Hi, Bonnie.

We spoke on the phone when I ordered your materials, which I’ve since received. Thanks very much!

You mentioned at the time that you are open to questions as I began using the materials–and, of course, I now have those questions!

-My son will be entering 3rd grade. His 2nd grade teacher noted his reading fluency as low proficient at end of year (technically passing, according to the DRA2-28 which they started using this year). At some point in the last few months of school, some one of his reading teachers at school appears to have told him that he read at 120 words per minute, and he adamantly clings to this.

However, I clearly see where he is still skipping or guessing at words inaccurately (and I don’t know if they measured that). So, when I put the 5 minutes to reading book in front of him, he was insulted–very put off. I tried explaining to him that we were not measuring speed so much as accuracy, and that we could chart his accuracy as it improved. I explained that even adults use this program. I offered to let him start with one of the later exercise if we would then go back to the first and didn’t get much more cooperation than I had originally gotten (though he did a fairly good job of reading exercise 45). Do you have any thoughts on how to break the resistance without forcing him to do it?

-My son’s other complaint about the exercises is that they feel to him like tongue twisters because all the words sound the same, and he really doesn’t like that. Do you have any suggestions for changing that perception?

I am very interested to see if I can get him to use this program, and interested to see if we will see results–but I am meeting with HUGE resistance up front. I really don’t want to force him to do it because I think that will diminish the results.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Joan

Hi Joan,

I’m glad you see that he isn’t actually reading 120 words per minute with accuracy. I never understand how they are measuring the kids when they say things like that because you can see from what you’ve done already, that is NOT the REALITY! When you time him, you can show him what he actually did. That should start to get him to see the reality – his words per minute and mistakes per minute. Explain how you are scoring him. If you need to press the point, you can even have him total his words up after you time him, so he knows how many there are. I’ve had to do that with a few students over the years. I don’t do it to be ‘mean,’ but sometimes they need a reality check so you can move forward.

We start with easy words – because we are working on accuracy as well as speed. Big words are just little words (syllables) put together. If you can’t read the small words accurately, you won’t be able to read larger ones efficiently and accurately either – which will mean you will end up re-reading your social studies book or science book 3-4 times in order to be able to answer the questions.

I know this, this happened not only with many students, but with my own son. In fact, he flung his 3 pound social studies book at me saying, “Mom, I’ve read it 3 times and still can’t find the answers. You do it.” This was because of his skipping, repeating, or mispronouncing words. Once we consistently did the 5 Minutes to Better Reading he was able to read his book one time and get the answers – because he read with accuracy in a quick amount of time. Doing the program – 5 minutes a day, will end up saving hours and hours of homework time. We are looking at the big picture here – making his life easier for the rest of his schooling – which at a minimum is the next 10 years (through high school).

But, you really need to start at the beginning – even though it may seem easy at first. Even my adult students start at the beginning! You are competing against yourself, no one else! And, yes, some of the drills are like ‘tongue twisters’. That is on purpose – to be sure you learn to read exactly what is there. Your son may think it is ‘too easy’, but his ‘fussing’ about it is actually telling you how much he needs it – that it is actually taxing and stretching his visual processing system. Hang in there! And remind him, it is only 5 minutes a day. It is not like you are expecting him to work for 2 hours or even one hour. You are only asking 5 minutes. And, when you are consistent, you will see results in just a few days.

The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more they see themselves improving the easier it gets.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Need help with spelling? Teaching spelling or learning how to spell doesn’t have to be daunting even if you have a learning disability, dyslexia, or are even gifted. And, yes, even gifted kids sometimes struggle with spelling. Spelling problems are typically due to areas of auditory processing that aren’t working as effeciently as they should and could be working. But, when you teach spelling with the spelling patterns in an auditory, visual, and tactile way, everyone can spell.

When I tell parents that there are only 8 spelling patterns they are usually quite surprised. But, we only put letters together 8 ways to make words. Then, they become curious as to how I teach the patterns to my students. They ask me all the time to show them how to use Making Spelling Sense.

Here is a home schooling family using Making Spelling Sense with their younger kids. They use Making Spelling Sense II with their older kids. You can even see one of their older kids helping the youngest (who is in preschool) join in the lesson. Spelling is really a family affair! Watch the Woods family using Making Spelling Sense (with one of the first lessons) and see how easy spelling can be. They are doing the spelling lesson with multiple age kids.

