A parent recently wrote to me with the following query:

I would like to use your Phonics Plus Five program for my daughter who is seven and has some serious developmental delays. She can recognize shapes but she has difficulty with sequencing and also with orientation when she "writes.". Can you advise me on what I can do to help her with these skills? Thanks, R L.

The issues that the parent has raised are extremely important. Visual sequencing and letter orientation are vital skills that, whenever possible, should be developed before a child learns to read. Phonics Plus Five has been set up to develop them via the Sequences in Sight and Letters to Write components of the program.

For some children, these components can seem to be beyond their capabilities. Fortunately, it is relatively simple to modify each so that it achieves the goals for which it was designed..

Let's start with Sequences in Sight.

Continue reading "Developing the Vital, But Neglected Precursor Skills for Reading" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 04:21 PM
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A parent recently wrote to me with a question that, in my experience, many others share. She said,

My child is about to turn five and I am starting her on your program. We're working on the Sequences in Sight and Handwriting sections. I'm finding it hard to get my daughter to pay attention. When she pays attention she learns
easily. However, after three or four steps in a lesson, her mind wanders and it is a struggle to get her to look at the page, even if she is doing the steps correctly.

I don't want to reward her behavior by ending the lesson early, but I don't want to perpetuate a negative feedback loop that starts to happen when her attention lapses. What should I do?

Continue reading "How Do I Get My Child To Pay Attention?" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 05:50 PM
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A parent recently wrote to me saying, "My 8 year old daughter has motor difficulties and cannot handwrite. She can use a specialized keyboard to write on a computer. I saw that Phonics Plus Five involves a lot of writing activities. Can I use the program with her?"

Happily, the answer is "Yes." It will require that the parent modify some of the materials, but the changes are readily achievable. For example, one of the writing activities involves showing words with missing letters and the child has to enter the correct letters to complete the word. So a word such as some might appear as _o_e.

In adapting this sort of activity, a parent might:

Continue reading "My Child Has Motor Difficulties and Cannot Handwrite..." »

Posted by Marion Blank at 06:16 PM
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A parent recently asked me the following question. My six year old son had educational testing. I was told that he has an "auditory processing disorder and weak phonological awareness." It was suggested that I start him on some pre-reading programs that are designed to address these problems. I was wondering if Phonics Plus Five would be appropriate for him and would it address these issues?

The short answer is, Yes, Phonics Plus Five is ideal for helping children with these problems learn to read easily and effectively.

There is also long answer for those who would like to understand what is meant by "auditory processing disorders and weak phonological awareness" and why these realms have come to play such a key role in reading education.

Continue reading "Does My Child Need "Training in Phonological Awareness"" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 03:03 PM
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Children often find writing to be far more difficult than reading. If that comment fits your situation, you may find it helpful to adapt the suggestion of a parent who recently wrote to me. She described the way she transitioned her son from reading to writing in the following way:

"I pulled my youngest child out of public school two months ago and am undertaking one of the biggest challenges of my life. As I started reading your blog posting on Children Reading Before Speaking, I realized that reading is so much easier for him. So a couple of weeks ago I decided to apply a technique I heard you lecture about some years back.

Continue reading "Building Writing Skills: A Parent's Suggestion" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 10:53 AM
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I recently received the following letter from a parent:

I have been using your Phonics Plus Five method with my 6 year old daughter. Thank you for creating such a great program. I love it.

So far, we have made it through the Boarding program. When we got to the end, she could read all the words, but she could spell only about half of them correctly. Since you provide a set of review activities, I assume this is normal. But the review does not seem to be enough. Her spelling is still not as secure as I would like. She can spell them fine if I give her the letters out of order and she has to arrange them in the right order, but she cannot pull them out of midair, so to speak. What should I do?

And here is my answer:
This is a great question and it gets to the heart of a set of key skills that children must develop—the skills involving visual memory. When the review activities in the program are not sufficient, the best technique to use is what I call "One Hour Recall."

Continue reading "How To Ensure Accurate Spelling" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 03:44 PM
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The Question: I am devouring your book The Reading Remedy. I am wondering if the book has the complete package or if it is missing anything that would be in the pre-packaged version of Phonics Plus Five. Amy C.

My answer: The book, The Reading Remedy, outlines the theory behind the program and it provides information on full range of techniques it uses. However, it is far from complete. It would have taken hundreds of pages to provide all the materials that are offered in the kit. Parents who have the time and ability to create appealing materials can use the information in The Reading Remedy to construct the full program. By contrast, the packaged version of Phonics Plus Five has all the materials--ready to go--in an attractive, easy to use form.

Posted by Marion Blank at 02:50 AM
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Question: What should I be doing in a lesson when I ask my child to do something and he does it wrong or just sits there and does nothing? --Lynn M., mother of a five year old.

My answer: I'm so pleased you asked that question because handling this type of situation correctly is one of the keys to success. One of the first things you will notice about Phonics Plus Five is that the programs are designed so that your child will be able to do most things correctly and the number of errors will be low. This is invaluable in setting the right motivation.

Continue reading "What should I be doing in a lesson when my child does it wrong?" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 12:54 AM
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Here is a question from parents that we often get asked:

I have a son of 12 years of age with dyslexia and he has a reading age of a 7 year old. Would this program be helpful to him?

The answer:

Phonics Plus Five is likely to be useful since it has helped many children with dyslexia. The best way to make that determination is to use the free Skills Assessment test that is on the website under the tab Is It Right for You? Just follow the directions offered there.

Continue reading "Helping a Twelve Year Old with Dyslexia" »

Posted by Marion Blank at 12:36 AM
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A parent just wrote and asked me some great questions and I wanted to share my answers to her with you. Here's what she wrote:

"Hello, and THANK YOU for writing a book that I am sure you had my child in mind for! We homeschool 3 of our 5 children and I am just starting to teach our 5 year old the basics to reading and wondered if I could use your program exclusively or is it designed to use in conjunction with traditional phonics programs? In other words do I need to supplement your program with regular phonics instruction?"

Here is what I replied

While Phonics Plus Five works beautifully with other programs, you can use it exclusively and there is no need to supplement it with any other program. The program has been designed so that the child learns all the key sound and letter clusters --without requiring any conscious memorization of complex rules. As you and your child work through the various levels, you will begin to see your child decode words he or she has never seen -- that is one of the clearest signs that he or she has begun to "crack the code" and intuit the sound patterns of the language. That is the surest, easiest and simplest way to learn to read successfully.

Do you have a question?
Feel free to email me, and I'll do my best to answer.

Posted by Marion Blank at 11:58 PM
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