subject: 10 Minute Reading Download [print this page] Well it's true, and I'm going to tell you exactly how to do just that. My name is Denise MacDonald and I am the President and Founder of eReadingPro, the company that brings you the 10-minute Reading Program. For the past four years, I have been travelling the globe teaching parents and teachers how to teach children to read.
5 Reasons Why Your Child May Be Struggling With Reading
The Dolch list of words
The Dolch list of words is the list of the most commonly used words in the English language. It consists of words such as 'that' and 'which'. Children struggle with these words because there is no visual representation for them. As a result, children have a hard time making an association with the word.
This is like asking the proverbial question of "Which came first - the chicken or the egg." Should you begin teaching letters and sounds (phonics) or whole words first? That depends on the child, doesn't it? Especially, if the child is a visual learner.
Pictures and words on the same flashcard
If you are a visual learner and someone shows you a card with a nice colorful picture AND a word on the same card, what are you most apt to look at the picture or the word? I'm sure you said the picture. So why would we bother putting the word on the same card?
Word families & similar looking words
As a visual learner, it is very confusing to see words that look very similar and be able to figure out the differences. For example: hat cat mat sat. They all look very similar. This can be very confusing for a child that is a visual learner.
Labeling items
Many think that labeling items around the house will help their child to learn to read. By labeling items around your house you are also providing those words to them continually, but they are also becoming part of the wallpaper'. After a while they are just ignored.
