work is best done with text well within his independent level, not with text that stretches him. Even with that, all words should be read by the student, and read accurately. I'll go out on a limb here, but I think fluency is a red herring. It is the result of automatic processes that come from practicing and integrating the components of reading, not something that can be taught as a whole. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

So you have two concerns: Reading and Spelling. For reading Tracking: The notched card is really the trick. Don't discount it because it is free. It remediates in at least two ways. First, by cutting out the visual information from peripheral vision, it makes it much easier for kids to focus their attention appropriately. Second, it forces them to move from left to right, blending all the way through the word. Code knowledge: The majority of reading programs teach about 150-180 of the more than 400 unique sound-spelling correspondences (a letter or letter group that represents a single sound). Of the adult level texts I analyzed, most had a minimum of 300-350 correspondences. Additionally, many do not teach that often one has to try several sounds to get it right. Think of your own reading when you come to a new word. You slow down, reading sound by sound, or chunk by chunk, adjusting as necessary through the word. This is the skill that is necessary for fluent, efficient reading. Many kids can extrapolate from informal exposure, but many, as much as 25-30 percent, need explicit instruction throughout the code. Kids can get stuck because they haven't been taught enough to read ever more challenging books. Have him read aloud regularly and see if there are patterns in the words he misses, if so, explicitly teach the correspondences. For example, if he misses 'ui' words such as suit, juice, fruit, etc, have a lesson on those words. If this doesn't fee sufficient, I can send you my word lists and you can work through the correspondences. For long words, I would suggest Webster's Speller on ElizabethB's website: http://www.thephonicspage.com. Read through the words, as they are already grouped and chunked. As he does this he'll become more familiar with the way words are put together. Another good program is Vocabulary through Morphemes, that teaches the meaning parts of words (such as re- meaning to do again, or -ous meaning having the quality of). All of these things will help him see the parts of words better, thus making them easier to read. For Spelling I have experimented with many kinds of programs and activities to remediate my daughter's spelling. I have finally settled on a simple dictation-style program. We have tried list-style programs only to see 100% on the tests and error in her writing. Here is the general idea: I pick out passages of 2-4 sentences. She reads the passage several times. Here's an example of what we have done, so you can see its not that big of a deal to do this way. The passage is: At first, however, our world, or Earth, was nothing but a ball of rock. This ball of rock was wrapped around with steam, like a heavy fog. Then the steam turned to rain, and it rained on the world, until it had filled up the hollows and made enormously big puddles. These puddles were the oceans. The dry places were bare rock. First day: She reads the passage several times. Then I dictate it to her. She misses these words: however, wrapped, heavy, hollows, enormously, puddles. We talk about the words: however is a combination of how and ever, wrapped (double the consonant when adding past tense -ed, I chose not to teach her about "short" and "long" so omitted discussing it at this time), -ous of enormously means "full of" so the word means full of enormity, etc. She studies the words. I have her underline the spellings for each sound: wrapped would be wr a pp ed. She says the sounds as she writes. I have her write the words 5-10 times. Then she copies the passage, including all the corrected spelling words. This takes 4 tries. (She's a tough, lovable, brilliant, nut to crack!) Second day: Dictate the passage. She misses: wrapped, hollows, enormously. Study again. Copy again. Oh, she can now say the passage verbatim. Third day: She starts throwing in some omission errors: tured for turned, seam for steam, etc. and misses enormously. We talk about ways to remember enormously and she decides to read it as /e-nor-mouse-ly/as she studies the word. Studies words. Copies. Require her to reread her writings by sound then word rather than by word alone (I know that doesn't make much sense, but it sounds like /a/ /t/ /at/ /f/ /ir/ /s/ /t/ /first/ /ou/ /r/ /our/ . . . she hates it but she catches her letter omissions that way) Fourth day: Gets it right. Now I am going to through her for a loop and have her write some sentences with the words she missed over the week. Misses hollows as "hollowes." We talk about adding -s for plurals (again). Fifth day: Dictation and sentences. Gets them right. Add another passage next week. I throw some old passages in on occasion for review. This actually gets her learning more words than the list method, which at most I was doing 20 words a week. Some words she just has to go over and over and others she learns more quickly. I can see that this is working much better because her general writing is improving. She is also wanting to write more, I think because she is feeling more confident. She has to write so much now that it feels natural. The list method worked as far as a spelling test went but would never seem to cross over into her writing. With the dictation method, it is, because she is practicing what she needs to be doing: writing words in context. The benefits of this method are: 1) The words are learned in a meaningful context. Meaning and spelling are linked. 