Scroll down and watch a family learning the 1st Spelling Pattern:

Hope this was helpful. Be sure to get your FREE teaching and Homework Tips – go to the upper right side to get them!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

When do you start giving your kids reading help? When do you teach them reading readiness?

You would be amazed at the number of children I’ve seen over the years that have needed reading help that didn’t have a solid foundation of reading readiness skills.  This goes for children that are in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th grade. So, when I received the following question from Karen, I thought it would be a good idea to shed some light on reading help and reading readiness.

I just received a letter from Karen regarding activities for teaching her triplets.

Karen writes:

“My triplets are 5 yrs. old and in kindergarten this year.  One is a special needs child.  I could use ideas for teaching multiples.  There is no older sibling to model.  Also, trying to work with our special needs daughter and the others creates many challenges.”

Hi Karen,

I know what you mean about challenges – working with 3 kids at the same time and one of them being a special needs child can be difficult.

Here are some tips for working with  kids at the same time – whether they are in kindergarten or any of the primary grades.

I would pick a time to work with each of the kids individually – for 10 to 15 minutes so they get some individual time with you. While working with one of them the other two can be doing something like coloring or listening to a book on tape.

In fact, you can even read their favorite books into a tape – at a speed that is comfortable for them to listen to and then they can listen to you reading to them – following along with your voice – while you are doing some individual work/activity with the others. Then you are still being ‘present’ to the one/s you aren’t working with.

You might even set up a special spot with their stuffed animals and a large pillow where they get to listen to the books. So it winds up being the ‘special place’ where they get to listen to stories.

Also, I would do things like playing Simon Says, bean- bag toss, hop-scotch, or red light green light – games that are relatively easy to do with all 3 that would also work on listening skills and following directions.

You are at the perfect time for doing reading readiness activities with your kids. Remember, all kids need the following readiness skills in order to do well with school tasks. These specific readiness skills  are critical to being a successful learner. Reading help is lessened when these readiness skills are in place.

Readiness skills can be categorized into the following areas:

1. Matching – objects and or sounds
2. Size – small-medium-large; big-little; long-short; fat-thin
3. Shape – circles, squares, and triangles
4. Action – start – stop; slow-fast
5. Position – top – bottom; under-over; forward-backward; up-down; inside-outside
6. Relationships – same-different; parts-whole
7. Configurations – patterns & sequencing
8. Classifications – sorting objects into categories or arrange them into groups – by size, shape, or color
9. Combination Concepts and Time – positions & shapes or positions and matching and time
10. Listening & following directions (These skills are utilized in all of the above activities.)

Hope this helps.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S. Be sure to ask your questions by clicking on the Ask Me a Question Button.

I can’t tell you how may parents have asked me about their child that has problems with spelling. In fact, my daughter had spelling problems. She came by it naturally – her father was a terrible speller. I’ll never forget how he’d drop off a paper of his for me to type for him when we were in college. The problem for me was that he not only had sloppy handwriting, he was also a terrible speller. So, sometimes it was an actual guessing game for me trying to decipher what he had written.

Fortunately times have changed and we have computers with spell checker that make life a lot easier for us now. But, that still doesn’t solve the spelling dilemma. I shot this video to explain what is actually going on when you have difficulty with spelling. I also suggest in it what you need to look for in a spelling program to be sure it will be one that will actually help you to become a better speller. Hope you enjoy it.

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Be sure to leave your comments or questions.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Can this really be done? Yes, it really just takes 5 minutes a day to improve reading skills. Research has shown that short quick sessions that last only 5 minutes does improve reading fluency tremendously.

Cecil Mercer, a researcher from the University of Florida, published his results from his study Effects of Fluency Intervention for Middle Schoolers with Specific Learning Disabilities in (2000) stating daily practice can be for as little as five or six minutes.

Here is a short video where I show you how you can improve reading fluency in just 5 minutes a day.

Substantial gains in reading fluency came from repeated oral reading of various sorts such as letters or words for five or six minutes a day. The key to the success was doing the repeated oral reading over a period of time e.g. six months to twenty-three months.

So, now view the video that shows you how you can help your children improve reading fluency in just 5 minutes a day.

