Doesn’t Like to Rhyme

Toddlers and preschoolers often love to make up silly rhymes or make you sing nursery rhymes to them until you lose your voice. Rhyming helps children to learn how to differentiate words that sound similar and is an important step in the early reading process.

Sound Reading Solutions knows that if your child doesn’t like rhyming or word games it may be due to the fact that they can’t recognize certain words if they sound alike. This is a warning sign that your child may struggle with reading.

Has Trouble Remembering Words

First graders should be able to recognize 100 words by the time they complete first grade. But even before they enter kindergarten, they should be able to learn and remember simple sounds and words. If your child has problems remembering words this may be an indication they will have trouble learning to read.

Mispronouncing Words

It isn’t uncommon for children to mispronounce certain words, but if you notice that your child is doing this frequently, it may indicate other learning problems. It can be that they aren’t hearing the distinction between certain syllables or they can’t blend words properly.

Doesn’t Want to Read

Does your child balk when you ask him to read? If your son or daughter is having difficulty learning to read then they may think it is too hard and refuse to engage in the activity. If your child likes having you read to them but refuses to read to you then don’t force it. Instead, you will want to find out why they don’t like reading aloud and work with them to resolve the problem.

Has Difficulty Reading Aloud

If your child does agree to read to you, listen to how they read the words on the page. Does your child skip over words, mispronounce words or replace some words with others? Do they notice the error and go back to correct it or does she keep going unaware there is a problem?
While your child may make some mistakes as they learn to read it is the frequency of the errors that can indicate a problem.

As a parent, you may be the first one to recognize the signs that your child is struggling as a reader. If you think there may be something wrong, don’t ignore your doubts. Speak to your family physician to determine if there are tests they can perform to detect a learning disability.

If your child is in school, then talk to their teacher. Ask if they have noticed any signs that your child is having difficulty in school with reading or other subjects. You and your child’s teacher can work together to get your child remedial reading help. You can purchase reading software to use at home to help your child develop the skills they need to understand the basic concepts of reading. Programs such as Sound Reading Software have proven to be able to help emerging or developing readers to become successful in learning to read.

Don’t let your child continue to struggle because you think you are being overprotective or the problem will go away on its own. Learn how to recognize the signs that your child is having difficulty learning to read and get them the help they need. The Sound Reading free reading assessment tool is a good place to start.

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Best teaching practices and reading methods that ensure success for struggling readers include the auditory processes that connect printed words and meaningful spoken words. These include phonemic awareness, the auditory process that allows humans to make sense of speech sounds. Virtually all students who struggle with reading have subtle problems with phonemic awareness.

Many who believe that they are following best practices in reading instruction still neglect phonemic awareness instruction. This is sad, as a few hours working on phonemic awareness is often the fastest route to reading success. Early research showed that phonemic awareness was important for kindergarten and first grade students. Recent research, including the research Sound Reading is based on, shows that it critical for older students. The reason is simple: as words get more complex students require greater phonemic awareness to make sense of them.

Reading instruction methods must reflect that virtually all secondary students have underdeveloped phonemic awareness and an additional auditory issue. There is a reason students struggle with print for years. Phonemic awareness and auditory instruction isn’t just for young students. These issues include auditory discrimination, sequencing, memory and attention issues. The Sound Reading software builds the auditory skills that make learning to read effortless.

Best practices in teaching reading rightfully focus on comprehension. There are many strategies that are useful, but only a few that stick. The first is “Stop and Think.” The teacher places post-its at critical places in a story. When a student comes to a post-it he stops and thinks. Then he employs the second strategy, he “Turns and Talks” to his reading partner and they have a minute talk about the passage. The Sound Reading Small Steps Readers have these strategies built into each Small Steps story.

Another method in reading comprehension growth also uses post-its. This method uses the natural language strategy of “Does it Sound Right?” This is better than asking, “Does it make sense?” Every time a student encounters a word or phrase that causes her to pause she places a small post-it strip on it. When the chapter is completed the student goes back and reads each paragraph that contains a post-it. If the passage now makes sense the post-it is removed. If the student is still confused then the post-it remains until a peer or a teacher helps.

Best practices in reading instruction should always emphasize fluency. One of the most important research findings is that fluency is the key to meaningful reading and motivation. Even slightly labored reading can limit comprehension. Researchers have found that most “lazy” readers actually have reading fluency difficulties. The Sound Reading Small Steps Readers™ develop fluency with simple and complex words, as well as with sentences and stories.

