Help students make "sound sense" of any word they need to read.

Every word is decodable. The natural reader is able to look at a word, pronounce it, read it, and understand it, because she/he has been able to decode that word. At some time before reading and understanding the word, the natural reader has proceeded to do something of the following: Noticed and sounded out each letter of the word. Used information he/she already knew about decoding the word. Used new information about sounding the word. Used any or all of this information to sound out the word. Used words and information stored in the word recognition area to sound out the word.

Once the natural reader has figured out the prounuciation of the word, she/he proceeds to the something of the following: Used new information to learn the meaning of the word, and stored the word and the meaning in the comprehension area for future reference. Related the word to textual context to figure out the meaning of the word. Compared the word to (an)other word(s) with similar meaning(s). Used all previously learned information stored in the comprehension area to make connections in order to understand the word.

Every word is decodable. The struggling reader, however, usually has difficulty with the decoding, and so is unsuccessful with the rest of the process. He/she needs her/his instructor to show her/him explicitly, concretely, and multi-sensorily HOW to make every word decodable. The instructor should begin wherever the problem begins, providing the learner detailed and thorough assistance with every part of the decoding process for the word, in order to discover the "sound spelling". Wherever the spelling of the word deviates from the usual or expected sound, the instructor should help the learner recognize and learn the difference.

Once the reader has figured out the "sound spelling" and has learned the word's actual written spelling, the learner is able to follow the path of the natural reader, as detailed in paragraph two. Eventually, many struggling readers will also be able to follow the path of the natural reader, as detailed in paragraph one. At that point, the term "struggling reader" will no longer apply.

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When helping a struggling reader improve reading skills, it is helpful not to encourage her/him to rely on context to figure out the word. The student is already having problems with decoding and comprehension, both of which are skills used in context reading. Therefore, it is unlikely that the learner will succeed in the effort, and attempting the skill will increase his/her frustration level. It is much better for the student if the teacher/parent pause, help the learner do the decoding to discover the "sound spelling", relocate the word in the text and say it, and then reread the phrase or sentence for comprehension. It is important to follow this procedure with every word that is causing problems for the learner. Or, if the parent teacher chooses, she/he can preview, select the problem words, preteach them, then locate them in the text and discuss and read them. Then read the text.

In order to best help the reader, it is important that the text be interesting to her/him, and that the instructional level be appropriate for him/her. A little challenge is positive; too much challenge is frustrating. Once the selection is appropriate, the reader should be taught to read and understand each word. When she/he is able to pronounce and understand every word of the text, he/she is finding reading success.

P came to me with a little book of poems that she wanted to learn to read. She knew how to read some words, but had difficulty reading a sentence. I was unsure how successful she would be with the little poems, since the vocabulary was at a rather uncontrolled level. But, since she had selected the book she wanted to read, I decided to try it with her. If she became frustrated with the text, we could always find another for her.

Word by word, she figured out, and read aloud the first line of the first poem. We paused and followed the decoding procedure to find the "sound spelling" for each word she was unable to pronounce. After discussing the meaning, she found the word in the line, read it, and reread the line. Following the strategy, she slowly read each line. When she finished reading the entire poem, we reread it aloud together. Then I made a copy of it, and gave it to her with the instruction to practice reading it until we met again.

The next time we met, we began by rereading the poem together. Then she read it back to me. Then we tackled the next poem. Gradually she read through the little book of poems. By the time she completed the book, she was really beginning to read! The pace was slow enough, and the activity was universal, concrete, and multi-sensory enough, that she was learning every word in the book. She was also learning the sounds of the letters that made up the words.

To Be Continued...

Because P was reading material with ungraded vocabulary, she was encountering some complicated words. I was using the term "complicated" when the decoding was complex, and the "sound spelling" varied considerably from the written spelling. At one point, as P and I were decoding an especially complicated word, she said to me, "Do you know what kind of word that is?" I wondered if she was going to use the word "difficult" or "hard" to describe it, which I had been avoiding. But, when I asked her to tell me what kind of word, she said, "That is a Tricky word!" I told her that "Tricky" was a great word, because of the tricks involved in order to discover its "sound spelling." So, from then on, she or I would announce, "Tricky Word!"

After completing the book of poems, P chose to read a book about Bambi. Though the vocabulary was even more complicated than that in the first book, she persisted until she finished the last page. I hoped that she had truly learned all the words. She was happy, however, because she had read two books!

