The Value of “Reading Rescue”
I would like to give you an update on the progress of a young boy who has been taking the Reading Rescue program. He is a grade 4 student in a regular classroom, who because of significant learning problems has been falling behind his classmates in all of his subjects.
The reason for his reading problems is NOT because he can’t learn, it’s because of a real learning disability. Most children learn to read in school following the usual curriculum and have few problems. Some children however experience a tremendous hurdle applying the reading skills taught in the conventional way. School systems of course recognize these children early in their school career and attempt to provide additional help and many of these “slow to learn how to read” students do eventually pick it up.
The student that I am referring to however did not pick it up and because schools are reluctant to hold students back he has been promoted to grade 4 but was only reading at the preprimer level with little hope that he would advance beyond this level without some intensive work.
His parents contacted me regarding the Reading Rescue Program and I provided them with special phonics material that was appropriate for his skill level ( ie.sounds of individual letters) in a format that interested him and instructed mom and dad on a technique that taught him how to blend 2 sounds together (a consonant and the short vowel “a” sound), then 3 sounds until he was able to sound out 3 letter words with a medial short “a” sound (eg, sat, man, rag, etc.). This skill was then expanded into spelling short vowel sounds words.
He was then introduced to a number of “service words” (words that may or may not be able to sounded out but make up much of our written language – example “the”, “and”, “come”, “”what”). We played many fun word games with this ever expanding list of “sight words” and with his improving phonics skills based on vowel sounds (short, long, irregular), he is now able to read at the mid grade 2 level. After 4 1/2 years at school this boy had the reading skills of a typical 3 year old child. The school system continued to promote him and he appeared to be destined to be illiterate. After 4 months of 1/2 hour per night of Reading Rescue, this boy is well on his way to becoming a functional reader at the very least.
If you have a child who is not “getting it”, I invite you to give me a call.