2) It is efficient. It eliminates the work that is not producing effect (lists and tests) and has them practicing the skills spelling is meant for (using the words in context). 3) Its free! 4) It focuses effort on the words the child does not know. Patterns and rules can be addressed as they come up, in a word specific way. For example, my daughter had the word 'edition' to work on and she missed the spelling of 'tion'. We talked about the meaning of the word-part 'tion' in which it changes a verb to a noun, connecting it to the word 'edit'. The /t/ sound of the word helps remind her that the /sh/ sound is spelled with a 'ti'. This was long, so if something doesn't seem clear, let me know. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

This piece of advice means not to group the correspondences (a correspondence is the letter or group of letters used to represent a sound, like 'a' for the short sound, for its name, for the sound /o/ in want, water, etc.) or teach a bunch at the same time. Kids who have short emotional fuses, like our daughters (she still cries pretty much everyday over schoolwork) easily get overwhelmed. Since this isn't your daughter's concern, you can ignore it.:) Learning to read easily and on our own, as you describe, and which was the case for me and my husband, does not set us up well to know how to teach kids who don't just pick it up or figure it out. I really understand the frustration!! I had so many tears myself as I was trying to figure out what to do. When you come to a knew word in your reading, most likely you read the sounds from left to right, adjusting the sounds and stress till it makes sense. Whether or not you were explicitly taught it, you understand the alphabetic principle. Some figure it out without conscious thought, others have to be explicitly taught all of it. The technique I described can help your daughter get comfortable with a level of flexibility in reading English. Don't tell her the word, make her work through it, trying different sound alternatives, till it is right. It works for a number of reasons. Many kids struggle with paying attention to the letters they are focusing on, getting that information mixed up with the info. from their peripheral vision. The card covers up the peripheral info, training the brain to pay attention to the exposed letters. It also trains the brain and eyes to move left to right. These are primary skills of reading. If you think she will be upset saying the wrong sound, just tell her, "In this word, say the sound /ae/ for the letter 'a'," then have her work with the notched card. I would uncover the 'k and the 'e' together, as the 'e' does not represent a sound. You want them to be able to look at it and know it only after they can work through the parts properly. When the parts are known well, it will sound fast and smooth almost as though she were reading the word as a whole, but she's not--she's comprehending the parts really fast. Phonics Pathways has decent info, with good word lists, however the pages are a mess and for those who struggle with eye training, not a good idea. (BTW, my daughter cries through violin practice, too, though she absolutely does not want to stop). You can put the info on much less cluttered paper, and use the notched card. The thing you and your daughter need is efficient instruction. If Saxon is moving you forward, and you practice with the card, you should be fine. However, it is not the most efficient method. If Saxon isn't working, I can send you a word list and a sample lesson so you can just blow through the instruction. Once I figured out the most efficient method and taught it all to her, (she wouldn't comfortably read anything till she could read high level chapter books and nonfiction), my daughter's reading skill increased dramatically. It sounds like your daughter already knows a lot and needs targeted work on tracking. My word lists can help you ascertain what correspondences she still needs to learn. Adult level texts contain about 300 unique correspondences. For emotional, yet strangely logical, perfectionist, highly bright kids, they may not feel comfortable reading until they can pick up adult level material and be able to comfortably read it. I'm sorry that is so long. If I didn't address your concerns well enough, please let me know. