Letter to the Editor: The price of freedom (On PHONICS)

- Nov 4, 2021 The Brattleboro, VT, Reformer

To the editor: In 1965 our dyslexic second grader couldn’t read. He cried over his homework! We researched reading methods, and asked about phonics instruction for Andy. The assistant principal said all teachers used phonics. A child knowing “ball,” for example, could read words like “tall”, “hall” and “fall” just by “initial consonant substitution.” This was their idea of phonics! We knew more about the subject than they did. PS 145’s 2019 website shows a 12 percent reading achievement, the principal looking forward “to another good year.”

With teaching like this, 35 percent of fourth graders, nationwide, read proficiently. Schools blame poverty, or kids’ indifference. But what about teaching? First graders start with little stories, short sentences with oft-repeated, one-syllable words. Memorizing words, kids “read” immediately. But they’re not learning! Eighth-grade reading scores are lower than fourth! First graders have Phonics workbooks. A typical page from a popular publisher shows eight pigs, each containing a word with the letter “O”. Instructions say, “Color the pigs with long O sound words.” Right under the instructions are the six needed words: go, bone, so, nose, home, and no! Two pigs contain “brown” and “sock”. Then, “Write the words from the pigs you colored.” What’s wrong here? Everything. The correct choices are supplied! Pigs in spelling lessons create puzzling associations. You don’t learn reading by coloring. You don’t learn writing by copying. You don’t learn phonics silently! The spelling words have no sentences, nor pronunciation rules.

Schools insist that kids work independently, free from teacher control. These materials allow that. By contrast, Romalda Spalding’s The Writing Road to Reading, uses structured lessons, directed by a teacher. Spalding writes, “Adults tend to greatly underestimate the mental ability of young children.” The children work hard, and love it, because they’re learning. I’ve seen classes of the least-promising children becoming proficient readers, writers and spellers. Spalding’s program uses no workbooks, and eliminates most special education. Beginners first learn excellent writing skills, then work with the 70 phonograms representing English’s 44 speech sounds, knowing them by sound. The “O” phonogram’s three sounds, for example, are found in “odd”, “open” and “do”; the “O” sound in “open” is that letter’s name, not “long O”. Spelling dictation, from the Ayres List of 1,000 most-used words, uses sentences, and is multisensory: aural (hearing teacher’s voice), tactile (writing), oral (child’s speaking voice), and visual (written word) together. In December, first graders start reading great children’s literature.

Thomas W. Graves, Putney, Oct. 29

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Note: Samuel Blumenfeld, author of Alpha-Phonics, was a close friend of Romalda Spalding. Their phonics programs are very similar.

If you plan to teach your own child to read, we hope you will investigate the long-time favorite of families, especially of Homeschool families, Alpha-Phonics. Proven for over 37 years by tens of thousands. If you have any doubts about being able to teach your OWN Child to read please read why Alpha-Phonics works so very well. YOU CAN DO IT !! It is all explained below:

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