Multisensory Phonics for Word Recognition (Decoding) & Spelling (Encoding) - VIII

The small group of learners enrolled in this Level VIII course entitled "Multisensory Phonics for Word Recognition (Decoding)  & Spelling (Encoding)- VI” will be beginning Book 8 out of 12 in the Wilson Reading System program. Book 8 of the Wilson program teaches r-controlled vowel patterns.

NOTE: If the student did not take the Level VII course with me, I will need to see his or her most recent WADE (or other posttest) results from his or her previous Wilson practitioner, in order to correctly group the students according to their progress in the Wilson program.

HOW DO I KNOW IF THIS TYPE OF INSTRUCTION IS RIGHT FOR MY CHILD?

-- If your child's reading fluency (word recognition accuracy, reading rate, expression/prosody) AND his/her spelling are significantly below grade-level expectations, or if his/her spelling alone is significantly below grade-level, s/he likely would benefit from a structured, systematic, sequential, multisensory phonics approach. 

-- If your child has been diagnosed by a school psychologist or educational psychologist as experiencing dyslexia or another language-based learning disability,  s/he likely would benefit from a structured, systematic, sequential, multisensory phonics approach. 

WHAT THEORETICAL MODEL SUPPORTS THIS APPROACH TO TEACHING DECODING AND ENCODING SKILLS AND STRATEGIES?

According to Gough and Tumner’s (1986) “simple view of reading,” reading comprehension is the product of automatic context-free word recognition and language comprehension. Both variables, language comprehension and word recognition, are needed for reading comprehension, and each is composed of integrated skills and strands that combine into an integrated whole: knowledge of semantics, phonology, morphology, pragmatics, orthography, syntax, and discourse structures. This theoretical framework supports many scientifically-based approaches to literacy instruction that are structured, systematic, sequential, multisensory, and phonics- and morphology-based.

Another way to think about literacy development is through an information processing model. According to LaBerge and Samuel’s theory of automatic information processing in reading (Samuels, 2004/1994), a reader has only finite cognitive capacity to devote to the reading process. If the reader has to use too much of her cognitive capacity for the purposes of word recognition, then this limits her ability to focus on meaning-making. Similarly, Estes’ (1970) focus of attention hypothesis argues that if part of a reader’s finite attention is diverted from comprehension and understanding, the result is limited reading fluency and comprehension. 

Similarly, a writer who devotes most of his/her cognitive capacity to spelling has less attention or working memory free to devote to meaning-making and communication.

One of the ways to increase a reader’s word recognition abilities is to teach him/her strategies for figuring out words that s/he does not recognize automatically on sight, including phonic decoding and orthographic analogy strategies. By applying knowledge of common graphophonic and orthographic patterns to the analysis of an unfamiliar word, a reader can often arrive at a correct (or close-to-correct) pronunciation of the word. Then the reader can compare this pronunciation to words stored in his/her lexicon (the individual’s mental storehouse of word meanings) in order to comprehend the word. With sufficient practice, words identified using phonic decoding and orthographic analogy strategies become familiar and eventually become part of the reader’s sight vocabulary.

Similarly, one of the ways to increase a writer's spelling abilities is to teach him/her strategies for breaking words into syllables and representing those syllables in print. By applying knowledge of common syllable patterns in English, a writer can often arrive at a correct (or close to correct) spelling of a the word. With sufficient practice, words spelled using this approach become familiar and eventually become part of the learner's writing vocabulary.