When your child starts out learning to read, you may be hearing a lot of unfamiliar terminology used in articles, by teachers, etc. Get familiar with some basic terms.

Reading terms you  need to know

Common terms you may hear used to describe your child’s efforts to learn to read.

Alpha to Omega
Structured linguistic, phonetically-based program to teach the spelling patterns and grammar of English

Automatic Reading
Automaticity is a general term that refers to any skilled and complex behavior that can be performed rather easily with little attention, effort, or conscious awareness. These skills become automatic after extended periods of training. Examples of automatic skills include driving a car through traffic while listening to the radio, sight reading music for the piano, and reading orally with comprehension. With practice and good instruction, students become automatic at word recognition, that is, retrieving words from memory, and are able to focus attention on constructing meaning from the text, rather than decoding.

Balanced literacy
An approach to reading instruction that strikes a compromise between Phonics approaches and Whole Language approaches — ideally, the most effective strategies are drawn from the two approaches and synthesized together.

Blending
Combining parts of a spoken word into a whole representation of the word. For example, /p/ /oo/ /l/ can be blended together to form the word POOL.

Decoding
Using knowledge of the conventions of spelling-sound relationships and knowledge about pronunciation of irregular words to derive a pronunciation of written words.

Diphthong
A gliding monosyllabic speech sound that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position of another. For example, oy in TOY or ou in OUT.

Dyslexia
A difficulty in learning to read despite traditional instruction, average intelligence, and an adequate opportunity to learn. It is impairment in the brain’s ability to translate images received from the eyes or ears into understandable language. It does not result from vision or hearing problems. It is not due to mental retardation, brain damage, or a lack of intelligence.

Dyslexic students
Dyslexia can go undetected in the early grades of schooling. The child can become frustrated by the difficulty in learning to read, and other problems can arise that disguise dyslexia. The child may show signs of depression and low self esteem. Behavior problems at home as well as at school are frequently seen. The child may become unmotivated and develop a dislike for school. The child’s success in school may be jeopardized if the problem remains untreated.

Educational Software
Any software application that is intended for educational purposes and meets some established standards and objectives for teaching a particular subject.

English as a Second Language
The study of English by students whose mother tongue is a language other than English.

ESL
An acronym for English as a Second Language.

Fluent Reading
Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with proper expression and comprehension. Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding words, they can focus their attention on what the text means.

Home schooling
The practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. Teaching reading in home school is a major part of home school curriculum.

Homophone
A word which is spelled differently from another word, but which is pronounced identically. For example, HOARSE versus HORSE; or TWO versus, TO, versus, TOO.

Letter identification
Ability to correctly identify letters within small groups of letters.

No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2002, has expanded the federal role in education and set requirements for every public school in America. At the core of NCLB are measures designed to close achievement gaps between different groups of students.

Orton-Gillingham method
This approach is language-based, multisensory, structured, sequential, cumulative, cognitive, and flexible. Its breadth, perspective, and flexibility prompt use of the term approach instead of method.

Phoneme
The vocal gestures from which words are constructed in a language; the smallest unit of speech that serves to distinguish one utterance from another (e.g. PAT and FAT are distinguished by the initial phoneme).

Phonemic awareness
A subset of phonological awareness; the knowledge that spoken words consist of a sequence of individual sounds, and the understanding that phonemes are rearranged and substituted to create new words. There are a finite set of phonemes which are arranged and rearranged to create an infinite set of spoken words.

Phonetics
The system of sounds of a particular language.

Phonics
An approach to reading instruction that emphasizes letter-sound relationships and generalized principles that describe spelling-sound relationships in a language.

Phonological awareness
Covers a range of understandings related to the sounds of words and word parts, including identifying and manipulating larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. It also includes phonemic awareness (see above) as well as other aspects of spoken language such as rhyming and syllabication.

Phonological memory
The phonological memory, component of work memory is responsible for processing phonological information and is involved in the temporary retention of the verbal material. Children with phonological disorders present alterations in the language phonological component, characterized by the difficulty in organizing and classifying the sounds of speech which occur contrastively in the language, without a known etiology.

Reading Intervention
A program for addressing the needs of students who are reading below the proficient level.

Sight word
A word in a reading lesson containing parts that have not yet been taught, but that is highly predictable from the context of the story or which the child has memorized.

