Our Comprehensive
Reading Fundamentals Program
We build the cognitive skills required to read comfortably.
The Reading Problem
Reading requires accurate listening. If children cannot clearly distinguish and hear every phoneme (sound) in a word, such as |b| |a| |t| in bat, decoding is a challenge. Eventually, readers must be able to sound out or decode subconsciously so that the brain is available for reading comprehension.
Many children never really master fluent subconscious decoding, which is why >50% of 8th graders are not reading at grade level.
Accurate listening is most often an auditory processing issue. It is also the most common source of reading difficulties because processing language is so difficult. Natural language is lightning fast. To hear every sound in every word requires processing 40 sounds/second, a speed that is beyond many children.
Gemm's Solution
Our unique approach works directly on this auditory processing speed issue. It isolates and exercises auditory processing, leading to accurate listening and reading comfort.
Our Outcome Goals by Age
Outcomes vary by age because the starting points are different.
For younger ones
Our goal is to remove the impediments to learning to read. This is a 2-6 month process depending on each child's starting point. In the first 2-3 months our "Learning Block" builds the cognitive and processing skills required to be able to sound out words. Then we add in exercises from our "Reading Block" of essential reading skills, e.g., vocabulary, spelling, reading accuracy, customized to meet each child's individual needs.
For 3rd, 4th and 5th graders
Our goal is to automate the decoding process to help fluency and to make reading more effortless. This can take 3-6 months. Automaticity -- the ability to work subconsciously, like riding a bike without thinking about moving the pedals or balancing -- in decoding leads to better reading comprehension. By reducing or removing the effort required for decoding, the brain can focus on the text's meaning. Automaticity also means that a child can read with less effort -- it is less tiring, paving the way to more time reading which is the surest road to ultimate reading success.
For 6th graders and higher
Our program aims to develop critical reading skills, not just literal reading comprehension, but also the ability to draw inferences and reason. This is a 2-5 month process, depending on the student's starting point.
The first part of the program works on automaticity in reading, aiming to take the pain and effort out of reading for reluctant middle and high schoolers, leading to better reading fluency and comprehension. The second part works through grade appropriate basics such as spelling and syntax, and then onto vocabulary and metalinguistics (dexterity with the language), then sentence and paragraph comprehension and finally higher level thinking and reasoning skills used in essay writing. These are all critical SAT skills.
Of course, every child is different, and so the time required, protocol progression and individual student outcomes vary.
Service Details
This is an intensive program that takes time and effort. Children can work on the software at their homes or in a center, for 50 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week spending a total of 3-6 months with us. More details here.
The Mechanics of How Fast ForWord Helps
Fast ForWord automates and strengthens. It automates the same way a golfer builds muscle memory, through repetition. It builds other skills the way a weight-lifter builds muscle strength, repetition at successively heavier weights.
Each day a student will click hundreds of times, each click representing a decision made, a brain process exercised. All exercises use slowed speech or sound combinations, and speed up as the student succeeds. Once the 3-6 month program is complete, there are three forces at work:
- The student will hear speech more accurately, the phonemes that make words up are heard more clearly and so reading will be more intuitive.
- Basic learning skills become automatic, freeing up brain capacity for higher thinking and learning.
- Children feel more confident about their language and reading skills, leading to a healthier, less risk-averse, attitude to learning.
These skills are used everyday. And so, like riding a bike, they endure.
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