“One of the most fundamental flaws found in almost all phonics programs, including traditional ones, is that they teach the code backwards.  That is, they go from letter to sound instead of from sound to letter.” Louisa Moats, 1998 What do you think about this quote from Louisa Moats? How...

Writing is a system humans have invented to make speech visible. Our English alphabet is a way of drawing sounds. Words must be written before they can be read. Why not start with writing?

I was recently sent an article by Jan Hasbrouck in which she discusses reading fluency and the pervasive use of Sustained Silent Reading and Round Robin Reading. These are strategies that teachers are using to develop fluency in struggling readers. She says, “Developing fluency among struggling...

Susan Maguire is a retired kindergarten teacher and blogs at “Together Time 4 Families“. This post titled “4 Sound Awareness Activities for Your Preschooler” has some good ideas for developing a young child’s awareness of the sounds in words.  Rhyming and listening for...

This blog post from Imagination Soup suggests as the first of 5 ideas for kids who hate to read: “1. MODEL. Read the page or sentences first.  Have your child repeat.” This strategy may help a child memorize the appearance of the words.  It does not give a child tools to decipher words on his own. Research...

A Typical Day in a Brain Research Lab The machine was familiar to her now, but it was still amazing to think that it could take a picture of her son’s brain while he was reading!  Johnny was lying down inside the machine, and she could hear him answering questions that the doctor was asking. Ann sat...

We want you to know that there are 18 highly entertaining decodable books available at our web site, FREE, on pdf files.  Just print them out and help your child sound-out the words and read them.  Please make sure he or she is sounding out the words, not memorizing how they look. Let me know if you...

Your child will only learn to read and write once! Don’t miss it! Sometimes it happens in the space of a few short months. You can play a vital role, and it may be one of the most significant things you and your child ever do together. Reading and writing are the most important skills children learn...

Children sometimes do well on reading tests in first or second grade because they are good at memorizing the visual appearance of words. You think they are doing fine! However, when they get to third grade, they may start experiencing more difficulty because they encounter many more words that begin...

First graders can write!  And what’s more they WANT to write!  The story below by Kasey, age 6, is a marvelous example, (produced in the Read, Write & Type lab at her school in Los Altos, California). Writing is a way to learn how to think.  As E.M. Forester once said “How can I know what...