Reading Best Practices

Why do so many teachers and tutors claim to use best practices for reading instruction when they neglect the most important methods?
The National Reading Panel reviewed decades of research on reading and determined that struggling readers need a solid foundation, a foundation that extends far deeper than phonics.

Reading comprehension practices that ensure success for struggling readers must include auditory processing (making sense of spoken words) activities so students can connect printed words and meaningful spoken words. Virtually all students who struggle with reading have subtle problems with auditory processing, the leading cause of comprehension difficulties in secondary students.

Many who believe that they are following best practices in reading still neglect phonemic awareness instruction. This is sad, as a few hours working on phonemic awareness is often the fastest route to reading success. Early research showed that phonemic awareness was important for kindergarten and first grade students. Recent research, including the research Sound Reading is based on, shows that it critical for older students. The reason is simple; as words get more complex students require greater phonemic awareness to make sense of them.

Reading comprehension practice doesn’t have to be a protracted battle. There are many strategies that are useful, but only a few that stick. The first is "Stop and Think." The teacher places post-its at critical places in a story. When a student comes to a post-it he stops and thinks. Then he employs the second strategy, he "Turns and Talks" to his reading partner and they have a minute talk about the passage.

The Start of Summer

The first day of summer is one of my best memories growing up. Somehow the weather is always clear and sunny, the perfect temperature to spend the day outside doing anything but homework. It is the start of swimming races and neighborhood games of tag - the end of long days in school and hours of homework.

As books and math problems are thrown by the wayside, the basic skills students built up over the past year slowly fade away and come September, it will take weeks to catch back up. Summer reading projects aren't enough to keep kids from falling back. For a student that was already struggling in school, it is even more important to keep them from falling even farther behind.

How do you convince kids to come inside at the end of a sunny day and sit down to do homework when you can barely even get them to help with the dishes for fear they will miss part of the bike race? Parents try everything from bribing children with ice cream and equally appetizing rewards, to punishing students for not doing their summer work.

Here at Sound Reading, we found the perfect balance between work and fun. Our interactive software uses games and challenges to encourage students to learn. Our readers and activity books pair the basic listening and processing skills with actual reading practice. Not only will your child enjoy the Sound Reading program, but by the end of the summer he or she will love to read!