Reading is the most important skill children need to gain in the first few years of school but how is it taught can have a big impact on how well they succeed. Some kids will learn to read easily no matter what the curriculum is, but many others need specific kind of instruction to learn to read effectively, and many schools aren't using that kind of instruction or aren't using it enough.

Teaching kids to read Not to guess 

The best way to teach reading is called the systematic phonics-based instruction. It is based on decades of brain science. Unlike speaking, reading is not a skill that kid's brain is hard wired to develop learning to read. It requires several different parts of the brain all working together when kids are learning to read, they are learning to recognize the printed letters and match them to specific sounds this process is called phonics. Learning to do this quickly takes a lot of practice and it works best for kids to master simple letter sound combinations before they learn more complicated words for example kids might learn that ai makes a long sound then they would practice recognizing that pattern in different words. This gradual structured approach is what systematic phonics-based instruction means they learn phonics in small steps with lots of practice building from simple sounds to more complex one and they practice reading using books that contain mostly letter sound patterns they already know.

What approaches are not phonics based?

Reading approaches called whole language or balance literacy are ineffective for many children including those with dyslexia explains Laura Phil, a neuropsychologist. Language approaches are based on the idea that kids can best learn to read naturally by exposure to written language that is relevant and motivating to them when trying to read new words. They are taught to look for clues to their meaning in pictures or in the context of the story rather than sounding them out. But this draws their attention away from what they should be focusing on says Dr Phillips, which is the letters and the sound.

Balanced literacy is a curriculum that combines different components of reading instruction including phonics vocabulary and comprehension. But Dr Phillips argues that there are not enough phonics instructions in balanced literacy for many kids to read proficiently especially the kids with dyslexia.

So, what to look for in reading program? 

How can parents tell if reading program in their child's classroom is Phonics based or not?

Here are the tips from experts 

✨Look at the words that the child is being asked to learn if they are all the same word family or they all sound the same as cat bat sat rat mat. It"s phonics based slightly if they are just grouping. Teaching high frequency words like of, the, have is not a phonics-based program.

 ✨Is the child being told to guess? 

Phonics programmes do not encourage guessing the words based on the picture or on the context. In a good Phonics program kids are instructed and directed to break the words into the letter sounds and blend them together with much of practice. 

✨In phonics there has a lot of repetition this might include a child learning to decode a word, write a word and then use the word in a sentence and if the phonics practice is done in multiple ways, then it's a perfect phonics program.

 ✨Effective reading approaches are also often described as multi-sensory. Multi-sensory Phonics based approaches are designed to reinforce learning by hearing words, seeing them, saying them, writing them, singing them and so on. Even incorporating gestures and movements to help kids absorb and to be able to apply what they have learnt.

✨They should be given reading material that contains the phonics patterns they have learnt. These materials that are matched to specific phonics lessons are called decodable texts. Decodable books are books in which at least 98% of the words contain the phonics patterns that kids have been taught so far 

These methods can significantly enhance a child's reading skills.