There are many different methods and opinions on how to teach a child to read – while all are well-intentioned, some methods could actually lead to reading difficulties in children. Learning to read is a critical step towards future academic success and later on success in life. If you cannot read, you cannot succeed. There is an amazingly simple method – actually, a combination of two methods – that can teach anyone to read, even children as young as 2 and 3 years old.
The combination of these two methods has been used in the Children Learning Reading program to successfully teach thousands of young children to read. So what are these methods?
It is the combination of synthetic phonics and phonemic awareness.
Most have probably heard of phonics, but phonemic awareness is a concept less well known and ?it’s not something you hear about often. Certainly, phonics is absolutely necessary to develop fluent reading skills; however, there are different types of phonics including embedded, analogy, analytical, and synthetic phonics. While using some type of phonics is better than not including any phonics instructions at all, you will achieve FAR BETTER results by employing synthetic phonics, which is by far the most easy and effective method for teaching reading. Multiple studies support this.
In a 7 year study conducted by the Scottish Education Department, 300 students were taught using either analytic phonics or synthetic phonics. The results found that the synthetic phonics group were reading 7 months ahead and spelling 8 to 9 months ahead of the other phonics groups. At the end of the 7 year study, the children were reading 3.5 years ahead of their chronological age.
Very impressive!
Through their amazing reading program, the creators (Jim & Elena – parents of 4 children and reading teachers) have taught all of their children to read phonetically by 3 years old and have helped thousands of parents to successfully teach their children to read as well! Some are small 2 or 3 year old toddlers, others are young 4 or 5 year old preschoolers, and still others at ages 6, 7, 8 or even older.
The Children Learning Reading program works so well that many children will achieve reading ages far ahead of their chronological age.
Take Jim & Elena’s children as an example: their oldest child, Raine, was reading phonetically at 2 years 11 months old, and by the time she entered kindergarten at 5 years old, she was reading at a grade 5 level with a reading age of 11.9 years – almost 7 years ahead of her chronological age. Their second child, Ethan, learned to read phonetically by 2 years 9 months, and at age 3, he was reading at a grade 2 level with a reading age of 7.2 years – progressing at a similarly quick pace as his older sister. Find that hard to believe? You can watch the videos posted here.
There are many different phonics programs out there, but rarely do you ever hear a mention of phonemic awareness (PA), and PA is absolutely an equally critical component to developing reading skills in children. What makes the Children Learning Reading program so unique and amazingly effective at teaching young children is that it seamlessly combines the teaching of synthetic phonics along with phonemic awareness to enable children to develop superb reading skills.
Above and beyond simply teaching children to read and decode effectively, this approach of combining synthetic phonics and PA instructions works to help children achieve reading ages far above their chronological ages – just as the Scottish study had demonstrated with synthetic phonics. The amazing effects of this type of learning increases dramatically with time and age. Even more noteworthy is that this approach to learning reading immensely enhances a child’s spelling abilities as well! Indeed, in a report published by the National Reading Panel (NRP), the NRP had found that learning through synthetic phonics and phonemic awareness instructions greatly enhances a young child’s ability to spell.
Whether you have a toddler, a pre-schooler, a kindergartener, or an early grade school child, the Children Learning Reading program will enable you to effectively teach your child to decode and read phonetically. The lessons are taught in a logical and sequential order of learning, and the step-by-step lessons make it super easy for you to teach your child and enable your child to become a fast and fluent reader.
