During mental health week, we think it is important to highlight the link between mental health and illiteracy. Illiteracy causes poor life outcomes, poverty leading to crime, depression and poor health. The Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies of the University of East Anglia (UEA) have just reported on the global problem of poor…
Read More
What are decodable books? Although the rise of the Science of Reading movement has meant that systematic phonics teaching programs are gaining popularity in the US, one of the most frequently asked questions is still, “What are decodable books?” Phonic Books co-founder, Tami Reis-Frankfort, provides a brief clarification of the meaning of the term, ‘decodable…
Read More
Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook for research in early literacy (pp. 97-110). New York: Guilford Press. Teaching the Reading Rope The Reading Rope was developed by Dr. Hollis Scarborough to provide a framework for understanding the different…
Read More
Supporting structured linguistic literacy at home with games and decodable reading books – by Clair Wilson This article was originally published in the January 2023 issue of Dystinct Magazine. Click here for free access to this issue until December 2024. Reading is one of the most important skills we want our children to learn. We…
Read More
Over the holidays, we all need to take a break and enjoy time with family and friends. However, amongst the ribbons, reindeer and rejoicing, there may also be space for a little retrospection, reflection, reading… and even rereading. Reading specialist, Miriam Fein, explores the benefits of giving new consideration to an already well thumbed book.…
Read More
We all want our children to find learning to read exciting and enjoyable, but what happens when they get stuck? Should we be quick to help, or wait and let them figure it out themselves? With the help of a set of building blocks, literacy specialist, Savannah Campbell, explains how we can encourage productive struggling.…
Read More
Emily Hanford’s thought-provoking podcast, “Sold a Story” has created quite a buzz in the education community. Reading specialist and SLP, Miriam Fein, has been listening: “It didn’t seem like they were teaching them to read. It seemed like they were teaching them to sound like they could read”. (A parent, in “Sold a…
Read MoreIn the latest blog post in this series, Guest blogger, Faith Borkowsky discusses her observations and recommendations for any school district considering the transition to a Science of Reading based instruction practice. The importance of choosing a science-based reading program that is coupled with high quality, carefully aligned decodable books and resources and backed with…
Read More
In Part 4 of this series of guest blogs by Nora Chahbazi, literacy consultant (pro bono) via the John Corcoran foundation to The Truth About Reading documentary team and Founder of EBLI, talks about the the excitement surrounding the release of the documentary teaser. On September 22, 2021, the teaser for The Truth About Reading documentary was premiered at a…
Read More
Phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge are the biggest indicators of how well a child will learn to read in the first two years of school. Yet phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge are NOT the end goal. Our end goal will always be proficient readers. To reach that end, we must work to instruct children on…
Read More