Next, I decided to help P choose the book. I had found a reading book with several challenging words per story, and questions to answer after each selection. She agreed to work in that book. I told her we would slowly read through the book, and I would help her learn to read every word. She eagerly agreed.

The reading book was a good choice for P. Page by page, she read aloud each selection. She took a copy of each page to practice reading for fluency. Finally, after rereading the story aloud, she read and answered questions about it. She read and completed comprehension and vocabulary building selections. As she continued though the book, her rate of reading and comprehension increased. Increasingly more words became part of her personal reading vocabulary.

She also began to lead our group as I taught phonics activities. At first, she listened to me as I sounded the letters, and took the lead naming the consonants as I spelled words. Next, she began labeling the items on her worksheet as I wrote them on the whiteboard. The skill of being able to name the vowels, short sounds as well as long, as I sounded them, was her next success. Then the day came when she was able to name the picture and helped spell the words as I wrote them. Finally, one day she came in after group was finished and proceeded to very quickly name the pictures, spell and label them with a very little assistance from me. At that point, I was assured that her reading, spelling, and writing skills were converging to form a solid base for her increasing success.

The Story of P will continue, as she continues to increase her skills.

Were you aware that April 12 was National Drop Everything And Read Day? That day is Beverly Cleary's birthday, and since children love her books, she has been encouraging them to take time to drop everything and read those books. So, it is appropriate that children, big and little, celebrate her birthday by taking time to read. I was excited when I heard about the celebration, because The Sounds of Words is currently creating new adult readers, and strengthening reading skills. People are able to take some time for reading now, and they were very interested to hear about the celebration.

That is what the Sounds of Words is all about, creating new readers, and strengthening reading skills. Help struggling readers make sense of the text they need or want to read. Currently, participants in the Sounds of Words reading program are writing words, reading short selections and stories, reading Bible verses, reading songs, writing and reading words related to NASCAR, and learning the driver's manual. They are all adults, and when they are provided with choice of reading texts, they follow their interests. Because the method is universal, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, and applied phonics, it works with any text, any level, to increase reading skills.

So, were you able to Drop Everything And Read on April 12, 2012? Maybe you read a news or information selection. Maybe you even took some time to read a fiction or nonfiction book. Maybe you did not have time to read everything you wanted to read--yet you were able to read anything you needed/wanted to. I was, and am, and I celebrate that fact everyday. My dream is that one day everyone will have that ability.

Here are some thoughts related to Earth Day: Clean energy sources and uses prevent Earth's atmosphere from becoming polluted and overheated. This is important for the health of our planet, as well as our own health and breath. We need to keep our ears open, refusing to become deaf to the pleas of the ecologists. Individuals should hold the life of bears, and the life of other animals and plants close to each breast. Evidence shows that whenever we cease breaking ecological rules, our planet heals. Earth's land and water gleaming in the sun, and all her inhabitants feasting on abundant bread, is the ideal.

A struggling reader will have difficulty reading the above sentences because of some or all of the scientific terms and concepts, such as energy, atmosphere, polluted, ecologists, ecological, inhabitants, and abundant. However, some or all of the "ea" words, with their variety of spellings and pronunciations, will also confuse learners who have difficulty with decoding.

Using the Sounds of Words applied phonics strategy to discover the "sound spelling" for the words Earth, heart, heated, health, breath, ears, deaf, pleas, bears, breast, each, cease, breaking, heals, gleaming, feasting, bread, and ideal, will yield many different pronunciations for "ea" and the letters that follow. Then, once the reader is able to pronounce the words, vocabulary study and comprehension are able to develop.

What does the parent/teacher do when the reading selection requires the learner to use comprehension for homonyms? Learners with decoding problems may have difficulty with some/all of the following example words: two, to, too; new, knew; through, threw; and so, sew. The teacher/parent may wonder whether learning by writing helps with reading English in this area. Yes, The Sounds of Words learning strategy works here too.

The parent/teacher can select the words that will challenge the struggling learner. So, use the strategy to help the student with reading disabilities discover the sounds of each of the example words, showing which letters correspond to which sounds. The learner will discover this: two, to, and too; new and knew; through and threw; and so and sew; share the same "sound spelling" among the grouped words. The teacher/parent should have the learner look at each grouped word and practice reading it, discussing the idea of shared sounds. Locate each one in the text.

Once the learner shows comprehension for shared sounds, consider each word individually. What is the meaning of two? Of to? Of too? How are they used in the text? Here is where comprehension for context is important. Make sure that the learner understands the definition and usage of each word. Read the sentence for each word.

