Phono-Graphix

What is Phono-Graphix?

Phonograpix is a revolutionary way of teaching reading. Working for adults and especially for children with Dyslexia, Phongraphix makes sense of the complicated English language.

Phono-Graphix is quite simply, in my opinion, the best method of teaching reading that has been developed to date. Developed by Geoffrey and Carmen McGuiness of Read America, Phono-Graphix is a revolutionary way of teaching the English sound system to readers.

There was a clinical study of Phono-Graphix published in the Orton Annals of Dyslexia in 1996. This study included 87 children age six to sixteen, 44% of whom were previously diagnosed as learning disabled. In a twelve hour remedial course, 98% of the children reached grade level reading. The remaining 2% needed additional time in therapy.

My own experience would concur with these findings, although I have not carried out any formal research.

What we know about learning to read

Our English language could be considered illogical, frustrating, even irritating. Personally I like to think of it as endlessly fascinating, challenging and diverse! Sadly for our children, especially those with dyslexia, it IS illogical, frustrating and annoying. The very aspects of our language, that make it so diverse and fascinating for those who manage to learn it easily, are what causes dyslexic children the problems. To start with there are 44 sounds in our language and only 26 letters with which to describe those sounds, so we start having to put two letters together in order to show a sound for example ’sh’, ‘ch’. Then there’s the fact that there are no rules that you can happily abide by: ‘i before e except after c, or in weigh, neighbour’ etc, etc. And what about all those words with spellings such as ‘cough’ ‘ though’ ‘enough’?

What is the key to Phono-Graphix?

The key to teaching reading the Phono-Graphix method is I think, that from the outset, children learn not to be surprised or bamboozled by strange spellings because the first lesson of the Advanced Code teaches them that the sound O (as in go) can be shown in different ways in different words. Let me explain: in the word ‘nose’ the O sound is shown by o-e, in ‘road’ it is shown by oa and in ‘though’ it is shown by ough.

We talk about ‘pictures of sound’ – the National Literacy Strategy talks about phonemes and digraphs !!! Sorry a personal prejudice showing, but I can’t help wondering why our education systems seems to want to make learning even more challenging for those of our children who are having the least good experiences in school, for what ever reasons – attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, hyperactivity or social communication disorder. If a child is going to learn to read easily then s/he will no matter what is taught, but those who are going to experience difficulties need matters to be MADE MORE SIMPLE . (Ok I’ll get off my soap box now).

What are the methods used in Phono-Graphix?

Every section in Phono-Graphix builds upon the previous one, so that when you are teaching Multi-syllables, the same techniques are being taught as were taught in the very simplest level – mop, jug, flag, and so on.

Key skills are built into the teaching along the way – sounds are always taught in the context of words, therefore it’s implicit in the method that this is what ’sounds’ are useful for. I remember years ago diligently teaching one poor lad his ’sounds’ all to little or no avail and then suddenly one day he heard what I had been saying all along – that we use sounds to help us read! It was a revelation for me and him as the understanding flooded his face.

Children are tested for their understanding of different aspects of key reading skill areas and their code knowledge and then taught in a MULTI-SENSORY way ( ie in a way that incorporates as many sensory inputs as possible) . Children are encouraged to discover their own learnings throughout. What follows is a brief over-view of what to expect.

What to expect when learning with Phono-Graphix?

1. Phono-Graphix Testing

Parents are strongly encouraged to be present throughout the Phono-Graphix sessions.

Four Phono-Graphix tests are given:

• The segmenting test measures your child’s ability to separate sounds in words.
• The blending test measures your child’s ability to blend sounds into words.
• The phoneme manipulation test measures your child’s ability to move sounds into and out of words.
• The code knowledge test measures your child’s explicit knowledge of the code

In addition to this I will administer a standardized reading test of real and nonsense words

2. Phono-Graphix Therapy and Parent Support

At each lesson work sheets will be provided. These will give you all the materials you need to support your child’s therapy at home in between sessions. You will also be asked to sit in on most of the sessions so you understand the process of remediation.

3. Remediation Time and Reading Gains

Remediation time and reading gains vary greatly from child to child. At the Read America clinic in Orlando, Florida the average time of remediation is twelve hours. Their average gains are just over two years in real word reading and four years in nonsense word reading (decoding). Needless to say they do not guarantee gains.er two years in real word reading and four years in nonsense word reading (decoding). Needless to say they do not guarantee gains.

<h3>Weekly Courses</h3>

I run regular weekly one to one hour long lessons throughout the year locally (Chichester).  Please call or email me to discuss further how I can help.