My Student Is Having Difficulty Learning to Read:
How Can Read, Write & Type!™ Help?
has clear auditory and visual instructions. is non-judgemental and highly motivating. makes reading easier. makes writing easier. The RWT!™ Learning System provides a concrete representation of the keyboard with houses and characters whose names start with the sound of the letter. This is much easier for LD children to remember than an abstract array of symbols. If children say the sounds aloud as they type each one, their mouths can literally "help each finger" -- that is, it may be easier for children to mentally link a mouth motion and a finger motion (motor-motor) than a sound and a finger motion (auditory-motor). The simple act of speaking while writing engages multiple brain systems, and mobilizes maximum brain power for the task.
The Read, Write and Type!™ Learning System...
The RWT!™ Learning System is designed with many safety nets to meet the needs of children who may have difficulty reading and writing. The instructions are provided with clearly recorded speech; they do not have to be read. The auditory instructions are accompanied by graphic illustrations and can be repeated as many times as necessary.
Children can learn phonics, reading, writing, typing, spelling and punctuation, at their own pace, with clear, non-judgemental feedback. Games can be repeated infinitely. Self-esteem is protected in vulnerable students who need to work at a slower pace and tend to make lots of errors. The program is highly motivating to keep the interest and concentration of children who have difficulty focusing their attention.
Children see words appear neatly spaced in a clear, large font, leading their eyes consistently from left to right on the screen. Writing requires reading -- you really can't write without reading what you write. The phonics children learn from writing in the RWT!™ Learning System can be applied when encountering new words in books.
Research shows that dyslexics frequently have difficulty with visual-motor integration. The problem contributes to difficulty with handwriting as well (dysgraphia), because they have a hard time remembering the visual appearance of a letter and then drawing that letter with a pencil. (Is this a tall letter or a short letter? Do I start at the top or the bottom? Do I move the pencil from right to left or left to right?) Typing bypasses that difficult motor-visual process because it requires only a simple key press.