Teachers are about the only group of workers who are expected to come up with their own material and methods. The Sound Reading Games, Readers and Software are designed by teachers to be ready to use with minimal training.

We all want to use best practices in reading instruction to help our students grow. To determine which methods to use think about:
A. How appropriate are the methods for your students?
B. How much time will it take to implement the methods?
C. How will I track student progress?

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First Steps

Reading is not learned all at once. It takes several baby steps to take the giant leap from understand words to understanding The Little Red Hen. It begins with understanding letters and sounds and then progressing to words, sentences and finally stories.

These first steps are auditory, not visual. Your child has to hear what the vowel “a” sounds like before they can recognize it on a page. If your child has auditory processing issues, these first steps will be difficult for them to take. And without these steps, the other stages of reading will be difficult for him to master.

Your Child Isn’t Alone

Don’t be worried if your son or daughter is showing the signs of auditory processing issues that can lead to difficulties with reading. Over 35% of all English speakers have some form of auditory issues, including ADHD and Dyslexia. That is why Sound Reading software is based on speech therapy methods to help develop auditory processing skills. Once these skills are mastered, the first steps to learning to read fluently and comprehend what is read can be learned.

Hop Skip and Jump Software

Sound Reading’s Hop, Skip and Jump reading software helps emerging readers take the necessary steps to understand reading. The CD or online versions of the software have twenty different reading formats to help teach important skills, including:

• Sound counting
• Auditory discrimination and processing
• Rhyming
• Blending
• Word length
• Syllable construction
• Word fluency

The activities that teach these skills are engaging for the children. They won’t have to memorize the rules of phonetics, instead they will learn through a natural reading process that makes reading fun and appealing.

In addition, parents will be able to see the progress their son or daughter makes while using the reading software. With the Flash Fluency System, your child will develop skills that will allow them to excel at reading comprehension as they progress through school.

Success is created with a solid foundation. The fact that your child has ADHD, Dyslexia or other auditory processing disorder doesn’t mean they are forced to struggle in Kindergarten and throughout their academic career. With Sound Reading software, children can learn the auditory processing skills that come naturally to their peers. This will allow them to absorb the reading skills taught in school at the same pace as their classmates. By purchasing the reading software for your son or daughter, they will find that great reading adventures are only a Hop, Skip and Jump away.

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What Sound Reading Offers

Sound Reading software offers a web-based remedial reading program that uses speech therapy to develop auditory processing skills. The activities and fluency exercises offered by the program make learning exciting and fun, while the progress monitoring ability allows teachers to see how students are doing without excessive testing.

Why Sound Reading Software

There are many different reading software available for schools and parents. So, why are so many turning to Sound Reading, because its unique approach to teaching comprehension and fluency has proven successful over other remedial reading programs.
Reading skills are based mostly on auditory processing and with 35% of English speakers having auditory issues; this leaves many adults and children struggling with basic reading fundamentals. The unique strategy used in Sound Reading online software is based on the Clear Code Method and Flash Fluency system. These proprietary methods use speech therapy and a natural reading process to help students without forcing them to memorize the myriad rules of phonics based learning.

In addition, this process has been proven to work in the ten years of field-testing in classrooms across America. On average, students who use the reading software will improve two or three grade levels within the first three months. That is a 78-percentile jump in fluency and a 50-percentile jump in comprehension.

How It Works

The reading software for teachers offers five reading levels from pre-reader to advanced support. Once the teacher understands a student’s reading level, either through the Online Reading Assessment or their own assessment tests, the teacher can place the student in one of the five levels. The activities and exercises for each level are already set up to help teach the necessary skills. The teachers can then monitor the student’s progress and assess their level of success.

Software for Home Use Available

Parents can purchase the reading software for use at home as well. Each program is available for individual purchase, so parents buy only the software their son or daughter needs. The activities, exercises and monitoring are the same whether used in a home or academic setting.

Nothing encourages the continuation of a program then success. With Sound Reading software, students, teachers and parents can see success almost immediately. This success encourages students to continue with the program and for teachers to use it to help more of their remedial reading students.

This breakthrough approach to learning has helped many students to become more confident, secure and improved their self-esteem. Remedial reading help is more than just teaching someone how to break down words or comprehend the passage they read. When a person learns to read they understand that they have the potential to succeed in school and in life. That is why more parents and teachers are turning to Sound Reading software for remedial reading help.

