Phonics Reading Program for Visual Learners - Philosophy & Field Test Data

HELP FOR STRUGGLING READERS

     When I  began teaching preschool in my own center in 1991, I noted that some children picked up the concepts of letters, sounds, and numbers very easily, while others seemed to have learning issues and could not seem to retain what we taught them.

     It became my goal to find ways to help these children learn and remember. Subsequently, it became my passion to create materials that could be used by any teacher with any collection of children, regardless of background, preparation, or ability. What resulted at first was our visual alphabet and our stylized sight word collection.

     I spent the ensuing years working with students who "cannot learn," painstakingly creating visual and kinesthetic bridges for them. I focused on discovering where the gaps in understanding were, and then on creating "bridges" that allowed those children to learn and recall as well as other children did. Each visual in our Dolch sight word cards collection came as a result of asking children questions such as, "What does this look like to you?" "What does this remind you of?" And then, "How did you remember that?"

MULTISENSORY AND VISUAL PHONICS - HOW IT WORKS

     The Child1st phonics reading program for visual & kinesthetic learners harnesses two powerful regions of the brain in which learning is unconscious, and recall is instant. No other parts of the brain are quite as powerful in the learning process as are the visual cortex and the cerebellum. Pictures of patterns and maps are "snapped" instantly in the visual cortex and are recalled intact when the information stored in them is needed. For struggling readers, motions learned are stored in the cerebellum and are also powerful means of recalling information that was attached to the motion during the learning process.

READING ASSESSMENTS - FIELD TEST DATA

     Eight kindergarten teachers, and a handful of special education teachers have tested and used this approach from 2000 to 2005. The kindergarten classes are regular ed classrooms with 17-24 students. I supervised the progress of these teachers in order to continue to refine lessons with an eye to meeting the needs of all students.

     I have used this material with small groups of children just beginning to master basic skills (ages 4-6) and small groups in a Title 1 setting (grades K-7). I have also used the visual alphabet and Dolch sight word cards with ELL students, and in whole group inclusion classrooms (grades 1-2).

     My first formal group consisted of preschool and kindergarten children ages 4-6 that were learning to read. Most of the children were not "traditional learners," and they were my impetus for creating this approach to teaching of reading and math (Kid Friendly math series). I later realized that the children were not struggling learners apart from the fact that I had approached teaching them from a very left-brain stance. I was the one that had to adjust my approach with them, and what a difference it made!

     We began our school year in September. I began administering assessments in March. Assessments I gave included Phonics Master Inventory (Blends & Digraphs, Number of Syllables, Base Words & Affixes, Plurals, Vowel Teams, and Two Consonant Endings), Features Spelling, and John's Basic Reading Inventory with Graded Word Lists-Form A and Oral Reading Passages-Form A. Testing revealed a range of reading levels from 2nd-4th grades.

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