Hope this was helpful.

Be sure to ask your questions by using the button under my photo to the right.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Yes, it is here! Spring is here, the tulip tree is blooming as is the manzanita tree, daffodils, the wild violets…And the Learning Difficulty/Disability Assessment Tool and Informal Comprehensive Identification Tool has arrived!

You will now be able to get your hands on it and be able to informally test your own child or student. You will know the specific areas of strengths and weaknesses of your child. You will know if you need to pursue formal testing, and you will know what kind of formal testing should be done.

By Linda Foster of The LINK (website review)

Without proper diagnosis, a student might spend his/her school years struggling with schoolwork and feeling inadequate. Lacking the confidence to succeed often causes students to ignore instructions and become disruptive. This scenario can occur in classroom or homeschool settings causing frustration not only for the student, but, also, for the teacher/parent. Screening Tool is an excellent guide to assessing a student.

Before any screening takes place, it is important to understand the different types of learning disabilities and difficulties that might be encountered and Bonnie Terry offers a clearly written and easily understood overview of these potential problems.

The LD Screening Tool includes two assessments: A pre-screening tool and checklists of the various processing difficulties that might be encountered. The Pre-Screening Tool consists of a checklist of possible symptoms of learning difficulties, dyslexia, or learning problems and then offers checklists of symptoms that might occur at different developmental stages. In the scoring section, it is noted that it is not unusual for students to exhibit one or more of the symptoms at one time or another and this is not a cause for alarm. Exhibiting three or more of the symptoms, though, over a period of time may signal a learning difficulty or learning disability.

The LD Screening Tool provides information on what to do if a potential learning difficulty or learning disability has been determined. It offers parents and teachers insight into the cause and effect of learning difficulties and learning disabilities on student abilities or behavior in the classroom or the homeschool setting.

It also has two sections designed to offer students and parents alternative resources to assess and manage specific types of learning difficulties and learning disabilities.

Private testing can be very expensive, anywhere between $300.00 and $1000.00. I promised you a reasonably priced informal assessment tool, one that even in today’s tight ecomony you would be able to avail yourself of. You would be able to informally assess your own child in the comfort of your own home. So, it’s not $300.00, not $100.00, not even $50.00. Just go to the LD Screening Tool and order your own copy today for only $37.00.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Sandi P. wrote:

I have a friend whose kindergartener (just turned 6) is having trouble reading. She hasn’t obtained EL and EL4 is the goal for the year and the year is ½ over in Kentucky. Would “Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills” be a good place to start?

Thanks for the question. Yes, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills will make a big difference. It starts with 3 letter words so she should do well with it. Sometimes we make a copy of the sheet for the younger students – enlarging the print for them. This works really well!

I would also use Making Spelling Sense because she will see how letters (sounds) come together to make words. The beginning lessons all use short vowel words and you give a sound at a time to make the words, so she would be able to succeed and improve rather quickly. This is helping her phonics, phonemic awareness skills, and other areas of auditory processing. The special method is explained in a step-by-step process in the book. You can also do just 1/2 of the words per list to shorten the length of time for a kindergartner – doing only 5 words at a time.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

BTW: If you are not already receiving the FREE teaching/homework tips, you may want to sign up for them – in the upper right hand corner above my photo.

And, please spread the word….

Thanks!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills is presented as a fast, fun approach to improve reading skills. The program includes a Teacher’s Manual, Mastery Charts, and a Student Booklet. The Mastery Charts are included in the Teacher’s Manual, so that the components include the two spiral bound books. The Student Booklet is 45 pages, while the Teacher’s Manual includes the 45 pages of the Student Booklet, plus an additional 10 pages of instructions. An additional 2 pages of Table of Contents and 1 page of Introduction begin the Teacher’s Manual. The page numbers in both books coincide, making it very easy to work the included material simultaneously, as intended. Permission is granted to print the copy charts in the Teacher’s Manual, but no other additional material is available for reprint. The 45 pages include the actual drills to be utilized in the program, only the Mastery Charts to track progress are necessary outside of the drills. There is a reference to using Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills, also available from Bonnie Terry Learning, but only as a suggestion for smooth transitioning and extended skill retention. There is also a one page listing of other materials available from Bonnie Terry Learning at the start of each book. The included charts offer options for various reading levels by listing a different number of word counts on three different charts. An example chart is also supplied, partially completed, to demonstrate how to complete the chart accurately. All 45 drills are listed on the two page “Mastery Chart” along with a one page sample Mastery Chart partially completed. A Mastery Guide Chart is also provided, listing a range of word counts appropriate for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th, and High School reading levels.