Sound-Symbol Association
This is the knowledge of the various sounds in the English language and their correspondence to the letters and combinations of letters which represent those sounds. Sound-symbol association must be in two directions: visual to auditory and auditory to visual.

Speech Recognition Technology
An alternative to traditional methods of interacting with a computer, it allows you to speak into a microphone that is attached to the PC and the computer is enabled to interpret the speech. Highly useful for dyslexic people.

Vocabulary
The words a reader knows. Listening vocabulary refers to the words a person knows when hearing them in oral speech. Speaking vocabulary refers to the words we use when we speak. Reading vocabulary refers to the words a person knows when seeing them in print. Writing vocabulary refers to the words we use in writing.

Whole Language
An approach to reading instruction that de-emphasizes letter-sound relationships and emphasizes recognition of words as wholes.

Having Your Child Tested Outside of School

Reading Rockets (2003)
Kids who struggle with reading often need extra help. This help usually comes from the school, but some parents choose to look outside of the school for professionals who can assess, diagnose, tutor, or provide other education services. The following article provides

information on how to find the right person for your child.

Who you choose to work with your child is a key decision. A professional who provides a good diagnosis that reveals your child has a learning disability (LD) or ADHD, for example, can be a gateway to services that open doors to learning and a more fulfilling life for a student. A good tutor can help your child learn reading strategies or catch up in school.

You can find the names of professionals to choose from in local phone books, from a list provided by the school, or from people you know. LD OnLine also lists professionals in its Yellow Pages.

Although you definitely want to work with someone who makes you and your child feel comfortable, that’s not enough. Here are some questions to ask and points to keep in mind when deciding which professional to choose.

Are you licensed or certified?
Many professionals can suspect LD and/or ADHD, but not all of them are licensed or certified to diagnose these disorders.

When you go to a person in private practice (i.e., someone who is not employed by the school system), it’s important to determine if the professional has the needed license to be in private practice and to make the diagnosis of LD or ADHD. Most states require the license of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and lawyers to be in clear view in their offices.

What areas do you specialize in?
Ask the person, “What is your area of expertise?” This could include learning disabilities, ADHD, speech and hearing, legal issues, behavior modification, education, emotional concerns, family counseling, and more. Consider which experience and expertise is most appropriate for your child’s situation.

What age range do you specialize in?
The person could specialize in working with preschoolers, children, adolescents, or adults. It’s important to choose a professional who is used to working with children of your son’s or daughter’s age.

What are your fees?
Ask the person what his or her hourly rate is and how an hour is defined. Some use a 45 or 50 minute hour (this is so they have time to write notes about the session). You may also want to ask whether appointments can be broken up into smaller blocks, what happens if you miss a scheduled appointment, whether there is a sliding fee scale, and if a payment plan can be set up.

Will you accept my insurance or HMO coverage?
Not all professionals will take insurance and not all insurance will pay for the professional’s fee. If money is an issue, you need to know upfront if your insurance or HMO will pay for the professional’s fees and whether the professional will accept your insurance. Also ask if the office will submit bills to the insurance company or if you will need to do so.

Will I get a written report?
If you need a written report for an upcoming meeting with the school, make sure the person will be able to meet your deadline. Determine how long it usually takes to get a written report and whether the cost of the report is included in the estimated charge.

Will you coordinate with the school?
Ask if the person will go to the school for meetings if needed and how that time will be billed. Find out if the person will coordinate the work he or she is doing with your child with what your child’s classroom teacher is doing in school.

What range of services do I need?
Think about whether you need someone to just do testing, whether you need someone who can also work with the school, and whether your child needs a few sessions or many.

What information can I gather to help with the diagnosis?
Look for your child’s school records, work samples, past assessments, and teacher comments, all of which may help the professional gain information on how to assess or help your child.

How should I explain this to my child?
Ask the person for advice on how you can talk to your child about his or her need for testing, counseling, or educational intervention.

Do I want to interview more than one professional to determine the best one for my child’s needs?
Yes. Unless you have a strong recommendation from a close friend or from the school, it is wise to interview more than one person before making a decision.

We are constantly updating this area with the latest information about how to teach reading,  advice for parents with children struggling to learn to read and ideas on how to develop effective reading programs for schools, homeschools and tutors.