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Christine, This sounds so much like my daughter. It took me several years to figure out how I needed to teach her, 9 months to teach her, and in 1 year she jumped to an 11th grade reading level. First off, Saxon goes too fast for many students. At the same time the lessons are too long. Second, if reading is so difficult, reading books will only make it worse. It would be better to not have her read books and just work on word level work. I will give you a brief outline of what finally got things rolling for my daughter: 1. Teach each sound-spelling correspondence individually and stay with it till she is comfortable reading it. Sometimes it would take a week of lessons for her to finally remember the sound for the letters. 2. As you introduce new sound-spelling correspondences, teach the skill of "trying another sound for that (those) letters." For example, you have just taught the sound-spelling correspondence 'ea' for the sound /e/. You have previously taught 'ea' for the sounds /ee/ and /ae/. When she practices the word 'ready' she says /reedy/. Point under the letter pair and say, "What other sound do these letters spell?" Then have her work through the word, trying the new sound. This will feel slow and painful to you and her, but it is the best way learn this important skill and learn which sounds go with which letters in which words. 3. Review previously taught correspondences each day, until she knows them automatically. For my daughter, I generated a list of words down one side of a page. If she read the word smoothly and accurately, she got to draw a quick picture of the word. If she stumbled or read incorrectly, she wrote the word next to the printed word, saying each sound as she wrote, then read the word again. I usually had 20-30 word each day. 4. As you introduce a new correspondence, have her write the new words, saying the sounds as she writes. 5. Compose simple sentences using only the new and previously taught correspondences. This way she KNOWS she can read the sentences. I usually did three sentences a lesson. A few principles and tactics to keep in mind: 1. Teach each word as its component parts. Children this bright really want to jump ahead and just understand, so they want to memorize and skip. These are the wrong skills to teach. We have to keep them paying attention to the parts of the words and making them read from left to right, blending all through the word. 2. To train tracking (much cheaper than VT), use a 'notched card'--a 3x5 card or business card with a square cut in the left corner. Expose one letter or letter group at a time, have her say the sound. When the word is uncovered, read the word. This will quickly correct her attention and tracking. It took my daughter about a week of intensive, daily practice to smooth out her reading and make it easier and more enjoyable. 3. You can spice it up with games such as memory and sound bingo using flashcards. Another fun game, I call HONK! It is a variation on a game from Phonics Pathways. Have several flashcards for each of 5-6 sound-spelling correspondences and several flashcards with silly pictures. Turn the flashcards over, say the sound. When the silly picture comes up, do something silly. Go through multiple times. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to happily recommend a reading program in this instance because I bought 12 different programs (and reviewed many more) and found none of them to work for my bright, logical, impatient daughter. She was happily listening to and understanding chapter books at 2 and found learning to read painful because it was at such a lower level than she could understand. If you want an example lesson of what I did, you can email me privately. Hang in there! :grouphug: It will happen. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

There are in fact many types of phonics, depending on the grouping of the sound-spelling correspondences (eg. sh for /sh/ in wish, ti for /sh/ in nation, etc.) of the English alphabetic code. In my research of 17,000 words, there are over 400 possible sound-spelling correspondences. Different programs group the sound-spelling correspondences to simplify instruction. The word family version is not as effective or efficient as it can lead to part-word or whole word guessing, and can lead kids to focus on the end of a word--even when it does not fit into the limited word type addressed (short, rhyming words)--thus missing ALL the pertinent information in the letters of a word. The core skill of reading is reading each sound-spelling correspondence once, from left to right, all through the word. For remediating struggling readers who do not read all through the word, I would suggest the use of the notched card as developed by Hilse Burkard in the UK. It is a 3x5 card or business-sized card with the left corner cut out to form a square cutout. Slide the card, exposing one sound-spelling correspondence at a time. As your son becomes more proficient, you can move to exposing whole words. This technique cuts out the images from the peripheral vision which can confuse some kids. Eventually your son's brain will learn what information is important--the letters he's focusing on--and the skill of moving from left to right and back again. It took my daughter about a week