The technique of Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills calls for only five minutes of time, at least twice a week, performing the included drills in order to improve a student’s reading skills. Appropriate for use with all reading age groups, including adults, the program increases reading mastery while improving reading speed. The drills are organized using the phonic rules and combinations used in reading. Each drill builds upon previous drills until a student has obtained mastery of all concepts. The four components to be addressed for a program to improve reading fluency include: phonological, perceptual, automaticity, and access to a record keeping device. Phonological awareness is covered in Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills by incorporating every vowel and consonant combination in the English language, and review is built into the program. Vision perception is an often overlooked area of reading fluency and is addressed by utilizing spacing—visual closure, and left to right reading progression—visual tracking. Automaticity and the use of the tracking forms completes the program as students continue to increase the words per minute they read and then track them on the included charts to see their progress. Designed for all types of students, Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills offers a program that increases reading speed and improves comprehension as the teacher should move immediately into a regular reading program after completing the drills. The drill itself is fairly simple to follow: the teacher goes over the sound the drill addresses, students read the drill out loud with no time limit, then the drill is timed for one minute as the student re-reads the drill out loud. During the timed portion of the drill the teacher makes note of any errors, without correcting the student at that time, and then goes over mistakes at the completion of the drill. The results are then placed on the chart for tracking progress. When allowing approximately four minutes for the pre-reading portion and the one minute of timed reading, the entire process should take approximately five minutes to complete.

I am very impressed with this program. One page at the start offers an Introduction and Explanation of the program that immediately educates the teacher as to the process and calms any concerns about using the book. The short time involved did not overwhelm my students, and my nine year old looked forward to the program even though he has only just begun to read. My daughter will soon be in the eleventh grade and I hesitated to use it with her, but for the sake of the review I did so anyway. She has been tested by the public school system at a post-college reading level, and still improved her actual reading speed by using this program. The Mastery Guide Chart with ranges of word count according to grade level is a tremendous tool for generalities concerning expectations via grade level. The Daily Tracking Charts are an incredible incentive for any age and an immediate sense of satisfaction was evident in each of my children as they improved their accuracy and the number of words read. This is a program that will be used for years to come in our home, as even my husband intends to use it with my son as he gets further along in the drills. At first glance it may look like just another simple word book, but used as instructed, Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills offers a tremendous asset to every student using it, regardless of reading level or age. No bells and whistles are necessary when you offer a really great program; the improvement seen in students is enough evidence that the program works.

I happen to be a list maker. The included Charts are a wonderful way to track progress as the drills are completed. We placed the two page Mastery Chart at the front of a language arts notebook and followed them with the Daily Charts, but my son still preferred to have his chart mounted on the refrigerator for all to see. I would have liked a specific tool for each drill that would allow me to mark accordingly for any word that was misread, skipped, or repeated. A simple spreadsheet would have solved the problem, and did, as I came up with one on my own that worked quite well. As I was using the book with several students, I was not about to mark little pencil checks or anything in my Teacher’s Manual, so having a separate form provided would have been wonderful. As a parent of a struggling reader, this type of chart also allowed me to pick up on some trouble spots with specific words and sounds that we needed to work on. The included charts are well done and offer tracking of all necessities in the program, but a timed drill note sheet would have thrilled my heart. We rarely kept our actual work time to below five minutes, as obviously, there is an adjustment between the pre-read and the timed read aloud portion of the drill. Even with an easily distracted nine year old, we never worked beyond approximately eight minutes. The technical time allotted for the program is five minutes, but it will take a few minutes more to mark progress on charts and discuss any errors.

