The almost militant battle of how to best teach reading has been waged over the last 150+ years with proponents from both sides being adamant about their recommendations. As the reading curriculum pendulum has swung back and forth from phonics to sight to phonics the controversy roars on with little attention given to anything except technique. This narrow view of reading has resulted in millions of individuals being diagnosed with dyslexia and other reading and language delays.
With the introduction of learning styles even more reading techniques abound. Phonics is an auditory approach to reading. One must hold each sound in auditory short-term memory long enough to get the word “sounded out”. If the child’s auditory short-term memory (processing) is low, phonics doesn’t work well, and the parents typically finds themselves moving from one phonics program to the next. This is often the case in the home school community because phonics is viewed as “THE” best way to teach reading. Don’t get me wrong; I love phonics and it is a terrific way to teach reading IF the child has good auditory processing. If not, there is frustration, tears and feelings of low self-esteem.
A visual learner might pick up sight words easily but struggle with phonics because of the learner’s visual bend. For the tactile learner, reading is a real challenge as it is time consuming and inefficient to create each word you need to learn out of pipe cleaners or the like.
In this episode, the Brain Coach will give you tips on what functions must be working well in the brain for reading to take place as she reveals the best way to teach reading.
Don’t miss the handout attached here with links to pertinent information and discounts.
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