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Foundation for Academic Success

If your son or daughter is having issues with reading, this issue will extend far beyond the ability to read Charles Dickens or JK Rowling. She will have trouble understanding textbooks, writing papers and communicating her thoughts on paper. Poor reading skills will make it difficult for your child to succeed in her academic and professional life.

Boosting Essential Skills

While reading skills are taught in Kindergarten, these skills are expanded upon throughout grade school. Therefore, if your student is in first or second grade, it isn’t too late to shore up essential abilities with reading software.

Sound Reading Software’s Boost Program was designed for children in first and second grade struggling with reading basics. The goal of the Boost Program is to help make reading more meaningful. By enhancing comprehension, children are able to understand what they read and draw

comparisons with other stories or lessons they have learned.

The activities are engaging, making learning fun for the child and easier on the parents. In addition, with the ability to monitor their progress, parents can see how the improvement their child is making.

Skills that the Sound Reading Software Boost Program teaches include:

• Whole word contrasts
• One sound spelling
• Voiced and unvoiced sounds
• Vowels and mouth movement
• Word error detection
• Active sentence reasoning
• Sentences from fragments

These skills will allow your child to absorb the complexities of fundamental reading skills so that they will be able to gain the confidence they need for conquering decoding and awareness in later grades.

Remedial Reading Support

For students in grades three and beyond who are having trouble reading, it is imperative that they learn age appropriate reading and decoding skills. Sound Reading Software’s Remedial Program will help children not only catchup with their classmates, they will also learn above average reading skills to become better students and learners in the future.

The skills taught in the Remedial Program include:

• Comparing meaning
• Word and picture contrasts
• Word fluency
• Fact of feeling
• Concept formation
• Syllable construction

Parents who purchase Sound Reading Software to assist their children discover that within three months their son or daughter’s reading skills have advanced two and sometimes even three grade levels. By using the Free Online Reading Assessment, parents can discover which reading program is best for their child. As they begin working with the reading software, students can see their progress as they interact with the various activities. Parents can also see success by reviewing the progress monitoring offered by the software.

Experience the joy of success with your child by purchasing the Sound Reading Boost or Remedial programs. This will be one New Year’s Resolution that you will be glad you kept.

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Struggling Readers Lack Confidence

When your child does poorly in school, they often lack in self-confidence. They may think that there is something wrong with them or that they just aren’t smart enough to get good grades. You know better and you want to be able to show your child just how wonderful they really are. Reading software can help tackle common reading issues and create the essential building blocks to solve phonetic and vocabulary problems as well as dyslexia issues.

Seeing is Not the Problem

Often reading problems develop because of what a child hears instead of what he or she sees. Early readers learn to read by listening to auditory clues. They see a letter, hear how it is pronounced and then combine these individual sounds into words. However, if your son or daughter is having difficulty differentiating between long and short vowel sounds and can’t distinguish all of the sounds in consonant blends then they won’t be able to developed decoding skills.
Phonics and decoding are two essential building blocks in early reading and vocabulary development. When your student can make connections between printed and spoken words, they are able to read faster and comprehend more. This will help not only early readers but also older children and teenagers master reading and comprehension skills necessary in understanding their studies in all subjects. They will also be able to communicate their understanding of the subject matter better with a more expansive vocabulary and better writing skills.

Building Blocks to Success

As your child begins to see improvement in the program, they will become more confident and secure. In as little as six weeks, you and your child can see concrete results and a vast improvement in their reading skills. Sound Reading Software increases with difficulty as your child masters certain skills so that this improvement will continue beyond their current grade level.
Help your child by buying them a gift that will make them a better reader, a terrific student and a confident lifelong learner. By purchasing Sound Reading Software you are not only offering access to remedial reading help, you are also showing them that you have faith in them. With the free online reading assessment, you will be able to identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses in order to determine which reading program is best for your son or daughter. Or you can contact us today and we can help you buy the best holiday gift your child will ever receive.

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Phonics and reading software for kindergarten should include auditory processing (making sense of spoken words) activities so students can connect printed words and meaningful spoken words. Virtually all secondary students who struggle with reading have subtle problems with auditory processing, the leading cause of comprehension difficulties in secondary students.

Online reading software must include interactive phonemic awareness instruction. A few hours of phonemic awareness instruction is often the fastest route to reading success. The primary reason students struggle with phonics is a lack of phonemic awareness. Current research, including the research Sound Reading’ s Remedy Software is based on, shows that it is also essential for older students. The reason is simple; as words get more complex students require greater phonemic awareness to make sense of them.