If you are searching for a program that offers visual representation of reading improvement, the Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills from Bonnie Terry will do the job beautifully. In short spans of five minutes, your readers will increase their reading speed, visual tracking skills, and comprehension as you tie in your normal reading program after completing a drill. Every age group will improve with this program, and any reader, regardless of skill or deficit, will be able to track their improvement and increase fluency in a short five minutes a few times a week. Developed by an experienced learning disabilities specialist, the program worked well for both my learning delayed son and my gifted high school reader. The instructions are clear, short, and offer the information a teacher needs without any “fluff” muddling up the process. The tracking charts will help teachers see improvement, and will motivate students to incredible goals. Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills by Bonnie Terry should be a part of every homeschool, as it will improve reading fluency for readers of all ages and skill levels in a brief amount of time.

—Product review by: Donna Campos, Senior Product Reviewer, The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine, LLC, June 2008.

Remember, learning to read isn’t ‘rocket science’ but there is a lot going on when you read. Two of the processes happening at any given moment involved with reading difficulties are related.

Two Separate Processes

One is the phoneme awareness and the other is the ability to rapidly name objects, numbers, letters, and colors automatically. Wolf (1999) states that when a poor reader has difficulty with both phoneme awareness and rapid naming they tend to be at the lowest end of the reading continuum. Wolf goes on to state that some people with dyslexia have difficulty rapidly processing just visual language and others have difficulties rapidly processing several kinds of information. There may also be a connection with the processing of sounds more slowly than the average person that contributes to the difficulty with rapid naming.

Reading Problems, Dyslexia, or Learning Disabilities In Older Children and Adults What Should I Do?

Deficits in rapid naming may persist into later childhood and early adulthood (Wolf, 1986; Snyder & Downey, 1995; Korhonen, 1995). Those with deficits in rapid naming also had deficits in reading and spelling that persisted into adulthood.

High Success Rates for Improving Reading, Dyslexia, and Learning Disabilities.

Dr. Penny Chiappe (2002) states that although sensory-motor training has been found to enhance sensory-motor skills, it has not shown any effect on literacy skills. She goes on to state that programs focusing on phonological awareness, coupled with systematic, explicit phonics instruction, structural analysis of words, spelling, and comprehension strategies have higher success rates for improving reading, dyslexia, and learning disabilities.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Studies have shown that children with reading difficulties, dyslexia, or reading deficits typically perform more slowly than children without reading difficulties on tasks that measure speed of processing.

What Is Rapid Naming and How Does It Relate to Reading Problems?

Rapid Naming is the ability to name phonemes, words, word chunks, or objects in an quick and automatic manner.

Almost three decades of research with the Rapid Automatized Naming Test (RAN) have demonstrated that the majority of children and adults with reading difficulties have pronounced difficulties when asked to name rapidly the most familiar symbols and stimuli in the language: letters, numbers, colors, and similar objects.

This ability of rapid automatically naming is another aspect of phonologic processing. It is the phonologic access, the ability to retrieve easily and rapidly verbal (phonetic) information that is held in one’s long-term memory.

A Direct Connection

This ability to retrieve the stored information rapidly is directly related to the type of process that one goes through when they are reading. A child or adult must be able to access and retrieve the stored phonemes and/or word or word chunks that are stored on their memory at a quick rate in order to make sense of the written word.

Difficulty with rapidly automatically naming a series of objects, numbers, letters, or colors shows that reading difficulties are not just a difficulty with the phonological process (phonemic awareness). When the phonological component was taken out of the test, the speed-of-processing or accessing the information emerged as a stronger predictor of reading performance than phonological awareness tasks were.

What Can We Learn From This?

From these studies we can conclude that there are several areas that need to be addressed when working to improve reading skills. Phonological awareness and processing is one subset of the multiple processes involved in reading, but it is not the only process involved. Visual naming of objects, letters, numbers, and colors represents an array of other skills that are involved with successful reading. These other skills include attentional, perceptual, conceptual, memory, lexical, and visual sequential processing.

Snyder and Downey (1995) report from the Denver Reading Study that the accuracy rates of those with reading difficulties and of those with normal achieving readers were not significantly different. The only significant difference noted was the reaction time and production duration; the readers with reading difficulties has significantly longer reaction times and production durations.

What Can We Do?

You will want to use a program of reading practice that incorporates rapid naming practice into it. You will also want to be sure that the program you use also addresses visual tracking, another causes of reding problems. When you combine the training you alleviate two problems with one practice. You may want to check out Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills because it addresses both of these as well as several other areas of perception at the same time as it improves reading fluency.

More to come on Rapid Naming…

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET