Learning to read?

Thank you QQ. Phonics are really necessary for children with a whole range of special educational needs. Those children will usually make up at least half of any class.

Look and say/look-cover-write-check work for children with no learning issues. But they exclude a lot of others.

If you teach every child as if they were dyslexic and use a range of teaching techniques (multi sensory/phonics etc), a much bigger percentage of a class population will learn well.

My daughter homes schools her children. They can all read well, the youngest could read when he was three. Her 9 year old didn't take any interest in reading until just recently. He decided that it was a skill he needed (he has autism).

You are right quizqueen, phonics is not nonsense. My 11 year old grandson would not be reading without phonics, his word recognition is deplorable.

Fashions in teaching reading change - remember the Initial Teaching Alphabet? My opinion was that it meant that children had to learn how to read twice.

Anyway, I always found that a combination of look-and-say and phonics worked best, depending on whether the word could be sounded out or not.

Phonics is NOT nonsense.

If a child wants to read, they will. (My daughter, age 3)
If they haven't much interest till they get to school, they will catch up, especially if there are books in the house (my son age 6)

Teachig a willing child isn't hard, read to them and point to the words as you go. Forget the phonics nonsense, look-and-say worked for ever.

There are lots of good phonics resources on line. Many of the best programme developers have made their programmes available on line, free of charge. It's very easy stuff. There's no great mystique about learning to read.

It won't hurt children to leave it for a few months. though.