The Hidden Code: There’s More to Reading Than Words
Unique reading skills training deciphers the secret of literacy
Reading is such a vital part of everyday experience that it’s tempting to think of it as simple or natural. Nothing could be further from the truth! Since creation, man has communicated through speech. For most, the ability to talk develops naturally to one degree or another without formal instruction. Writing and reading are entirely different.
Sounds First…Then Letter Codes
Written language was developed to record spoken language. Speech sounds are the foundation upon which all writing codes were formed. The sounds existed before written language and would continue even if all written records were destroyed. In most languages the code has little actual similarity to the sounds it represents. For example, the alphabet that we use to record American English is nothing more than a collection of arbitrary, manmade, two-dimensional symbols. It is simply a code used to represent our speech sounds on paper. You encode to represent sounds (we call it spelling) and interpret or decode the symbols back into sounds (we know that as reading).
The challenges and complexities of a symbols-based system are what make reading and writing difficult to master. If a student attempts to read or write using a system or strategy that does not focus on the sounds behind the symbols, it becomes very complex indeed. Complexity leads to confusion, and confusion often leads to failure. What third grader hasn’t become discouraged sorting out the whole-word complexities of the code of such words as ‘where’, ‘ware’, and ‘wear’?
A National Crisis That Can Touch You
If reading and writing were not such critical skills in society, these word challenges might be amusing. Unfortunately, it isn’t amusing when this confusion translates into 37% of fourth graders testing as functionally illiterate!1 This comes about largely because common reading systems fail to teach our children the essential sound-to-code relationships of written and spoken language. An added factor is the wholesale neglect of the necessary underlying auditory and visual processing skills needed to process the sounds and images.
How To Really Learn To Read
There are three nationally available programs based on essential sound-to-code instruction. Each can help a struggling reader. Results vary by study and can depend on the age or type of students involved, but sound-to-code programs have the potential to achieve 2-3 times the improvement of other style reading programs.
One program, ReadRx, offered exclusively through LearningRx Training Centers, brings an important, unique component to the task: underlying mental skills training. Many students bring insufficient cognitive skills to the challenge of reading. For these students, even well taught sound-to-code systems can be ineffective if an auditory, attention, processing, memory, or imaging skill is weak. Any one of these problems can lead to slow lesson completion and hinder retention. Reading fluency is the first casualty.
Then, high levels of comprehension become almost impossible. In contrast, when underlying mental skills are strongly in place, students can learn rapidly. ReadRx has been designed to effectively meet these twin needs. The program focuses on identifying and strengthening necessary underlying reading skills before delivering intense training in proper sound-to-code relationships.
The results can be astounding. A student’s entire reading system can often be rebuilt in as little as
12 to 24 weeks. Call your local center to learn more. Skilled trainers are available to help your child dramatically improve his or her reading and spelling abilities. Adult reading enhancement is also available.
Editor’s Note: The United States Department of Education conducts periodic nationwide studies in reading proficiency as a part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Students were rated at four reading levels: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Basic “denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work.” In 2003, 37% of fourth grade graders and 26% of eighth graders were rated Below Basic. In other words, one third of those tested were functionally illiterate! Less than one third (31%) of students were at or above Proficient. These facts simply cannot be ignored. The happy and successful lives of children are in the balance.
Special Note:
1 NAEP 2003. Reading Report Card for the Nation and States. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. U.S. Dept. of Education.