Finally, have the learner read the text aloud. Then discuss it together, asking and having the student answer comprehension questions. Once the student is able to answer correctly, the parent/teacher will be assured that the struggling learner has mastered comprehension for those homonyms. And, the learner also understands the meaning of homonym--words with different spellings and meanings, that share the same sounds!

Students with problems learning to read will often have problems with comprehension for single alphabet letters and their sounds. The Sounds of Words can be helpful in this area as well. The parent/teacher can choose very short, simple words familiar to the learner which feature the usual sounds of the consonants and short vowel sounds. Then help the struggling reader write and decode the words, discovering the "sound spelling." You will need to use an alphabet chart, and you will help the learner concretely and multi-sensorily work with the letters and their sounds. Singing the alphabet song, touching each letter, then finding the letter to write, and repeating the sound of the letter while writing it, will provide practice. And, if the student has difficulty copying the letter, the teacher/parent can write it and allow her/him the opportunity to trace it while discovering each letter for the illustrating word.

Connecting the letters to simple familiar spoken words helps the struggling learner comprehend the alphabet and its sounds. And if the student continues to have difficulty saying the letter names and their sounds, he/she can be helped by adding the activity of the manipulation of oversized letters. If the parent/teacher needs to use this activity, it is very important to use very familiar simple words. Introduce writing simultaneously, and teach the simple vowel-consonant patterns, as detailed in The Sounds Of Words procedure.

The teacher/parent should feel very free to use any short, simple words that interest the struggling learner. The goal is for her/him to make the connection between the words and the letters, thus comprehending the alphabet and its sounds. I have used words related to animals, food, songs, NASCAR, etc., etc. Anything goes, as long as it is short and simple, and G-rated!

Now struggling learners have another option if they wish to increase reading comprehension using The Sounds Of Words! The book, which originally published as an e-book as well as paperback, is now available as a digital e-book, for $4.95. The digital version of the book will work with all current electronic platforms, including the Kindle, the Nook, and the smart phones and tablets.

I wrote The Sounds Of Words to help parents and teachers of learners struggling to read, spell, and write English. It was written in response to regular education teachers inquiring about my mainstreamed special education students seeming to be reading easier than some of their regular education students. I was asked, "How are you teaching your students to read?" I told the regular education teachers that I was helping my students learn to decode words using concrete, multi-sensory activity. "What is that?" was the next question. So I attempted to describe how I taught the students to decode words. After that I decided it was time to write a book about the method, providing commonly used example words for each of the vowel-consonant patterns, as well as example words for consonant sounds.

When I published the book, I learned about the then new innovation of e-book publishing. It sounded like a great idea, as parents and teachers would be able to purchase and then print their own copy of The Sounds Of Words. I am very pleased that I decided to publish as an e-book as well as a paperback, since the earlier technology provided the stepping stone for the digital version. And now the digital version of The Sounds Of Words is available!

Research has found that, "when writing by hand, the movements involved leave a motor memory in the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps us recognize letters. This implies a connection between reading and writing, and suggests that the sensorimotor system plays a role in the process of visual recognition during reading," associate professor Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger's Reading Centre explains. And, "since writing by hand takes time, the temporal aspect may also influence the learning process." The University of Stavanger (2011, January 19). Better learning through handwriting. ScienceDaily.Retrieved May 14, 2012, from http://sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110119095458.htm

So, The Sounds Of Words universal, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, reading decoding method is supported by this research, published in the periodical, Advances in Haptics. Hearing the sounds of the letters, repeating the sounds of the letters, WRITING the letters. MARKING the letters in the word to discover the "sound spelling", COPYING the "sound spelling", and then seeing the "sound spelling", the struggling learner is then able to read the "sound spelling", make the connection to the WRITTEN spelling, and then read and learn the word. Once the struggling learner learns the words, reading comprehension and fluency increase.

Recently I bought a spelling activity game to use with my learners. The goal of one version of the game is to find and use alphabet letters obtained when landing on the letter space while moving around the board, in order to spell short words. Drawings illustrate familiar printed words spelled out letter by letter. To be assured that the learners were able to match usual sound with each letter, I had them match the letters printed on the gameboard with randomly selected colorful oversized letters while saying the letter, a simple regularly decoded word using the letter, then finally saying the usual sound of the letter.Then, I had the learners match letter tiles to the letters, while repeating the same process as with the large letters.

