From Chapter 1
We sat down next to each
other. I gave him the rules. I would not help with anything. I would not say anything other than what pages to read. He was
to do his best and he wasn‘t to get upset. I explained that, at different points, he would not be able to read the material
I gave him. He understood what we were doing, what I was looking for, and was ready to start. I gave him The Cat In The Hat. I didn’t tell him but I chose that book because I thought
it would be a good warm-up. It had been read to him many times. It only had about two hundred fifty different words. He objected
to this selection but finally agreed. He began. Three pages later I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He didn’t
pause for periods. He was saying words that were not on the page. There was no rhythm to his reading and he didn’t read
the book as a rhyme. He did not recognize most of the three and four letter words. He could not read The Cat In The Hat. My heart sank. What could cause such a serious impediment in
his acquisition of the ability to read?
From Chapter 2
With this basic plan in place I returned
to my consideration of individual words. I considered the word “bow.” Is
that the front of a ship or is it a decoration on the top of a present? Perhaps
I’m referring to bending at the waist. Without additional information contained in other words Robert couldn’t
know the sound of the word “bow.” As the writer I was not referring
to any of the above definitions, I was referring to a “bow and arrow.” To
obtain the correct pronunciation and image Robert would have to process the word “arrow.” He had to have an utterance
to know the sound of the letter “o.” He could not be certain that he correctly envisioned the object until he
read the word “arrow.”
This delayed sound selection can be even
more pronounced.
While reading a book, a reader might come
across one the following sentences.
“You
are not going to do that sort of thing while I’ m here!” he shouted
at the top of his lungs.
Or
“You
are not going to do that sort of thing while I’ m here,” he whimpered under his breath.
From Chapter 2
I concluded that reading
is the performance of more than twelve skills in varying sequences over the lapse of micro-seconds repeatedly being performed
in a way that causes dynamic imaging in the mind of the reader. It is a very complicated and fast process. We needed methods
that would allow Robert to learn each sub-skill of reading. The intra-word skills needed to be coordinated with the inter-word
skills. The intra-word skills needed to be able to be performed by Robert in micro seconds. Additionally, once the skills
were being performed, they needed to be coordinated in a way that allowed Robert to engage in mental dynamic imaging. Finally,
once Robert’s reading ability started to change we needed to be able to modify our methods to direct his development
toward an independent reading proficiency.
From Chapter 3
Since the letters “b,” “t,”
and “n” were not confused with each other, their shapes and sounds became mentally attached with the assigned
direction. Further, and as a result of the saturation, Robert’s recognition of those letters’ shapes and their
attached sounds became primary, favored and permanently imprinted in his memory. The letters “d,” “h,”
and “f” were treated differently.
From Chapter 3
I noted that some words Robert confused
while reading a story were not confused when they were presented in isolation. Other
words were confused both when presented in isolation and when read in a story. This
led me to conclude that he had two types of word confusion problems. I believe
that these two types of confusions had separate causes. I found a distinction
between the two types based on their appearance. Some of these pairs of words
had a dissimilar appearance; for example, Robert’s problem with the “on/with” pair. These dissimilar word
confusions occurred while Robert was reading sentences but weren’t confused when the words were presented in isolation.
Other pairs that were confused had a similar appearance. These were the word confusions that arose both when read in isolation
and when read in sequence with other words. For example, Robert’s problems with the pairs “how/now” and
“into/onto. I concluded that these two types of confusions needed to be treated differently. That conclusion resulted
in my alteration of the methods used to re-introduce the Ignored Words after we worked with the Favored Words. This is one
of the modifications to the techniques I referred to earlier and I’ll discuss it more later.
