"But he's right in the middle of the class"
When parents see their child struggling with reading, they naturally turn to the teacher to find out what is happening. Often the response is, "You shouldn't be concerned. He is right in the middle of the class." Typically, the parents' instincts tell them that this answer is not satisfactory. And their instincts are absolutely on target.
For a start, 40% of children across the nation struggle in learning to read--so any child in trouble is automatically likely to be "right in the middle"--along with the many other children who are experiencing difficulty.
Further, reading achievement scores often fall far short in terms of the information they provide. Generally they are designed to yield a score which says whether a child is reading at grade level or not.
But even when a child is reading at grade level, his or her reading may be marked by a range of difficulties that have serious implications for the child's ability to progress in reading. These include: regularly guessing at words (and coming up with ones that are not correct), reading without any attention to punctuation (so that sentences run into one another rather than conveying a clear message); reading in a slow, plodding manner (so that the words don't come together to form real ideas). And that's not all. A child's progress can be plagued by a whole other set of problems in spelling and writing.
When you see these and other difficulties, you should be concerned. Even though a child's reading score is officially at grade level, his or her reading future is precarious. So the difficulties should be addressed as soon as possible. That is what Phonics Plus Five has been designed to do. It has been carefully crafted to provide all the skills a child needs for fluent, error-free reading and writing--and to do so via short, easy lessons that offer the joy of total mastery.