The next step will be to help the learners use The Sounds Of Words to discover the "sound spelling" for each of the illustrated words. Once they are able to sound out the words, they will play the game by moving around the board to obtain letter tiles. Finally, the learners will use the tiles they obtain to match and cover each letter of the target words, spelling the words with the tiles. For each word they cover completely, they will spell the word aloud and then name the word. To further improve comprehension skills, they may later do activities matching words and pictures, playing matching word games, writing sentences using the words, doing crossword activities with the words, etc, etc, etc.

And, because many of the words illustrate the usual letter sounds, the learners will continue to improve their skills, learning to read, spell, and write, The Sounds Of Words!

I had an interesting telephone call on Wednesday. One of my former struggling students, now 40 years old, called me to share information about his life. B also wanted me to understand how important I was to him. He told me that when he came to me for help, he felt so different from everybody else. "People made me feel like I was just so weird," he told me. "But I learned from you that it is ok to be different. In fact, you let me know that you cared about me, and that you thought that my being different, my learning differently, was special. That is what you taught me, that being different is not weird. It is just special."

Wow! That is exactly why I created The Sounds Of Words. I needed a method that would help my struggling readers improve reading skills. So my adult learner and I developed the decoding strategy. And, once she was able to decode the words for herself, she was able to comprehend the text. Then I knew I was helping her. Since then, I have helped many struggling learners of all ages and intelligence levels improve reading, spelling, and writing skills. And by providing a method that allows persons who learn differently to find learning success, The Sounds Of Words validates special learners.

B eventually graduated from college, and has had a successful career. He told me that he plans to come visit me and take me out to dinner. I eagerly anticipate his visit!

"Determination, patience, and genuine love for teaching," is a phrase that describes teachers. Teachers involved in exceptional education may even have an extra dose of those qualities. Students come to an exceptional ed teacher with many--a large variety--of challenges. The teacher is trusted with finding and utilizing methods that remediate the students' struggling. A genuine love for teaching IS very important, because it leads the teacher in all her/his efforts. Teaching well with every student is the teachers' goal, and the teacher finds true fulfillment in the classroom when that is happening. Patience is very important as well, since the students' problems may be overwhelming them, and causing even more problems in the classroom. So, the exceptional ed teacher must try to help and wait patiently to allow the student to show the teacher how best to help her/him, accept, and utilize the help. Determination is very necessary because in many instances, helping the student find the problem and attempt remediation presents its own challenges.

Universal, applied concepts and techniques, explicit, concrete, and multi-sensory teaching and learning are very helpful for struggling students. When the teacher is able to use those methods with a student, the student is able to make sense of the skill or concept. Once the skill or concept makes sense to the student, the student learns. I have seen this happen with every one of the students who have allowed me to help them.

When Scott came to my classroom, he had learning gaps. I reassured him that I would do whatever I could to help him fill in the gaps so that he could get his high school diploma. It was important that he immediately improve his basic skills. So, I taught him how to discover the "sound spelling" for unfamiliar words in his texts, using The Sounds Of Words. We also used the method to help him improve his spelling. Because the Sounds Of Words is a universal, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, reading intervention, he was able to make sense of decoding and spelling words that he needed to comprehend in order to successfully earn his high school diploma. His fluency and comprehension continued to improve, and he was eventually able to earn his college diploma as well.

So yes, I try hard to act as a teacher who is determined, patient, and who demonstrates a genuine love for teaching struggling students.

I recently attended the high school graduation ceremony for students who graduated from The Sounds Of Words. I had helped struggling students in 4th, 5th, 6th, and/or 10th grade. They all had difficulty with decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Once they learned to use The Sounds Of Words to discover "sound spellings," reading, spelling, and writing began to make sense to them.

I taught some of the former 10th-grade students language arts/English, and for some of them, I taught World History. I had taught a few of them in elementary school as well. While teaching them, I used every available opportunity to help them do the decoding for unfamiliar words. We read the texts and discussed them together. They practiced spelling and writing words and sentences. They completed various tests. Some of those students told me that they planned to take college coursework. Others planned employment or military service. Whatever they decide, they now have a high school diploma!

Then, eight students graduated this year that I taught in elementary school and who completed their high school graduation requirements in the regular classroom. In elementary school classes, I taught them how to decode words to discover the "sound spelling" and worked with them to help them develop fluency and comprehension skills. They improved their language arts skills, and they were able to maintain regular subject requirements and graduate with standard diplomas. Some of those eight will choose to study for a college diploma. All of them will have the opportunity to do so.

Being a participant in Graduation 2012 was truly exciting!

Many struggling learners also struggle with appropriate learning habits. It is very important for the teacher/parent to provide interesting and appropriate text for the student to read. Self-selected text is best, because the student has a desire/need to read that material. It is also very important to provide strategies that assist the struggling reader. Once these are provided, however, the student must be able to respond with appropriate, on-task, focused, learning behavior. Sometimes, unfortunately, motivation is lacking in this area.

When teaching an individual student, usually the parent/teacher can help the struggling learner develop appropriate behavior. Self-selected material and positive results provide great motivation. Positive affirmation and activity breaks after successful task completion are very helpful. The same methods can be used when using The Sounds Of Words with a group of students.

However, sometimes several students in a group are severely lacking motivation for appropriate, on-task, focused, learning behavior. In one of my high school exceptional ed groups, several students were responding to the classroom setting with extremely talkative and playful off-task behavior. Offering appropriate material, strategies, and positive affirmation was not increasing appropriate behavior. Activity breaks were not being earned. Negative reinforcement was not an answer. So I got creative.

I continued verbally affirming the students who were exhibiting appropriate learning habits, and began also writing their initials on the board, setting them up for an eventual activity break. Systematically, every ten minutes, I added a check mark to their initials, also promising a one-minute activity break for each check mark. Gradually, I added other initials and check marks. I wondered if I would need to do this every ten minutes, every day, all semester... However, to my surprise, that same day, the most talkative students demanded to know what they had to do to get their initials on the board. So, once they began to attempt appropriate behavior, I added their initials. It took several days of this systematic, concrete method before the talkative and playful behavior began to chance to more focused activity. But it did happen, and eventually all my students chose to improve their language arts skills.

Then, whenever the group needed help settling down, or staying settled for learning, I revived the use of the technique. After a short time, the students would once again return to appropriate learning activity.

Struggling readers can develop routines that help them function in everyday situations. They can get information and entertainment from the telephone, television, radio, internet, DVDs, CDs, and MP3 players. High-functioning readers use the same sources and follow the same routines. But what happens when a storm knocks out electric power? What if there is damage to the living area? A whole-house generator and the ability to fuel it will be helpful. However, most households depend solely on the power company, so routines fail.

Suddenly, many sources are no longer available, and with prolonged/widespread outages, the routine is gone. Damage to the living area causes more problems. High-functioning readers seek information elsewhere. Print media is available to inform them of emergency services. They find information about the outage by locating and contacting the agencies that can help. They may be able to go to get help. They take advantage of any water, ice, and food distribution. Print media informs them of "survival" ideas. And they have newspapers, magazines, and books to take with them wherever they need to be. They fight their way through many unusual challenges.

Struggling readers lose their sources of information and entertainment and their routines. However, they are unable to independently take advantage of print media, so they need extra assistance to overcome the challenges. They cannot solve the problems related to storms and power outages without additional help.

To prevent these extra problems, the teacher or parent can help struggling readers improve their reading skills using The Sounds of Words. Help students learn how to concretely and multi-sensorily decode any words they are struggling with. Help students read and comprehend the information that they need/want to read!

"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness..." This document was signed by 56 delegates of the Colonies, who became the Founding Fathers, and thus was born the United States Of America.

Yes, every year, US citizens celebrate July 4th, Independence Day, with parades, cook-outs, picnics, patriotic songs, and fireworks. The basis for that holiday is The Declaration of Independence, kept at the US National Archives & Records Administration and accessed at www.archives.gov. And every citizen must be able to read and comprehend every word. This is our history, "IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America..."

Struggling readers will have difficulty decoding, reading, and comprehending many or all of the words in this document. The Sounds Of Words can help them concretely and multi-sensorily discover the "sound spellings" for any words they need. The teacher/parent will encourage and empower the struggling reader by acknowledging the words the reader already knows and then using The Sounds Of Words to teach the unknown words. By doing so, The Declaration of Independence will make sense and will become necessary to the citizens of The United States Of America.

Children who are read to have better success in school. That is a generally accepted fact. So, when do you begin reading to a child? Well, try this: Find a baby. Make yourself comfortable on the sofa, prop up your legs, then prop the baby on your legs. Then, read a good beginning reading book to the baby. One of the rhyming story books is excellent, full of colorful and engaging illustrations. Read a page of the story, then show Baby the pictures. Talk about the images with Baby. Then, read the next page. Continue as long as you have Baby's attention.