How Can We Help You?

Getting A Child Tested OUTSIDE of School

Sometimes, it is necessary to take things into your own hands and have your child evaluated for a learning disability on your own, Learn about what to look for and what to demand.

Using Software to Teach Children to Read

Guidelines for choosing a reading program and using software in the classroom.

Reading and Phonics Terminology

Confused by all the terms being thrown at you by your child’s teacher? Here is an easy, quick reference.

Monitoring Your Children’s Online Activity

Like anything, there are good and bad things about the Internet. If your kids are reading more because of their Internet access, that’s great. But keep an eye on what they are doing.

Here are some classic ABC Reading videos

What is the No Child Left Behind Act?

1. It’s information

The NCLB Act requires states and school districts to give parents easy-to-read, detailed report cards on schools and districts, telling them which ones are succeeding and why. Included in the report cards are student achievement data broken out by race, ethnicity, gender, English language proficiency, migrant status, disability status and low-income status; as well as important information about the professional qualifications of teachers. With these provisions, No Child Left Behind ensures that parents have important, timely information about the schools their children attend–whether they are performing well or not for all children, regardless of their background.

2. It’s improvements

Low-performing schools must use their federal funds to make needed improvements. In the event of a school’s continued poor performance, parents have options to ensure that their children receive the high-quality education to which they are entitled. That might mean that children can transfer to higher-performing schools in the area or receive supplemental educational services in the community, such as tutoring, after-school programs or remedial classes.

3. It’s monitoring performance

Teachers and school officials will have access to better information via annual tests measuring children’s progress. With this knowledge, teachers can craft lessons to make sure each student meets or exceeds the standards. In addition, principals can use the data to assess exactly how much progress each teacher’s students have made and to better inform decisions about how to manage their schools.

4. It’s improving teaching

No Child Left Behind defines the qualifications needed by teachers.  States are required to include in their annual plans , measurable objectives for each school district and they must report on their progress in the annual report cards.

5. It’s more resources for schools
States and local school districts are receiving more federal funding for programs under No Child Left Behind.

6. It’s more flexibility
In exchange for the strong accountability, No Child Left Behind gives states and local education agencies more flexibility in the use of their federal education funding. As a result, principals and administrators spend have more time to devote to students’ needs. They have more freedom to implement innovations and allocate resources as policymakers at the state and local levels see fit, thereby giving local people a greater opportunity to affect decisions regarding their schools’ programs.

7. It’s about what works
No Child Left Behind emphasizes the implementation of those educational programs and practices that work. For example, the Reading First program makes federal funds available to help reading teachers in the early grades strengthen old skills and gain new ones in instructional techniques that scientifically based research has shown to be effective.

Some schools in cities and towns across the nation are succeeding to create high achievement for children with a history of low performance. If those schools can do it, then all schools should be able to do it!

The No Child Left Behind Act will help allow parents to better know their children’s strengths and weaknesses and how well their school are performing. There will be more options and resources for helping children in schools that need of improvement.

Teachers will have the training and resources they need for teaching effectively, using curricula that are grounded in scientifically based research; annual testing lets them know areas in which students need extra attention.

Principals will have information they need to strengthen their schools’ weaknesses and to put into practice methods and strategies backed by sound, scientific research.

Superintendents will be able to see which of their schools and principals are doing the best job and which need help to improve.

School boards will be able to measure how their districts are doing and to measure their districts in relation to others across the state; they will have more and better information on which to base decisions about priorities in their districts.

Chief state school officers will know how the schools in their states and in other states are doing; they will be better able to pinpoint where guidance and resources are needed.

Governors will have a yearly report card on how their states’ schools are doing; they will be able to highlight accomplishments of the best schools and target help to those schools that are in need of improvement.

Community leaders and volunteer groups will have information they can use to rally their members in efforts to help children and schools that need the most help.

Learning to read and write begins very early in children’s development, even before they enter kindergarten. Kids need to develop certain language, writing, and print awareness skills before they can learn to read. Unfortunately, many parents and educators are not aware of the skills a preschool-age child requires to be ready to learn to read.

Learning to read and write does not happen naturally without adult guidance! Children need:
• Regular exposure to and interaction with print,
• Rich oral and written language interactions with adults,
• Methodical, explicit instruction to develop and enhance reading skills.

