Academy of Literacy converts the memory challenged into logic based learners.
Teaches the ALPHabetic Principle in a meaningful & predictable format.
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Beginning Reading

Backed by two- independent controlled studies.

“There is no doubt this program is effective.”
(Dr. Ian Cameron @ University of Victoria, Canada)

Tech Guy No more flashcards,
No more worksheets,
No more, "I don’t know looks",
A child’s program ‘tis heard,
Where actions teach sounder than words.

News Paper Boy It is clear from research on emerging literacy that learning to read is a relatively lengthy process that begins very early in development and clearly before children enter formal schooling.

Footprints “I wish I had known earlier!”, parents often lament upon learning their child is having difficulty with reading. Parents are a vital part of the reading process and can take several preventive steps to assure a child’s success in learning to read.

What parents and educators need to Know
Time is of the essence:
Pocketwatch The University of Houston finds that dyslexic problems if caught in first or second grade, may be remedied 82 percent of the time. Those caught in third to fifth grade may be improved 46 percent of the time, while those identified later may only be treated successfully 10 -15 percent of the time.
Reading is not a natural process
  • learning to read is a serious challenge for about 60% of the children
  • 20% - 30% of these children will find reading one of the most difficult skills they will have to master in school.
Children at home:
  • learn easily and naturally based on concrete personal experience and experimentation
  • have their very own personal teacher, a parent, to provide the bridge that transfers learning
Bridge
At school:
  • the learning is no longer based on personal experience, and experimentation is limited
  • there is no parent-teacher or personal tutor to bridge the learning, to assure that it makes sense to the child.
All programs are not created equal
  • typically, off-the-shelf reading programs address just a single component of learning to read
  • many programs that present research support select only studies that fit their approach
  • frequently drill-for-skill reading programs are mislabeled as systematic explicit phonics
  • numerous multimedia programs are simply electronic drill-for-skill practice games
  • often electronic reading books teach memorization and can make children ‘word callers’
  • phonics rules taught in most beginning reading programs are only true 50% of the time.
NotepadThe Scope of the Reading Problem in America
Need A GPS Unit?

News Paper Boy Research tells us that the children who lack basic skills in kindergarten are the same children who are often two years behind their peers in third grade. Ensuring Early Literacy through Coherent Instruction

As a result of research like the one cited here:
  1. the number of beginning reading programs are increasing at an alarming rate
  2. parents, eager to insure their children’s success, are investing in reading programs with limited understanding and, information.
Deciding to invest in a reading program…
Now for the first time parents and teachers concerned with early intervention have two options when deciding to invest in a phonetic reading program:

1. go back to the basics with an “outside-in” perspective that pumps in knowledge using:

Back Arrow
  1. traditional phonics programs currently being recycled as new or
  2. old programs such as Orton-Gillingham (1930)


The problem is…
“You cannot solve the problem with the same kind of thinking that created the problem.” Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

•off task
•distracted
•disintrested
•frustrated
•bored
outside-in perspective
Outside-In Perspective
Traditional phonics programs
“OH NO!
Do I have to do this again?
It doesn’t make any sense!”

2. go forward to the fundamentals with an ‘inside-out’ perspective that scaffolds learning using:

Forward Arrow
  1. a child’s own knowledge-base to teach the fundamentals of literacy.
  2. ALPHabiTunes - a teacher-in-a-computer that teaches the basics by going forward but has the kids begging to go back to ALPHabiTunes.

“Children who have finished ALPHabiTunes now are on other programs. … but they beg to go back to it ... (ALPHabiTunes) They love it so much.” Kindergarten teacher (Victoria School District)

The solution …
“In teaching it is the method and not the content that is the message. The drawing out, not the pumping in.”

•focussed
•engaged
•interested
•motivated
•entertained
inside-out perspective
Inside-Out Perspective
ALPHabiTunes
“Wow!
Now this is cool!
Finally it makes sense!”
… or rely on the school’s expertise

News Paper Boy
...the NICHD research indicates that interventions must begin early. Research shows that if schools delay intervention until age seven for children experiencing difficulty, 75 percent will continue having difficulties.


Notepad Now for the first time parents and teachers that would prefer to have the school provide necessary intervention with “Reading Recovery”, have access to independent research by an international group of researchers.
EVIDENCE-BASED-RESEARCH ON READING RECOVERY

… and its current success rate?

News Paper Boy
… investigations have found that literacy rates have not really changed in this country since World War II.


As a results of statistics like the one cited above:

  1. reading programs are now required to have evidence-based research which has led to:
    1. many existing programs citing articles written by researchers as evidence-based-research
    2. the development of research-sponsored programs, with in-house testing being cited as independent evidence-based research.
Are We There Yet?
No! And we won’t be until the basic problem of perspective, ‘out-side-in’ versus ‘in-side-out’, is addressed. As Carol Miller explains:
“There is one totally inescapable problem inherent in designing for children: no matter how youthful we may be … we are no longer members of this particular demographic group.”

As a result of this aforesaid demographic division, programs:
  1. are not written from a child’s perspective - based on existing knowledge.
  2. are written for adults to be administered by adults - pump-in-the-knowledge.
  3. use adult learning strategies that make ‘no sense’ to children - teaching sounds through words.
Choosing A Direction:
Blackboard
out-side-in
OR
Laptop
inside-out
Click on the blackboard to learn about the traditional ‘out-side-in’ phonics programs or the laptop to learn about an “inside-out” program that is light-years beyond traditional phonetic programs - ALPHabiTunes.