This activity teaches Baby the sounds of words. Reading a book expands Baby's world of ideas and language. Looking at the pictures and talking about them with Baby teaches turn-taking skills. The pictures help develop Baby's imagination. By seeing and touching the book and its pages, Baby begins learning about the fun of words and books.

When you are sure you have Baby's attention for books, read Baby a cloth storybook. Follow the same procedures. Then, give Baby the book to take with her/him wherever he/she goes. Later, Baby will enjoy being given little board-baby books to read.

When Baby gets older and would rather crawl around and explore than be held and read to, make sure that Baby's books are easy to find during exploration. Teach Baby that books are not balls and are not made for throwing. Otherwise, explore them. This may be when Baby can see you read something while Baby plays. Then, when Baby gets tired from crawling, standing, running, exploring, and throwing balls, pick up Baby, hold Baby closely in your lap, and once again read to Baby. You are helping Baby learn to Love Reading.

Recent research using fMRI reveals differences in brain functioning between some pre-readers with a family history of dyslexia and pre-readers with no such family history. Two groups of children, average age of 5 1/2, matched for age, sex, and IQ, consisted of 36 at-risk pre-schoolers and 18 preschoolers with no known risk. Compared with the control group, some children at risk for dyslexia showed reduced activity in the brain's occipitotemporal and left temporoparietal regions. This is similar to older children and adults with dyslexia. High activations in these regions--in both the at-risk and control groups--correlated with better performance on tasks that predict reading ability, such as rhyming, knowing letters and letter sounds, and separating sounds within a word.

Early diagnostic markers could enable a child to receive early interventions to head off difficulties and frustration in school, say investigators Nora Raschle, PhD, and Nadine Gaab, PhD, researchers from the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital (PNAS, January 23). Developmental dyslexia, which affects 5 to 17 percent of children, has a strong familial component. Up to half of all children with a positive family history will have dyslexia themselves. This study reveals differences in brain activity even before children begin reading instruction.

Drs. Gabb and Raschle are conducting further research to see if the fMRI observations correlate with diagnosed dyslexia and EEG results.

Article: Research: Spotting Dyslexia In Pre-readers, Boston Children's Hospital http://www.childrenshospital.org/views/april12/spotting_dyslexia.html

Further details and pictures can be found at the address above.

Recent research shows that students frequently involved with texting are losing formal writing skills. So, how do teachers/parents help students improve their skills? It is important to help students learn to read and enjoy well-written stories and texts. It is also important that the teacher/parent insist on correct spelling and grammar in all written classwork.

Use The Sounds Of Words to help struggling learners develop reading, spelling, and writing skills. Encourage learners to enjoy reading and practice skills frequently. Then, help students learn to spell words correctly and to write using correct grammar. Notify students that texting language is informal writing and that all classwork should be formal. Then, remind them whenever they stray from the standard, and expect them to make appropriate corrections.

As the student develops reading skills, spelling and writing skills improve.

Once upon a time, a little first-grade boy had given up on reading. He came to class each day very reluctantly and wasted his time during reading class, moving about the room and exploring things. When he came to his desk and was handed a book to read, he threw it to the floor. When the teacher picked it up and placed it on his desk, he brushed it onto the floor. When the teacher picked up the book, opened it, and sat down next to the little boy to read it with him, he turned away. He had been unable to learn to read during the past year, so he had just given up on reading.

The teacher decided to leave his desk bookless and began to teach spelling to the group, using The Sounds Of Words. The little boy refused to look at the blackboard or attempt any words. But he sat in his seat, and he heard the lesson. Several days went by. Then, one day, the little boy watched and listened as the teacher helped the students decode and practice their spelling words. Then, he decided to attempt a word. The teacher helped him decode that word. The next time the teacher put the book on the student's desk, he left it there. Finally, he opened the book and began looking at it. At that point, the teacher started teaching him the information in the book. When he realized that he learned when taught with the universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, and reading intervention, he slowly began reading, writing, and spelling words.

After a few years, the once little boy left that classroom and went to another school. The teacher hoped he was doing well. Years passed. Then, one day, the boy's mother met the teacher while shopping. "I just want to thank you so much for helping J," she said. "You taught him to read, and he graduated from high school this year!" More years passed. Then the teacher saw the mother again while shopping. "How is J doing?" asked the teacher. "Just fine," his mother replied. "He has a good job, is married, and has two children."

