Reading Reflex (book). Any thoughts/users?

[MaryElizabeth]

An acquaintance of mine mentioned using the book Reading Reflex to teach her son to read; (her son was 4).

 

What is it?

How's it different from OPGTR?

Success?

Recommend it?

Thoughts?

[MaryElizabeth]

self-bump

[redsquirrel]

Used it. Love it.

 

Never used OPG so I can't compare.

 

You might try posting this in the k-8 curriculum forum.

 

If you do a search you will find some old threads.

[A home for their hearts]

Reading Reflex is completely different from OPGTR. RR is a Phono-graphic method of teaching reading while OPGTR is a traditional phonics program. RR focuses on the individual sounds (phonemes) of our language and then teaches the sound pictures (letters) for those sounds. Teaching letter names is a big no-no. You don't need to know the name A but rather the sound it represents to be able to read. Here's a review that might help.

[Tracy in Ky]

I used this with my son, and I think that it slowed his reading progress down. We eventually switched over to traditional phonics--Abeka.

[Amira]

I used it to teach my two older sons to read about 5 years ago and plan to use it with my youngest in the next 2-3 years. To me, it was the most logical way to teach reading that I've seen and I'm looking forward to using it again.

 

I can't compare with OPGTR, though, because it came out after I'd started teaching my boys.

[Mom-ninja.]

I love RR. Love it. My oldest struggled with reading. I tried several programs and none worked with him.

 

I did use OPG for a bit and it was working but it was slow going.

 

RR has worked wonders. My oldest ds jumped three reading levels in one year. I used it to teach my middle ds and he learned to read quickly and easily.

 

It's quick, easy, and works well.

[JFSinIL]

RR is the only thing that worked for three of my four kids. I ended up writing HUNDREDS of additional collections of sentences/paragraphs, using targeted letter sounds (and the kid's favorite pet name or tv character) to have extra material with which to practice reading.

 

Jean needs to eat a green bean. (Note this is showing two different ways to make one vowel sound. Another more advanced lesson might use the sentence Jean needs to not eat green bread or put beans on her head. This has the kid noting how ea can represent more than one sound. )

 

The fat cat sat on Joe's leg in his bed. Joe did not get up. The cat and Joe went back to sleep. Mom got mad.

 

OK - those are basic examples, but you get the idea.

Edited February 3, 2011 by JFSinIL

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Many phonics programs don't teach letter names much or at all either. My kids still get J and G confused when they try to say the letter name.

 

RR goes from sound to symbol, teaching the various ways of representing each sound.

 

Other phonics programs go from symbol to sound, teaching the various sounds that any symbol or group of symbols can represent.

 

In either you will have to work with the outliers. Sounds that have lots of ways to spell them or letter combos that can represent several sounds. These are instances where a lot of read alouds from the parent can really help to scaffold reading by the child. It is easier to correctly read a word that you have already learned by hearing it used in a story.

 

I considered but ended up not using RR with my youngest, who was having a speech problem when he was learning to read. He tended not to say all of a word, but only the first half or so. For him, RR would have been a poor fit, because he wasn't saying enough of the word to then connect with the symbology. A traditional phonics approach (we used 100 Easy Lessons along with the I Can Read It books from Sonlight) helped him to see what he was hearing so that he could begin to replicate it in his own speech.

 

I think RR could be a program that really clicks with some kids. But I wanted to mention one possible reason for not using it.