of intensive practice at the age of 8 to get it. My guess is once these skills are gained his enjoyment of reading will dramatically increase. Another problem often encountered in kids struggling with reading is that many programs do not teach enough of the correspondences, whatever their grouping. My analysis of adult level text indicates they contain 300+ correspondences. Programs such as Phonics Pathways, ABeCedarian, and OPGTR teach 150-180 of these. Most others teach considerably less. I ended up teaching my daughter over 220 of the most common (and 80 of the not so common) before she felt confident enough to pick up a book on her own. So, 1) check his left to right reading, using the notched card, or a fingertip, making him say each sound in the word, and 2) if he is does not know a sound for the spellings, teach them. You also expressed concern about knowing which sound to apply to which letter. Frankly, this is difficult to condense into a few rules as some programs do. There is so much variation. It seems that what is needed is to teach the alternatives that a letter or a group of letters may represent. Spalding does this with her phonograms, although she leaves out a lot of possibilities and mixes in inefficient rules (works for some, dreadful for others). For my daughter, I ended up teaching each correspondence at a time, practicing it in relevant words. When she would come to a word she didn't know and she pronounced a sound wrong, I would prompt with, "What other sound can this letter (or letter group) spell?" She would then try alternatives till she got it right. This is another fundamental skill, because its what we all do when reading a new word. Hope this answers your questions adequately. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Some children can take a long time to feel comfortable just reading a word without first saying its sounds. This is not a problem generally because it lets you know he is not guessing at the words. If you want to help him move forward, gaining more confidence, I suggest--using words from the beginning of the program or even two sound combinations (na, ma, el, si, etc.)--having him say the sounds in his head (without moving his mouth) then say the word out loud. Like all other skills, some kids will do this easily, some will struggle to "hear" the sounds in their head. As he becomes more proficient you can add words from later in the program and expand to phrases (starting with a cat, an ant, and moving up to prepositional phrases and phrases with 'and') and sentences. Another option is to restart the program, so that his current skills outpace the work. This gives extra practice and may help him feel more confident. As for readers, while some kids find them motivating, others, who perhaps are less confident with their reading, will find them more taxing, as it adds another dimension-the plot-to the reading experience. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

I'm sorry I don't have time right now to address all your questions, but I wanted to suggest something for the eye tracking. The best thing I've come across for remediating eye tracking is the "notched card." Developed by Hilsie Burkard in the UK, it is a 3X5 or business-sized card in which the left corner has been cut out. Use it to uncover each spelling at a time. It is effective because it keeps out the confusing information that some kids get from their peripheral vision and focuses their eyes appropriately. As your son gets better you can use it word by word, then use a piece of paper to go line by line. It took my daughter about a week of intensive practice and then it just got so much easier. Also, I would not worry so much about the timing. I followed the ABCD forum for quite a while and it was one of the top concerns parents had. First worry about accuracy while working on the tracking as described above. Things will be extra slow and frustrating for a little while, but it will speed up. If your son is accurate in his reading and sounds out from left to right all through the word when encountering a new word, then you probably don't need a program so much as just more guided practice and exposure to words. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd (10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Sunkist, For the phonetic patterns (words with ou for /ow/, ou for /OO/, ou for /oe/, actually I think that is only shoulder and boulder, etc.) I analyzed 17,000 words in a dictionary. For the morphemic (meaning parts like prefix, suffix, and roots) patterns I use Vocabulary Through Morphemes (Sopris West is the publisher) and correlate it with my phonetic lists. The morphemic info can be found on the internet as well. Just google "affix meaning English". For that matter, if you google "spelling patterns English" or "spelling rules English" you'll get all the info you need. Here's an example of what we have done, so you can see its not that big of a deal to do this way. The passage is: At first, however, our world, or Earth, was nothing but a ball of rock. This ball of rock was wrapped around with steam, like a heavy fog. Then the steam turned to rain, and