Hearing all that made the teacher's heart glad. She knew she had helped that little boy!

Recently, I was asked why I insist on teaching phonics to students who are having difficulty learning it. My answer is that I am providing the least restrictive environment (lre) for reading students. Experts in special education have proven that lre is best for these learners because it allows them to learn as normally as possible. So, lre is always set as a goal.

Brain science has confirmed that natural readers decode all novel words according to their vocabulary. They may follow all the decoding steps, such as sounding each letter, dividing each syllable, sounding the word, etc. Or they may decode by comparing the novel word to (an) another word (s) already stored in their recognition/comprehension center. They may use context to help them figure out the word. Yet, one way or another, all novel words are decoded, and phonics plays a role. Thus, decoding and phonics are essential to lre.

The Sounds of Words is a universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, and reading intervention. It is a method that directly teaches decoding and phonics skills to students who are having difficulty learning phonics. So, whenever the teacher/parent uses The Sounds of Words to teach decoding and phonics skills, the parent/teacher is meeting the goal of the least restrictive environment.

Today, I helped a learner planning to sing a self-selected country song for a talent show this fall. He has listened to the music on the radio and already knows some of the words. He enjoys singing along with the parts of the lyrics he has learned. Since he wants to sing that song in the talent show, he must know all the words. So, this morning, I helped him decode, say, and type all the lyrics. He enjoys the song and will enjoy singing it in the show.

Because every word is concretely and multi-sensorily decodable, and because The Sounds of Words applies phonics, B is now able to learn to read every word of the lyrics. Because he is able to read every word, he is able to learn to sing every word of the song. He will eventually commit each word to memory, and then he will sing the entire song in the show.

Two years ago, B was not well-versed in the sounds of words. He sang along with a song in that year's talent show but had not memorized some of the words. He was unable to sing all the lyrics. He had difficulty with consistent focus. Now, practicing The Sounds Of Words, he has learned to focus on the words he needs to learn, to decode and read them. He will enjoy singing all the lyrics of this year's song!

Readers are writers, and writers are readers. Natural readers enjoy reading widely, often at an early age. They comprehend the words and the text, commit words to automatic recognition, and use the comprehension/recognition area to figure out words in context as they read. As they read increasingly more well-written texts, they learn the principles of English grammar. Thus they are able to comprehend and write well themselves.

The Sounds Of Words is a universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, reading intervention. So, when struggling learners attempt to read widely, the strategy is available to help them be able to do so. Any unknown word is explicitly, concretely, and multi-sensorily decodable, for the text they are reading. And as they continue to read widely, they are able to use the same process as that of the natural reader.

So, in order to understand and learn the irregularities of English words and grammar, students should read widely. Then when taught grammar and spelling, they will have the foundation to learn and practice good writing. Increasing wide reading and writing practice will lead to good writing skills.

Struggling readers desire to communicate with their friends on social media, read, and post messages about their interests. The Sounds of Words strategy is helpful here since it is a universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, and applied phonics. The parent/ teacher can choose any portion of social media text of interest and teach the student to read, discuss, and respond to it.

Teach the student to decode and read any word(s) that the student needs to know to read the text. Use the same strategy to teach the student how to spell and write words correctly so that the student can respond with her/his own idea(s) about the subject. The student is improving comprehension of written text and writing text while engaging in the social media that he/she enjoys!

Additionally, the student is adding to the words for reading, spelling, and writing stored in the comprehension/memory area of the brain!

Citizens of the world are interested in learning the English language. English-speaking countries generally value democracy and free enterprise. Because of this, freedom and innovation are products of those countries. English has become an important language of diplomacy and commerce. World citizens are interested in living and working in those countries, and they want to be able to speak the language.

The Sounds Of Words is helpful here. The book provides information and example words for the spelling and pronunciation of the vowel-consonant patterns for the 600 most frequently used words in the English language. It also has words to illustrate the variety of consonant sounds. It shows how to use the universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, and reading intervention.

In addition, because the vowel-consonant patterns and consonant sounds are illustrated, specific comparisons can be made between the pronunciation of the letters of the learner's first language and the English sounds of the letters. So, world citizens can learn to speak more like a native English speaker.

Using The Sounds of Words, learners can increase their proficiency in reading, spelling, writing, and speaking English!