You can help your child make the connection between letters and sounds through imaginative play, rhyming, word games, and most of all, conversation!
Show your child how the printed word works. Give her lots of chances to explore books on her own and read together every day.
Scribbling is your child’s first effort to use print in a meaningful way.
Three skill areas form the foundation for learning to read. Kids who develop strong skills
in these areas have greater success learning to read:

• Print knowledge — an understanding of books, letters, and words.

• Beginning writing — first efforts to use print in a meaningful way.

• Language awareness — an understanding of how language works.

Here are some fantastic free expert-approved ideas from PBS for helping ensure your
child will be ready to read:
http://pbskids.org/lions/parentsteachers/activities/activities.html

Many Free Reading Skill Building Exercises are Available Online

Many government and NFP organizations provide free tools for parents and teachers looking for resources to use to teach children to read. While nothing can replace a systematic program that covers all of the necessary skills in a comprehensive and professional program, you can find many useful tools for free online. We recommend a few here that are worth looking at.

• Here is a simple and free online screening tool you can try out if you have any doubts about your child being ready to learn to read.
  http://school.familyeducation.com/famed/grtr/english/begin.html
• Literacy Center
  The literacy center provides excellent exercises for developing reading and writing skills in English, French, German and Spanish. The exercises include several multisensory techniques that can especially help dyslexic and learning disabled children. With all of these exercises mentioned on this page, it is important that parents sit together with their children and help guide them.
  http://www.literacycenter.net/play_learn/index.htm
• Here are some fantastic free expert-approved ideas from PBS for helping ensure your child will be ready to read:
  http://pbskids.org/lions/parentsteachers/resources/tips/
• Here are many fun exercises your child can do online to develop early reading skills.
  http://www.create-a-reader.com/basic/_english.html
• Birth to preschool exercises and games to play with your child.
  http://www.ed.gov/Family/RWN/Activ97/early.html
• Book Adventure
  Book Adventure is a free reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they’ve read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes.
  http://www.bookadventure.com/

By: U.S Department of Education (2004)
What parents do or don’t do in the preschool years has a lasting impact on children’s reading ability. Learn some facts about the importance and need for literacy experiences in the first three years. Just as a child develops language skills long before being able to speak, the child also develops literacy skills long before being able to read. What parents do, or don’t do, has a lasting impact on their child’s reading skill and literacy.
Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first three years of life, when their brains grow to 90 percent of their eventual adult weight. When parents talk, sing, and read to their child, links among the child’s brain cells are strengthened and new cells and links are formed.
Play is the work of young children. From the first lullaby to dramatization of a favorite story, music and other creative arts can stimulate language and literacy development. Parents can help build pre-literacy skills through dramatic play and one-on-one interaction.
Many pediatricians believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child. Reading aloud to young children is so critical that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups.
Despite the considerable evidence of a relationship between reading regularly to a child and that child’s later reading development, six in ten babies and five in ten toddlers are not read to regularly by parents or family members.

Fast Facts on Raising Readers. What Families Can Do. America Reads Challenge, U.S. Department of Education.

http://www.readinghorizonsathome.com/cmd.asp?Clk=3679312

We have collected some of the most helpful information and articles to assist you. Read the most relevant and updated articles on learning to read, teaching dyslexic children to read, homeschool reading curriculum, phonics software, Orton Gillingham and much much more.

Keep checking back. Our editors are busy updating the site every day!!

Dyslexia – Early Warning Signs

Free Reading Skill Exercises and Resources

Reading Readiness – Is your child ready to learn to read now?

Reading Readiness

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Reading Videos

Start Learning to read . . .

What is the best way for your child to learn to read?

Introduce phonics activities to your children early on.
With phonics, kids are taught to read in a systematic, methodical way. Preschool children naturally learn to read through pronouncing sounds and syllables, in addition to recognizing letter-sound relationships.

• Combine reading a good children’s book out loud with reading worksheets and reading skills activities.
• Tailor a program suitable for your child at home or at a school and teach reading skills according to your child’s learning needs.

• Integrate books and writing skills with your phonics activities to determine what works best for him.
• Compose a short story with your child and have him/her write it down. Sound the words out while writing.
• Build a personal library and have your children browse, read and