it rained on the world, until it had filled up the hollows and made enormously big puddles. These puddles were the oceans. The dry places were bare rock. First day: She reads the passage several times. Then I dictate it to her. She misses these words: however, wrapped, heavy, hollows, enormously, puddles. We talk about the words: however is a combination of how and ever, wrapped (double the consonant when adding past tense -ed, I chose not to teach her about "short" and "long" so omitted discussing it at this time), -ous of enormously means "full of" so the word means full of enormity, etc. She studies the words. I have her underline the spellings for each sound: wrapped would be wr a pp ed. She says the sounds as she writes. I have her write the words 5-10 times. Then she copies the passage, including all the corrected spelling words. This takes 4 tries. (She's a tough, lovable, brilliant, nut to crack!) Second day: Dictate the passage. She misses: wrapped, hollows, enormously. Study again. Copy again. Oh, she can now say the passage verbatim. Third day: She starts throwing in some omission errors: tured for turned, seam for steam, etc. and misses enormously. We talk about ways to remember enormously and she decides to read it as /e-nor-mouse-ly/as she studies the word. Studies words. Copies. Require her to reread her writings by sound then word rather than by word alone (I know that doesn't make much sense, but it sounds like /a/ /t/ /at/ /f/ /ir/ /s/ /t/ /first/ /ou/ /r/ /our/ . . . she hates it but she catches her letter omissions that way) Fourth day: Gets it right. Now I am going to through her for a loop and have her write some sentences with the words she missed over the week. Misses hollows as "hollowes." We talk about adding -s for plurals (again). Fifth day: Dictation and sentences. Gets them right. Add another passage next week. I throw some old passages in on occasion for review. This actually gets her learning more words than the list method, which at most I was doing 20 words a week. Some words she just has to go over and over and others she learns more quickly. I can see that this is working much better because her general writing is improving. She is also wanting to write more, I think because she is feeling more confident. She has to write so much now that it feels natural. The list method worked as far as a spelling test went but would never seem to cross over into her writing. With the dictation method, it is, because she is practicing what she needs to be doing: writing words in context. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

This has been the situation for my dd. I have looked at a ton of different programs, tried quite a few (though not the ones you are asking about as they are similar in content to others). This is what is helping us inch forward: Lots of copywork, over and over. I give her a passage to read. Then I dictate. We talk about the words she misses. She rewrites the passage till it is 100% correct. We do it again the next day. When she can get it right a couple of times in a row, we move on. Each passage has about 70 words. Right now the passages are drawn from "A Child's History of the Word" by Hilyer. Additional practice of the words in the passage which the child composes is also helpful. Most rules can be more confusing than helpful, because very few rules in English actually work a majority of the time. The problem is that there are so many legal options. Rules that apply to meaning are the most helpful, such as add -ed for past tense, whether it represents the sounds /e/+ /d/ (landed), /d/ (calmed), or /t/ (jumped); or the prefix re- meaning to do again. When writing, what the child has is the meaning of the word, so these types of rules can be helpful, even if it takes a lot of repetition to learn the rule. Rules that focus on probability, such as often the /k/ sound is spelled 'ck' when it is at the end of a short word and following a vowel sound that we arbitrarily call 'short', except in words where its not such as sicken, mockery, mackerel (and at least 65 others) has too many components and too many exceptions for the easily muddled child. Explicit instruction in the phonetic parts of English is imperative for children who struggle with reading. If your son is still struggling with his reading, there are several good programs. However, the information is not as useful for spelling, as long as the child is reading well. The benefits of the dictation/composition/copywork exercises are: 1) The words are learned in a meaningful context. Meaning and spelling are linked. 2) It is efficient. It eliminates the work that is not producing effect (lists and tests) and has them practicing the skills spelling is meant for (using the words in context). 3) Its free! 4) It focuses effort on the words the child does not know. Patterns and rules can be addressed as they come up, in a word specific way. For example, my daughter had the word 'edition' to work on and she missed the spelling of 'tion'. We talked about the meaning of the word-part 'tion' in which it changes a verb to a noun, connecting it to the word 'edit'. The /t/ sound of the word helps remind her that the /sh/ sound is spelled with a 'ti'. