When we think of beginning reading instruction, we think of learning the letters of the alphabet, perhaps beginning to learn the sounds of the letters, and starting an "official" phonics curricula. Those are all valid foundations for a good reader. However, the fact is that reading instruction starts much earlier - even with your toddler. We call it pre-reading skills--all the skills that need to Continue Reading >>

The foundation of any reading program is phonics. Right? Ha! This is an age-old debate, and lots of people fall in the "phonics is the only way" camp. I used to be that way, until I had a child with dyslexia. Phonics didn't work for her. What finally worked was a combination of reading instruction methods with a strong emphasis on Sight Words and Word Recognition. Most dyslexics take pictures of Continue Reading >>

When you think about reading instruction, you can think about the different steps in reading development. At the beginning comes the pre-reading phase. Pre-reading activities are the things you can do with your toddler and preschooler to help prepare them to read. These include shape recognition, practicing visual spacial development, left-to-right tracking exercises, alphabet Continue Reading >>

Teaching phonics and sight words is all well and good. We are putting a big focus on that in our school this year with a couple of my kids. But what happens when you get to the end of all that phonics and sight words practice, and your child still doesn't remember a thing they have read? For most children, reading comprehension develops naturally, and can be improved by using a few of Continue Reading >>