MANY OF US have chosen to homeschool our children.
Yet, there are many parents across America who are just now approaching this year’s wave of parent/teacher conferences. Sadly, too many of those parents are braced to hear bad news especially when it comes to hearing their child’s progress in reading.
Parents should be concerned about their child’s reading grades because, regrettably, only 70% of U.S. schoolchildren will actually graduate from high school.
It’s a well-researched but often heartrending fact that reading ability severely affects lifelong success?
We know this because the surveys and numbers tell us that approximately 48 out of every 100 American households are living below the poverty level because the breadwinners in those households cannot read?
That means that almost HALF of American adults grew up as children who struggled in reading.
I don’t know about you, but I find that troubling!
I suppose some would have us believe that most of those households are made up of adults who grew up as struggling readers because either:
A) they had a reading problem due to an uncontrollable behavior problem
B) they had a reading problem because they belonged to a minority group
C) they had a reading problem because they were an “at risk” child
D) they had a reading problem because they had an ADHD Disorder
E) they had a reading problem because they were Dyslexic
I have to ask, does this really make sense?
A) Behavioral Problems – There is a definite question as to whether behavior problems cause low reading skills or whether low reading skills cause behavior problems? However, behavioral problems cannot be blamed as a primary reason for American children to fail in reading because according to a Williams & McGee study in 1994 and a more recent Lane, O’Shaughnessey, Lambros, Gresham, and Beebe-Frankenberger study in 2001, poor reading skills lead to problem behaviors while increased training in phonological awareness brings a decrease in disruptive child behavior and negative social interactions on the playground.
B) Minority Problems – Are the brains of Hispanic and Black children made up differently than those of Caucasian children? In other words, if all the Caucasian children moved to Mexico, would their brains become impeded because they would turn into minority children? You see, even though it is true that minority students in America do need extra instruction to actually speak the English language, being a minority student cannot be a primary reason for American children to fail reading because according to the National Literacy Panel on Language, systematic phonics instruction is very effective in teaching minority children to decode and read words.
C) “At Risk” Problems – Are the brains of “at risk” children less intelligent than the brains of “normal” children? To answer that, consider who these “at risk” children are. At risk children make up two groups:
GROUP ONE consists of the children living in the 48 out of the 100 American households surviving with incomes under the poverty level. This also covers the children on welfare. However, this cannot be a primary reason for American children to fail reading because according to Samuel Casey Carter, a Bradley Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, over 100 principals of schools that scored in the top one-third in national exams tell us that more that 75 percent of those student scores came from children living in low-income families.
or
GROUP TWO consists of the children who live in a home where one or both parents are absent. Apparently, the assumption made by our educators is that the one parent who is present is so busy earning a living that his/her child’s reading ability is impaired because that parent does not have enough time to be involved in their child’s daily school work. However, this cannot be a primary reason for American children to fail reading because those same children are in school for most of their daytime hours, and it’s during those daytime hours that they have their reading lessons.
D) ADHD Problems – Children with ADHD have a brain disease that affects their dorsolateral frontal lobes. Moreover, it’s been shown that the brains of ADHD children mature in a normal pattern but lag about 3 years behind the normal brain. However, this cannot be a primary reason for American children to fail reading because the statistics tell us that only 14% of children have ADHD.
E) Dyslexic Problems – Children with dyslexia have a gene on the short arm of chromosome #6 that causes their neurological problem. In addition, these children have a larger right-hemisphere in their brains than those of normal children. However, this cannot be a primary reason for American children to fail reading because the statistics tell us that only 8% of children have dyslexia?
I’m certain that others have thought of these questions.
I’m certain that parents everywhere have asked the question,“Is it really possible that almost HALF of the children in America cannot read because THEY have a problem?”
I’m certain that even more parents are asking, “How come my mother and my grandmother could read, but my children cannot read?”
And, sadly, many parents are asking, “Why was I told in my last parent/teacher conference that my child needs to improve in reading? Why isn’t my little one learning to read?”
Very, very, very, very seldom do educators entertain the idea that children are struggling in reading because the reading method they’re using is flawed!
For instance, did you know that the United States Department of Education actually advises our schools to use a systematic phonics approach to teach reading?
Even so, American teachers continue to rely on their old stand-by, dastardly, look/n/say methods sprinkled with tiny bits of embedded phonics. Why is it that our teachers and elementary schools and colleges refuse to make phonics their primary reading method?
Honestly, I don’t know. I could guess.
It could be because most of our elementary teachers have had very little, if any, phonics training themselves. People usually tend to stubbornly stick with even unproductive strategies and methods just because they feel comfortable with them.
It could be that it costs money and time and effort to retrain our teachers to use systematic phonics instruction.
It could be that American school teachers believe that they already are teaching phonics. However, the phonics that our American educational establishment presents is not explicit, systematic phonics. Rather, it is “embedded” or “implicit” phonics. (Note: to read more about what is meant by embedded phonics and how it completely differs from 4WAY Systematic Phonics, please click here.
IS THERE A SOLUTION? There sure is!
When parents are willing to become fellow learners with their children and teach their own children to read using a correct, systematic 4WAY Phonetic system, a system that includes daily step-by-step lessons, rhyming phonics charts, sequenced phonics story readers, rhyming flashcards and so much more – a SYSTEM THAT COSTS just $9.97 – then children all over America will learn to read every word on every page.
At Candy 4WAY Phonics, we believe that children deserve to learn to read everything put in front of them so that they can move up to other necessary skills like comprehension and inferential thinking – lifelong skills that will give them jobs with an adequate income – lifelong skills that will move them into households far above the poverty level.
While it may be true that almost HALF of American adults grew up as children who struggled in reading, YOUR child doesn’t have to join that statistic.
Your child CAN learn to read!
Sincerely,
Carol Kay, President
Candy 4WAY Phonics
www.candy4wayphonics.com