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Your concern is well founded. My daughter got an eye "stutter" after working through the first part of PP. She would get so lost because she would read some sounds at the end and then go back to the beginning but not remember what she had read. It made reading quite painful for her. It stayed until I found Debbie Hepplewhite's phonics page at syntheticphonics.com where she emphasizes blending each sound once all through the word. I then worked on just reading all through the word for a week and it seemed to correct the problem. I used my finger under the words and had her say the sounds. It wasn't fun, but effective. You can use PP for the word list and use a white board for word reading: p a n t pant to emphasize correct tracking. I agree with previous posters as well about backing up. It takes so much pressure off everyone to be working well within your child's limits. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd (10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Christine, I am so glad you found the source of your daughter's reading program. Interestingly, I found an article the other day for another forum, which discusses this very issue: http://cbcl.mit.edu/cbcl/people/geiger/memo_complete.pdf In the article, the MIT researchers worked to remediate the visual deficiencies (exactly those you described for your daughter) using a notched card. The card was used to only display one word at a time and then moved along from left to right. The experimental group made huge gains over the course of the study and corrected the visual deficiencies. This might be a good alternative if money is an issue for the vision therapy. Another article on a similar subject, suggests that this problem is learned, rather than in born as the visual deficiencies are not present in pre-reading young children. So a couple of things to think about as you continue instruction. 1) don't teach sight words. Teaching kids to look at a word as a whole may lead to the visual deficiencies your daughter is experiencing because it emphasizes a broad area of focus rather than a narrow field of focus which moves from left to right. If you want your daughter to read words you haven't taught yet, just break the word down. For example, the common sight word 'people' can be taught as p for the sound /p/, eo for the sound /ee/, p for the sound /p/, le for the sound /l/. 2) start with small units such as 2 and 3 sound words. If you have to you can use the notched card spelling by spelling, uncovering one unit at a time. For the word 'people', first uncover the p then peo, then peop, then people. This will help focus her eye attention and discourage whole word guessing. 3) teach far into the code. The English alphabetic code contains over 300 unique sound-spelling correspondences (letters or groups of letters which represent a sound, such as 'ch' for the sound /ch/ as in 'chin', ch for the sound /sh/ as in chef, 'ch' for the sound /k/ as in Christmas--3 sound-spelling correspondences). By teaching many of these correspondences, you will discourage whole word guessing because the parts of most words will be known. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Comprehension is a tricky issue. Have her read something random for you. Ask her about each sentence to see if she gets it. If she does, don't worry about it. If you are still concerned, there are several things that could be going on: 1. Your daughter is really still struggling with decoding and therefore is not able to pay close attention to what she is reading. If this is the case, then specific instruction in advanced alphabetic code reading, morphemic (meaning) parts of words such as prefixes, suffixes, and word roots, and complex sentence reading should help. You can look at programs such as Vocabulary Through Morphemes and Rewards for this kind of instruction. Actually, I made up my own instruction for my daughter for complex sentence reading--haven't found anything else, but found it really helpful. 2. Your daughter felt anxious about the test and therefore was not able to pay close attention to the test. Teaching calming techniques might help, but you may just have to live with this one. 3. Full comprehension stems from domain knowledge. So if the test passages were about hot air balloons and your daughter didn't know anything about balloons, gases, history of invention, etc, there might have been points she missed because the passage assumes she knows some of those things. This can only be remedied by learning about things. Comprehension can be uneven in that she may know nothing about hot air balloons but have college level understanding of WWI. Visit danwillingham.com to get more information about this. As for fluency, you can teach about phrases and clauses and have her pay attention to punctuation. Have her reread passages, emphasizing the phrases and clauses, helping her to see beyond individual words. By helping her read by phrases, clauses, and sentences, her reading will smooth out. HTH Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

