PHONICS PROGRAM

As seen on WGAL TV's Learning Matters

Breaking the

"SOUND"

Barrier to Fluent Reading, Level 1

is a manual for teachers and parents of home-schooled children.

The manual contains a multi-sensory phonological awareness program geared toward increasing reading fluency. This phonics-based classroom program incorporates innovative techniques and age-appropriate activities that appeal to readers of all grade levels, K-12. This book is a must for those teaching beginning phonics, elementary reading, English as a second language, or for those who have middle or high school readers who struggle with fluency because they haven’t mastered basic phonics. All of the necessary materials needed to begin a successful phonics program are included in the manual.

The manual was researched and test-piloted for approximately 20+ years by a teacher who was upset with students slipping through the cracks and becoming inefficient readers. According to Sandra Martin, there is nothing about phonics on the market today that is as interesting to students, can be used with all grade levels (even older children and adults), and can produce such tremendous improvement in reading fluency as Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading. In the research and test pilot of this program, students have shown up to four years of reading growth in one year. This phonics program won the Shippensburg University (Pennsylvania) Exemplary program award for 2002. It also recently aired on WGAL Channel 8 TV’s Learning Matters (Pennsylvania).

Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading is a classroom program for use with middle school and high school students experiencing reading difficulties. Teachers can also use it with beginning readers. This program is different from other phonics programs in that it assists with long-term retention of our sound system. In addition, the materials appeal to older as well as younger students. Students can easily achieve upper level reading, writing, and spelling skills because of the unusually strong phonetic emphasis used in this remedial program.

Rationale

For Using Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading:

1) An awareness and understanding of phonetic sounds are necessary basic building blocks for the mastery of reading and spelling skills.
2) Many students in both regular and learning support classes are unable to grasp phonetic sounds even after years of traditional instruction.
3) Educators often use approaches that exclude phonics instruction for readers with fluency difficulties in an attempt to circumvent the weak phonics. Unfortunately, programs that lack a phonetic basis often produce large reading and spelling gaps.
4) As students progress to higher grades, the dependency on reading for information is maximized. The reading level of material becomes increasingly more difficult causing the reading and spelling discrepancies to widen.
5) Readers with deficiencies continue to lack the ability to pair sounds to a visual image. Reading remains a continuous "guessing game" and students fail to develop skills beyond an upper elementary level without proper intervention. In addition, spelling words are never properly committed to long-term memory.
6) Students with phonetic disabilities retain their low reading levels throughout high school. After graduation, they will continue to be burdened with their inability to attack words.
7) Most students with phonetic disabilities in the middle school and high school do not want to learn phonics because they have been unsuccessful year after year. They feel that the subject of phonics is an elementary skill, and the students are bored by the elementary techniques used to teach them phonics. Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading incorporates innovative techniques and turns the uninterested student into one who sees the value in phonics.
8) The teaching techniques incorporated in this program are very unusual and extremely interesting to older students. Unlike the boring elementary phonics lessons that middle and high school students are often taught, this remedial program captivates students and brings self-confidence and reading successes that last a lifetime.

Facts

About Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading:

1) This program uses the student's strong visual modalities to learn and retain all phonetic sounds that are necessary to begin to read and spell.
2) It develops a solid foundation built through a meaningful multi-sensory experience.
3) Instructional time varies with the IQ level and comprehension abilities of the students.
4) It can be utilized with phonologically deficient readers who have varied exceptionalities including learning disabilities, mental challenges, emotional difficulties, remedial needs, or environmental deprivation.
5) The program can be easily adapted for use as a beginner's phonics or elementary program.

Results

Of Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading:

1) The standardized and individualized test scores of fifth through twelfth grade students with learning disabilities and various exceptionalities increased dramatically after instruction with this multisensory remedial program.
2) Classroom videos of students before and after use of this program validate the fact that students have a long-term retention of the sounds.
3) The program has received high praise from other educators and parents who have witnessed their children's successes in reading.
4) Teachers who have attended the author's educational lectures have responded with excellent evaluations and have requested the necessary materials to incorporate Breaking the "Sound" Barrier to Fluent Reading into their classrooms.
5) The "sky is the limit" after a solid foundation in phonics is established through Breaking the "Sound” Barrier to Fluent Reading.