Phonics and reading software for kindergarten should reflect best practices in reading instruction. Researchers and teachers are converging on the concept of print-to-speech reading instruction. At first, this concept seemed like a repackaging of traditional phonics. Educators now see it as the natural way to read. There are many ways to connect written words to meaningful spoken words. The Sound Reading software includes over 20 activities that make this important connection.

Does your child’s phonics educational reading software emphasize fluency? One of the most important research findings is that fluency is the key to meaningful reading and motivation. Even slightly labored reading can limit comprehension. Researchers have found that most “lazy” readers actually have reading fluency difficulties. The Sound Reading Software develops fluency with simple and complex words using the most natural method, called rapid naming.

Online reading software must be supplemented with reading practice. Avoid sing-song phonics readers as they do little to promote fluency. The developmental readers must include practice with decoding, fluency and language comprehension. They should include short passages, called quick reads, which lend themselves to timed repeated reading. The Sound Reading Small Steps Readers have these strategies built into each Small Steps story helping to answer the question of how to improve reading comprehension. The stories have Stop and Think and Relate self-questioning integrated into the text. The Hop, Skip and Jump, Boost and Remedy Systems are the first reading systems that combine advanced reading software with Small Steps Reading practice.

Implementing the latest in online reading software shouldn’t be difficult. Make it the focus of one center in a balanced literacy program. You can set up two or three computers with the appropriate Sound Reading software. Set up another learning center with the Remedy or the Reading Challenge game. The Sound Reading Games, Readers and Software are designed by teachers to be ready to use with minimal training.

The alternative to traditional phonics and reading software for kindergarten is Hop, Skip and Jump. For primary students use Sound Reading Boost. For teens try Sound Reading Remedy. Each is age-appropriate and teaches basic skills in a manner that doesn’t bore or frustrate. Sound Reading uses a unique spiral format. The student plays 25 different activities, each only a few minutes in length. This format grabs the attention of students with short attention spans. The activities are at an independent instructional level so the student is motivated by the constant feeling of success.

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Why Reading Programs Fail

According to The Reading Foundation, reading programs often fail because of large class size, the program isn’t suited to the students’ reading development and because the pace of instruction is too fast and the students are unable to keep up. Not all children need to have a special setting for reading instruction. Many students may be able to master the necessary skills in a standard classroom setting with additional support. It is important to understand each student’s stage of reading development. Then you need to compare it with grade level standards to help correctly place each student.

Effective Reading Software for Teachers

When a school district is looking at potential reading software, they should consider how it would complement the district’s reading program. A study completed by Best Evidence showed that:

• Teachers who offer tutoring for poor readers is beneficial and more effective than tutoring offered by volunteers or even paraprofessionals
• Phonetics tutoring provided beyond the first grade benefits students more than one-on-one tutoring for first graders only
• Cooperative learning and structured phonetic models help all students in the classroom, including those who have reading problems
• Small group learning can be productive but one-to-one teaching is better

If the reading software being considered by the district can assist with providing additional support or aid with individualized instruction, then it will be effective. When reviewing potential reading software, it is important to understand how the software was developed and tested. Make sure that development is driven by research, and tested in actual classrooms to determine its effectiveness.

It is also important to make sure that the remedial reading help offered by the software is direct, intensive and can be sustained over time with models that increase with

difficulty to build upon success. The program should also offer multiple online or offline reading assessments, different methods and reading opportunities and leverages instructional time to achieve maximum results.

Sound Reading Software

Sound Reading software upholds effective reading quality standards. It was created based on scientific research and has undergone rigid field-testing to determine its effectiveness. The company’s founder came up with the idea for his remedial reading software based on his own battle with dyslexia and subsequent reading problems.

If your school or district is looking for reading software for teachers, you may want to consider Sound Reading Solutions. Contact us for more information on how we can help your teachers implement sound reading development in your classrooms.

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Children Who Suffer from Dyslexia

Reading Dyslexia is a neurological disorder that influences mathematical and reading skills. Children diagnosed with this disorder often suffer from self-image problems and don’t perform well in school. In order to break this cycle the child, the parent and teachers need to work together to change the student’s learning patterns. Once the child is able to embrace the method that helps them and they see progress their image and performance issues will change.