It sounds like it's not the learning letters part that was the problem but the part where she was expected to distinguish sounds without looking at letters. This is called "phonemic awareness." These kind of activities are all the rage, but the research indicates that they are unnecessary. As you teach sounds for letters, phonemic awareness will develop on its own. To begin teaching your daughter to read, you need to teach the basics: 1. Sound-Spelling Correspondences. You can start with the alphabet. I like to present a few sounds and then practice with a few games such as memory, sound bingo, or a game (modified from Phonics Pathways) I call "Honk." Have several cards for each of 3-4 letters and a few silly pictures. Shuffle, turn cards over one at a time, say the sound (not the name!) for the letter. When the silly picture comes up do a silly action or sound. Also, you can make pages with grayscale letters for her to trace, having her say the sound as she writes, to help with memory. 2. Left to right tracking. I like put the letters on a page as such: n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n Help her track the letters with her finger from left to right and back to the left again. After she knows a couple of sounds mix it up: c a n c a a n c a n n a c a n 3. Blending sounds all through the word. Start with two sounds and build as her proficiency increases. You can use a whiteboard and write something like this: a n an a n an n a na n a na Demonstrate blending and have her practice. Some kids get this immediately and some take months to be able to independently blend, so don't stress just keep practicing. These are the quick and easy (and cheap) ways to begin. You could also try a number of good beginner programs: BRI at iseesam.com or roadstoeverywhere.com (book-based), Abecedarian at abcdrp.com, or Dancing Bears at prometheantrust.org. You could also do the above work and when she seems comfortable with the consonants and vowels, begin Explode the Code 1. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

My Crazy House asked: I wonder why the same wouldn't translate to spelling. Spelling is really a very different beast. For reading you have the letters to guide you along the way. But in spelling, you have to remember the one-right way to spell a word. Some people can see the words in their minds. This is how I spell-I basically read it from my brain. But not all good readers are good spellers, although it can help, just do to exposure. Some kids need a lot more pathways to memorization: word associations, writing, explicit phonics for knowing the possibilities, understanding the morphemic (meaning) based parts of our language (roots and affixes). Melissa Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Originally Posted by Plaid Dad I always trot this article out when this subject comes up, but I think it's an important one: Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Instruction? The author has a web site that touches on many facets of education. His video (free) "Learning Styles Don't Exist" should be required viewing in every ed-school classroom, imnsho. I was going to give the same info, so at least the news is spreading!:D Melissa Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Amber, I can't speak for the activities, but it is based on the best available information on what works for most kids. The makers have a clear understanding of the composition of the English alphabetic code. I wasn't so impressed with the pre-reading activities (sneaking some sight words in there), but perhaps the later levels are better. If you do decide to purchase it, let us know how it goes. Melissa Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

It sounds like the reading is actually going along fine in that she is making progress. The problem is that the activities in HOP are boring for both of you? If this is the case there are a couple of things you could try: 1. Shorten the lists. Only do a few of the words. 2. Mix the lists up so you are not having to read a long list of rhyming words. (I remember that HOP has lists of rhyming words, correct me if I am wrong) The problem with rhyming lists is it induces a state of inattention. Children don't really have to think about the whole word to do the work. This habit can come back to haunt them later on as words become more difficult. 2. Only do the books. This might actually be a good idea as HOP teaches word families which are not the most effective way to teach reading. Word families tend to be inefficient in that if the child knows the constituent parts there is no need to worry about the word families. 3. Switch to a book-based program. BRI is a good program. You might know it as the "I See Sam" books. Each level has 20+ books and goes slowly introducing code. You can purchase them from several websites, including iseesam.com and roadstoeverywhere.com. 4. Switch to another explicit phonics program. Abecedarian at abcdrp.com is a good program. It is fairly inexpensive. Melissa Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

