Sounding out words

Very quickly into the program, you will be directing your child to sound out written words, and say them fast. All words to be read look somewhat like this:

For each word, you will touch the big ball at the beginning of the arrow. As you move your finger to each ball on the arrow, stop for at least one second, and ask your child to sound out each symbol. Practice moving your finger quickly along the arrow, and stopping for at least one second on each ball.

Some words have sounds that cannot be held for extended periods. The sounds are to be presented exactly the same way as sounds that can be held. The only difference is that you don’t stop at the last sound for a full second; you must stop only for an instant, and move quickly to the end of the arrow.

As the lessons progress, you will notice that a new type of word is introduced. This type begins with a sound that cannot be held, and it the most difficult type of word your child will face while learning to read. The figure below explains this further.

Please note the symbol under the “c” in “can” – it is an arrow, not a ball. You do not stop under the “c”. The arrow symbol indicates that although you do not stop, the sound is to be pronounced, together with the adjacent sound (in this case, “aaa”) Therefore, your child is encouraged tos ay “caaa”.

Silent letters

Some words would be regular words if they did not have “silent letters”. Some of these words are “MEAT”, “SAIL”, “CAME” AND “BOAT”. In this program, they are written as below:

Please note that there is no ball, or arrow under the silent letters. You do not pause for these letters, and you do not stop at them. The sounds for the letters with the ball underneath are the sounds that the child pronounces for the word itself.

As you advance in the program, the small letters denoting the silent letters become regular sized. Typically, children will have no trouble reading them at that point, as they have already dealt with these words several times by then. The transition is therefore not difficult.