Most classrooms today use either whole language or phonics programs, or an eclectic mix of the two. While many children can learn with either system, neither system addresses the specific needs of children with specific physical, neurological, emotional, or cognitive challenges. These children in particular need to learn to read as quickly and easily as possible, without adding to the frustrations that inevitably accompany their challenges. The following summarizes why learning the English written code is so difficult for many children, and in particular those with special needs.

The English written code has a particular nature. Understanding it can help us help our children unlock that code to become fluent and adept readers and spellers.

LETTERS ARE PICTURES OF SOUNDS

b r ea d

Can children understand this? We believe that children can understand this perfectly well.

Children have a remarkable ability to assess visual figures. At two days a baby can distinguish his mother?s face from any other human face. Children assess visual figures in the world around them every day.

SOUND PICTURES CAN BE ONE OR MORE LETTERS

The pictures can be made of one or more letters. So   b r ea d   has four sounds, and four sound pictures.

Can children understand this? We believe children can manage this. They reuse figures in the world around them every day.

square        triangle        house

No rule was needed to recognize this as house. So why would children need a rule to recognize ea as "e".

THERE IS VARIATION IN THE CODE

Most of the sounds in our language can be shown in more than one way. So   b r ea d   and   m e n   both contain ways to show "e".

Can children understand this? We believe that children can easily learn that    oa   ow  o   are all a picture of the same sound. Children learn easily enough that these

are all a picture of   f l ow er 

THERE IS OVERLAP IN THE CODE

Some of the pictures are used for more than one sound.

 ea   can be three different sounds
bread     beach     great

Can children understand this? We believe children can manage this as they easily manage that the image below can be a picture of a ball, a circle, a moon, a dot, and more!

THE SKILLS NEEDED TO USE SUCH A CODE

Reading and spelling are also dependent upon expertise at the skills needed to use such a code.

Segmenting - to use a sound picture code one must be able to access the independent sounds within words.

Blending - to use a sound picture code children must be able to push sounds together into words.

Phoneme Manipulation - to use a code that contains overlap children must be able to slide sounds in and out of words that contain overlap spellings such as ow in brown.

Play is the favorite occupation of children. The skills needed to read are easily learned when embedded in playful activities.

Carmen McGuinness is the founder of Orlando based Read America, and developer of Phono-Graphix and Language Wise. With her husband Geoffrey, Carmen has authored three books, Reading Reflex, How To Increase Your Child's Verbal Intelligence, and the book and DVD Imagine Baby Reading.