Unlike learning to speak, reading is a learned skill. It begins with the ability to distinguish the sounds that make up spoken words, then later learning to associate the written letters with sounds.
According to cognitive scientist Stanislas Dehaene, author of Reading and the Brain, when a child learns to read, the brain essentially creates an “interface between your vision system in your brain and your spoken language system.”
Some children make those connections without much help, most kids need explicit instruction in phonics to learn the relationship between spoken language sounds and written letters and words.
When provided the "keys to the code," a reader's accuracy improves and comprehension expands. Providing a positive and direct approach to reading reduces the resistance to reading. When students do not feel successful in reading they frequently find reading “hard or boring.” Poor reading can also lead to weaker comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills, as well as decreased self-esteem and confidence.
At Engage the Brain we use approaches such as Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes to provide personalized, explicit, emotionally-sound and multi-sensory instruction that meets them where they are and helps them move forward at their own pace. Students identified with dyslexia, a language-based learning disability in reading, are best serviced with these approaches.
Our reading support services help students build the following skills:
- Decoding
- Fluency
- Spelling (Encoding)
- Phonics
- Phonemic Awareness
- Accuracy
- Letter/Sound Associations
- Patterns