Diagnosing Dyslexia at a Young Age

The National Center for Learning Disabilities states children who are diagnosed with Dyslexia at a young age benefit the most from treatment and learning therapy. Signs that your child may have Dyslexia include:

• Blending sounds into speech
• Correct pronunciation of words
• Difficulty learning word sequences
• Difficulty mastering spelling and grammar rules
• Rely on memorization and have difficulty learning new skills
• Following directions
• Trouble with math skills because they reverse numbers
• Issues with reading

Dyslexia Help Software

Because Dyslexia centers on written skills and transferring what they see to speech, oral learning has proven to be successful in young and school age children. Reading software focuses on the oral reading, recognition and comprehension skills necessary to become good readers and students. Sound Reading Solutions was developed by a person diagnosed with Dyslexia and uses proven activities that strengthen oral and written comprehension.

Fun with Learning

Children learn best when they are able to participate in games and fun activities where learning is secondary. Sound Reading software has several fun activities children play in order to help grasp basic concepts. They are rewarded with badges as they master certain skills. The ability to see improvement encourages reluctant students to stick with the program and recognize success.

The lessons are self-directed and can be completed within 20 minutes. This helps maintain interest and keeps children for becoming bored or resenting the training. When they are interested, they learn more and when they learn more they gain self-confidence.

Dyslexia confuses the brain by rearranging the order of letters and numbers. By changing the way the brain reads, students can master the concepts shown by natural readers. Students improve accuracy, comprehension and automaticity so that they can become advanced readers and better listeners.

With consistency, persistency and the proper approach, child with reading and listening disabilities can master auditory skills, phonemic awareness and accuracy. If your child has been struggling with the foundational language skills due to Dyslexia Sound Reading Solutions reading software can help. Our free reading assessment will help identify problem areas and we can discuss how our reading software can benefit your child.

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What is APD?

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website, an auditory processing disorder (APD) effects the way the central nervous system processes auditory information. APD is often confused with attention, memory or higher order cognitive language disorders such as ADHD or Autism. Children who have APD may have difficulty following directions, reading, or distinguishing one voice in a crowd or oral lectures. Parents of children with APD may think that they suffer from hearing loss because the child asks people to repeat what they say. Teachers will often say that the children appear to hear, but not listen to what is being said and confuses similar words like “ten” and “then”.

Four Types of APD

The National Center for Learning Disabilities differentiates APD into four separate categories: Auditory Discrimination, Auditory Figure-Ground Discrimination, Auditory Memory Discrimination, and Auditory Sequence Discrimination.

Auditory Discrimination

The common symptoms of someone who suffers from auditory discrimination are:

• Issues telling apart words with similar sounds
• Trouble remembering details
• Struggles with reading skills
• Hears what you are say but doesn’t seem to listen

Auditory Figure-Ground Discrimination

You can identify people with auditory figure-ground discrimination because they:

• Have difficulty picking out individual sounds in a noisy background
• Doesn’t seem to be able to follow verbal directions
• Issues hearing and understanding when the teacher speaks in the classroom

Auditory Memory

Auditory memory discrimination affects both short and long-term memory, including:

• Directions that contain multiple steps
• Remembering names and phone numbers
• Can recall stories or songs

Auditory Sequencing

Auditory sequencing relates to the order of words, such as:

• Can’t remember the order of a series of instructions
• Mixes up multi-digit numbers
• Has issues with lists

Treatment for Auditory Processing Discrimination

Subjects such as reading rely on the student’s ability to listen and interpret sounds. Research in this area centers around helping children develop the skills necessary to comprehend speech. With training and practice, the skill can be learned and children can go on to be exceptional students and lifelong learners. Games and activities that address these issues have proven to be successful in students, especially in the area of early reading support for children in grades K-3. Sound Reading Solutions reading software uses this concept to help your child master basic reading skills within a few months.

Reading Software for Auditory Processing Disorders

The Sound Reading solutions reading software program helps individuals decode and identify important words using print-to-speech literacy. This is the same process natural readers use, but children who have APD are unable to utilize this system on their own. By teaching auditory processing first, students are able to practice the skills necessary to match sound to letters as the foundation for reading and comprehension. The reading software uses proprietary research to improve accuracy, automaticity and comprehension by:

• Increasing phonemic awareness
• The ability to hear and process sounds
• Interpret written words as spoken words
• Decoding unfamiliar words
• Match sounds of letters to words

The Sound Reading Solutions reading software has seen success with children of all ages and reading levels. Even students who have tried phonics-based programs in the past without success have shown significant progress with our program. We have done years of research and field-testing to hone our method into an easy to use and comprehensive program. Our Clear Code Method and Flash Fluency methods will be able to help your struggling reader to improve her skills in as little as 20 minutes a day. Take advantage of our free reading assessment and contact us to learn how we can help your child become the student you know they can be.

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