From Chapter 3
I came to realize that proper sentence metering
is not the same as recognition of punctuation. That is different than I had assumed when I outlined the reading process. The
pauses suggested by a comma vary in intensity and length. This is also true with other alterations suggested by other forms
of punctuation. Each punctuation mark has multiple applications which results in minor variances of their usage. When properly
read an utterance makes sense, but improperly adjusting the minor variances of a given punctuation symbol can result in a
senseless interpretation of a passage. The proper application of the variances for each punctuation symbol was a skill that
Robert needed to develop. Modeled Structural Reading, and the use of lyrical and rhyming material during Dependent Reading
provided the isolated focus that promoted this development.
From Chapter 4
Here are some examples
of how to identify word confusion pairs. Assume the presented word was “now.” You noted that your student said
“who” and “how” when “now” was presented and you wrote “who” and “how”
on the provided lines. Your goal is to find out if the word “now” is being confused with another word. Since his
first response to the word “now” was “who,” you need to look though the lists and find the presented
word “who.” Once you have found that word you check the lines under it to see if your student said “now.”
If your student said “now” when presented with the word “who,” you would write “now” and “who” on the next available lines
of the Pairs
of Confused Words and Letters List.
From Chapter 4
Find the point in the
Instructor’s lists where you extracted the last circled word that contained an Ignored Letter in the body of the word.
All the remaining circled words that have an Ignored Letter in the body of the word need to be marked to indicate that they
will not be used. Return to the process of extracting words from the lists and transferring them to the appropriate sub category
on the Favored
Words, Letters, and Vocabulary List.
At some point you will have accumulated fifteen words under the subheading Words that Begin with Ignored Letters.
When that occurs, return to the word lists and mark the remaining circled words that begin with an Ignored Letter. You will
not be using these words either.
From Chapter 5
There is a potential problem that might
need to be addressed. You don’t want an increase in the difficulty of the words presented during the Vocabulary Enhancement
portion of the program to out-pace the difficulty of the cycle of Dependent Reading. This issue will arise if word acquisition
during Vocabulary Enhancement is progressing faster than the acquisition of fluency. At different times the opposite problem
might arise. Your student’s exhibited fluency during Dependent Reading might out-paces his word acquisition during Vocabulary
Enhancement. These two problems require a balancing of the presentation.
From Chapter 5
Robert did not make
any errors with the words that began with corresponding Favored Letters when we introduced the Ignored
Letter Words. That thrilled me. He did have some problems with the Ignored Letter Words, but not the degree of difficulty
he had experienced before we began the program. I was confident that these remaining problems would not block his continued
growth.
From Chapter 6
During the second phase Robert needed to
gain experience and confidence using his first phase skills and learn to fluently apply phonetic interpretations. To do this
he needed to learn syllabication, dynamic phonetic decoding, enhance his isolated word phonetic decoding ability and develop
a method to re-acquire fluency after engaging in elongated word decoding. These elements needed to be incorporated into his
reading without diminishing his comprehension. In addition, he needed to become proficient at reading material with a degree
of difficulty that corresponded with his grade level. The instruction we used was much easier to administer than that used
during the first phase because the skills were not in developmental conflict. Still the methods were cumbersome and it was
difficult to prepare for the lessons.
From Chapter 6
Although your instruction will be focusing
on individual patterns, it is the format of the presentation that will lead to the development of the Dynamic Decoding skill.
After this lesson your student should understand the distinctions between intra-word fluency, Dynamic Decoding and isolated
word decoding. Further, he should realize that he has already exhibited the ability to perform these three skills.
From Chapter 6
Before we began our program Robert’s instructors
had been trying to teach him comprehensive phonics. At that time Robert was unable to apply the phonetic information being
taught because of the other issues that were blocking his acquisition of the skills needed to read. These issues were the
problems we addressed during the first phase. They were creating distractions, or perhaps better stated clutter, that blocked
his ability to apply the information that was being provided. Information that is learned but can’t be applied is not
knowledge. To become a phonetically knowledgeable reader, Robert needed to overcome these other problems. If your student
is like Robert, he will now be in a position where he can learn the nuances of, and be able to apply, phonetic analysis while
reading.