Reading is just pattern recognition. There are 40ish sounds in English and over 400 ways to spell those sounds. Many of our children would be reading easily and early if we spoke Finnish which has a near perfect relationship between its sounds and its spellings. Some children are very good at pattern recognition. Consciously or unconsciously they make connections among the letters in a word and words they know. Early readers are generally detail oriented--they see the small differences in the letters of a word and work out what those differences mean. Emotionally, they are fine with getting things wrong, trying another sound, and fiddling with it till it makes sense. Many kids are completely fascinated with reading, like some kids are fascinated with dinosaurs. Some kids have the ability, but not the temperment or the interest. Its the interaction of these things--ability, temperment, and interest--that will determine if your child will teach himself to read. Print exposure and story exposure may help, but they are not sufficient for most children. If you ask your young readers to read an unfamiliar word most of them will do the same thing: Start at the left, say a sound for letters or groups of letters till they get to the end. They may adjust in the middle and try other sounds to see which fit and which make the word sound like a real word. When they are done they will have said a relatively close approximation of the word. This is reading. Its what good reading programs explicitly teach. If your child starts randomly guessing at the word, or reads a few letters and then randomly guesses, you might want to check up on their reading. Some kids can appear to be reading well in that they read lots of books, but in fact they are not--they are skipping words and guessing at many of the words. They may have problems later on as texts get more difficult. They may also have figured out the rest of the code by that point. ;) Self-learning is wonderful and amazing when it happens, but its not something to shoot for. It requires a child who is able and willing and interested--all things we parents can't control. The best thing is to begin explicit instruction and if they take off, great. If they don't, they can still learn to read. Many people use the fact that some children learn to read with no instruction or minimal instruction to negate the use of good instruction, ie direct, explicit instruction. Studies indicate that at most, the easy readers represent 25% of children, with 50 percent needed solid instruction, and the remaining 25% needed very detailed, incremental instruction with lots of practice. Having gone from the direction of expecting my daughter to teach herself as both of her parent did, and ending up teaching explicitly more than any program on the market (I know, I tried about a dozen) before she became a confident, fluent reader, it seems it would be easier to begin instruction and let your child's response guide the level of instruction. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

I would recommend Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. Hilarious, a spoof of Lemony Snicket and Harry Potter. About a boy whose special talent is breaking things. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

There are lots of things I would like to do. I gave up a career to be a SAHM and I look longingly at women who have calm, ordered, wealthy lives. I sometimes feel angry that we have to make these choices among many good things. It saddens me that I am never the one called to help out, I am never the one spoken of in respectful tones for my service and work. I am afraid that I will always be an outcast in polite society, even at my church at times. I wish that I had better organizing skills to fit more in. But, its unrealistic to expect one person to do everything. Its unrealistic to think that all people will agree with my priorities. So I just choose to focus on what I can do. My earthly stewardship is first to my children and my family. What time and energy I have left, I give to others as I can. There is a great feeling of loss as time passes and dreams I have had pass away as well. But the joy I feel in doing the right thing for my family gives me hope, harmony, and vitality. That being said, we none of us want to be alone. I have tried to circumvent the loneliness of SAHMhood by homeschooling with other families. We get together a couple of days a week. We share some curriculums, we take turns with the little ones, we help each other with housework, and we make sure to have a nice cup of tea in the afternoon! Its hectic--probably not for everyone, but I don't feel lonely and my kids feel that school is a treat because they get to do it with their friends. Until a larger portion of the community homeschools, we will seem like odd balls. People will treat every problem as though it will be solved by stopping homeschooling. Can some of your occasional friends become more? Are there groups to meet with that will share your priorities. I have come to believe that there is always a solution! Sometimes it takes patience and thinking outside the box--something we homeschoolers tend to excel at! Best wishes! Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)