There are numerous ways to teach a child to read, but not every approach works with each child. Because Modern Phonics utilizes the four different learning modalities - visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile - your child's strengths are continuously being reinforced while those areas that are less strong are being addressed. In addition, Modern Phonics creatively combines and interweaves two different approaches to reading: pure phonics and whole languages.

The basic foundation of phonics involves teaching a child to decode words. Through a sequential and systematic progression of learning to associate different letter and letter combinations with certain sound types, a student learns to do what is known as "sound out" words. But the process is not limited to showing your child a word and having him or her just fight their way through it. Your child is taken on a journey that begins with the simplest of vowel and consonant sounds. As the student progresses through these building blocks or reading, he or she gains ever increasing knowledge-based tools to help the child decode words. The leveled, decodable reading texts are carefully selected to allow your child to practice new phonic elements while reinforcing ones he or she has already learned.

A very unique and powerful component of the Modern Phonics program is that, while learning phonics, your child is taught to carefully listen. The skill of listening is critical in all aspects of learning, and the development of the skill gets focused attention throughout the teaching of Pure Phonics in this program. In addition to the important skill of listening, the phonics component of this program teaches spelling, penmanship, fluency, and comprehension.

As your child learns to sound out words, he or she is on the path to becoming a reader. But the process is far from complete. Certain words cannot be sounded out easily, or else are exceptions to techniques that your child has been taught. So, in addition to teaching phonics, I also present lessons on "sight word recognition." It is here that your child will learn to see a whole word and know its sound and its meaning. Carefully-selected texts are used to complement whichever element is being taught. Using this Whole Language method of reading, your child can make great strides. He or she will have the tools of decoding when necessary, along with a growing resource of sight words to read whole sentences.

The flexibility of using tow reading approaches - Pure Phonics and Whole Language - allows me to adapt my lessons to the individual needs of each child. Some readers thrive in Pure Phonics and struggle through Whole Language. With others, it is the reverse. For this reason, I continuously customize and refine the lessons to present the best balance tailored to the specific needs of each child. Reading texts that support Pure Phonics decoding elements are dynamically combined with other texts that reinforce Whole Language to guide the student forward in learning to read.

As he or she progresses through the program, your child will start acquiring more specific comprehension skills, along with beginning writing skills and vocabulary development. Ultimately, the Modern Phonics program moves into language arts skills, including grammatical usage and parts of speech.

By the time your child is finished with the Modern Phonics program, he or she will not only be reading but will be equipped with learning skills, writing abilities, and cognitive strategies that will serve your child well throughout his or her academic future.