IN DEFENSE OF SIGHT WORD READING

When tempted, I can really get up on my soapbox about this! So let me calm down, sip on some soothing Chamomile tea, and proceed. say yes to sight words blue

What Comes First?

First off, let me say that sight word reading in no way disses phonetic reading. It simply comes first, that’s all. What? Your child’s school didn’t get the memo? Send it again. With enough parents informing school systems that, especially for children with DS, sight words clearly come first, we’ll deliver the message. In most cases, our children’s success depends on it.

I raised my son Jonathan in Ohio; the poor teachers there were absolutely up against a wall, needing to meet state demands that they teach our children with DS phonics first. Period. Fortunately, I taught Jonathan to read at home, so I could bypass that problem. If you run into that same brick wall, knock it down with Best Practice.

What Is Best Practice for DS?

Best Practice, according to Downs Ed International and everyone else involved in teaching reading to kids with DS, is simply this: sight words first. Teaching letters and letter sounds right out of the gate, but phonemic awareness later. Here’s the magic formula: high interest flash cards + high interest personal books + training in letters and letter sounds = early reading success. Then when the child is receptive and able, training in phonemic awareness can begin.

Or not. Some of our children can dive right into phonics and splash happily around. But some of our children have hearing impairments which, though slight, can mightily interfere with discerning the subtleties required for phonemic awareness. Not to mention the fact that many of our kids can’t reproduce those same sounds clearly.

What If?

So what do you do if the child can’t discern and reproduce digraphs, diphthongs, etc? You keep teaching reading with sight words until your child has built up both a large sight vocabulary and confidence to match.

That’s what happened with my son: I knew my child’s hearing perception was fuzzy, and that he had a short frustration fuse; I knew I would lose my little reader if I pushed phonics on him. So I taught him letters and letter sounds and forged ahead with many, many homemade books specific to his life. (For teaching letters and sounds, I recommend a shortcut: the very first “Love and Learning” ABC kit; the DVD teaches the letters and sounds clearly in a very focused, non-distractive format.)

Decoding for Jonathan eventually kicked in effortlessly, and to my educator’s relief,  years later I read of similar experiences in a Downs Ed’s book on “Reading and Writing for Individuals With Down Syndrome.” I was not alone. The reality is that when a child’s sight word reading level approaches the third grade level, the ability to decode typically just slides in the side door.

Cambridge University Speaks Up

Have you seen a brain-reading email that’s been making the rounds? The email claims that only 55% of  readers can read it. I’m guessing the percentage is much higher. Here is a snippet:

 7H15    M3554G3
53RV35   7O    PR0V3
H0W  0UR  M1ND5 C4N
D0   4M4Z1NG  7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3   7H1NG5!

Now, what really interests me as a reading teacher to kids with DS is this next paragraph:

“The phaonmneal pweor of  the hmuan mnid,  aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, is taht it dseno’t  mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are put. The olny iproamtnt tihng is  that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn  mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig  huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!”

The operative sentence there is: “This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.” The success of sight readers and those who’ve applied Glen Doman’s “How To Teach Your Baby To Read” book can attest to this. And I can attest to it. When I taught my son Jonathan (28, DS) to read when he was five, he was like a word sponge. I used Doman’s technique, flashed large homemade cards one per second, and created personal books for Jonathan on topics he adored using those same words.

What Happens With This Method?

Success is rapid, that’s what happens. You typically have the best shot at early and quick success by using the Fast Flash method based on high-interest words specific to your child. You’re making it easy on his brain: words are large and clear, delivered fast to the brain (the brain loves this), about topics your child holds dear. The interest is there, and so is the easy-way-into-the-brain method.

For a review of the Fast Flash method and how to do it, scroll down to the article at the very bottom of my home page, www.specialreads.com. Instructions are right there. Or read my blog from July 5, “Teach Reading With The Fast Flash Method” at https://specialreads.com/?p=165.

Where Can I Get The High Frequency Word List?

You mean the highly boring list? Oh, sorry. I was speaking like a student. Not to worry; a lovely retired teacher named Mrs. Perkins has given us quite a gift with her site, www.mrsperkins.com. She has all of the Dolch high-frequency word lists available as downloads in both PDF and Word documents. It’s a snap. She even has downloadable sheets of flash cards; the type is too small for my taste, but you can actually go into each Word doc and increase the font size if you like. You can also check out my reading bundles; they all come with printable flash card PDF files; the type is large, and it’s auto-formatted.

If your child’s school system has its own preferred list, use that instead. Some school systems combine the Pre-Primer and Primer lists and call it the “First 100 Sight Words.” there should be little variation between lists; they should be virtually identical.

Important Ratio

Almost forgot…in a pack of 5 flash cards (keep it at 5 and repeat the flashing 3-4 times for each pack), use this ratio: 2 high interest words + 3 high frequency words = 5 cards. Your child will pay attention through the boring stuff just so he won’t miss the “Wiggles” or “SpongeBob” cards!

Cards ready? Confidence soaring?

Flashing Away,

Natalie-Hale-sig

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  • david richmond

    when my son (now 23) was in started school, he was selected to go to a ‘magnet’ school. this was supposed to be the best school in the area. they taught sight reading, and his teachers absolutely refused to consider phonics. to this day he reads worse than his sisters! and his spelling is atrocious! we took him out of the school after second grade, because we moved. after that we home-schooled all of our children, including our youngest (DS daughter).

    • Natalie Hale

      Aiiiii! Not good, obviously. Sight (logographic) reading should be a stepping stone to alphabetic reading. How bizarre: you had exactly the opposite of the situation in Ohio when my son was in school. Neither way is correct: there should be a natural progression from the initial confidence and success of sight word reading (taught with Fast Flash, not in the traditional slow-learning way) through phonemic awareness and into full decoding ability!