Many struggling learners of English have difficulty with phonemic awareness. They do not hear the sounds of words clearly enough to comprehend rhyming words and poetry. Jokes that involve puns, plays on words, are not funny to them. Although they participate in phonemic awareness pre-reading activities, they continue to struggle with the sounds of words.

The Sounds Of Words applied phonics reading intervention provides the opportunity for struggling learners to comprehend and master phonemic awareness and phonics. The process of listening to the usual sounds of the letters of a word, saying those sounds, writing those sounds, concretely and multi-sensorily decoding the word to read the sound spelling, and finally reading the written word, gives opportunities for the learner to find success with phonemic awareness and phonics.

Then, once the student is able to read the word, she/he is able to utilize automatic recognition and comprehension whenever reading that word, as well as using the information for decoding and comprehension of other words.

Today is a bright, blue sky autumn day in Southside, Virginia. The leaves of the trees are losing their green and are glowing with reds, oranges, purples, yellows, golds, and browns. Halloween decorations add the colors black and white. The Sounds Of Words helps the struggling reader learn to read, spell, and write color words. While learning those words, the reader practices many frequently used vowel and consonant sounds. The student also has the opportunity to note and practice tricky and less frequently used sounds.

"Red" is the most straightforward word to read, spell, and write. "Blue," "green," "black," and "white" are decodable using the usual rules. "Gold" is tricky because the "o" sound is different from the usual vowel-consonant sound for "o." "Yellow" is tricky because of both the "el" sound and the "ow." "Brown" presents the "ow" as yet another sound. The "ur" and "le" sounds in "purple" create tricks. Finally, the pronunciation of the word "orange" tricks the reader with its "or", "an", and "ge". In other words, the whole pronunciation of "orange" is tricky!

However, when the struggling reader is helped to use the universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, Sounds Of Words, and reading intervention, the tricks are decoded. The words make sense, and the student comprehends words that describe the colors of autumn!

My reading students chose to participate in their annual talent show recently. They chose to sing along with songs they liked. Once they selected a song, I copied the lyrics for them. Then we used The Sounds Of Words to read and learn the lyrics. After learning all of the words to the song, they learned to sing each word as we played the selection. When they became comfortable singing along with the selection, they added costume and movement.

The students selected a variety of songs and styles of music. They worked hard to read and memorize the words correctly, and to learn to sing along with the melody. One student even chose to learn to use sign language to "sing" the words to one song. All of them practiced and learned to sing along with "God Bless The USA" for the finale.

The night of their performance the students said they were nervous. However, when each one stepped onto the stage, the practice and learning was evident. They sang along with the selections, correctly hitting every word, every note. The audience of parents, support professionals, team leaders, and directors thoroughly enjoyed each individual performance at the annual talent show!

P has been reading, spelling, and writing Level One words well. Level One words include the most frequently used words in speech and writing. P had mastered the words in the controlled text she had completed. Whenever she was present for the group lesson, she would help me lead the group, reading poems and song lyrics with me, singing, and answering my questions. She had also been bringing Bible verses for me to help her learn and was beginning to be successful at reading many of those words.

P was very interested in the stories of the Bible, so she chose a student Bible as her next book to learn to read. The stories were short and used primarily Level One vocabulary. However, the sentences were more complicated, and each story included some instances of higher-level words as well. So, as P read through the book, she would have many opportunities to increase her reading skills using The Sounds of Words.

P has been enjoying reading the stories in the student Bible and adding many words to her vocabulary. She is continuing to read through the Bible. Recently, she asked me if I would get another copy for her to keep and read. So, she will now have her own student Bible, and she will learn to pronounce and comprehend every word of each story in her Bible!

P and I had a two-month break from reading lessons.  Then, we had the opportunity to read together again.  She chose a little book and began reading it aloud to me.  I helped her with some of the words she had difficulty with.  However, she correctly pronounced most of the words and read entirely through the book!  She was so happy and so excited to be able to read that little book! I was delighted to learn that she remembered all the words she had previously learned using The Sounds Of Words!

I re-posted a challenging text to my Facebook page, so that my Friends could try to read it.  The text was composed of scrambled words, where the first and last letters were the only letters in the correct place.  I received this comment from one of my former students:  "Wow!  I read it with ease!  Thanks to you, Mrs. Landoll, I developed a true romance with the English language.  Thank you!"  T was another reading student who benefited from using The Sounds Of Words to make sound sense of English words!