I just finished reading a book that I wish I possessed about a decade ago!!

It is called:

Reading Reflex

The Foolproof Phono-graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read

by Carmen McGuinness and Geoffrey McGuinness

I recommend this book if you have one that is just starting to learn to read ( I do) and also, if you have one that needs some remedial help ( I do).  It is supposed to be able to help the beginner as well as an adult. 

My child that needs a bit of remedial help is one that thinks very logical. There are so many exceptions to the rules in phonics, that it is hard for him to understand why there are so many rules made to be broken.  This book teaches reading in a way that is best for a child such as this one. 

There are many things we do when we teach our children to read that can actually eventually harm their overall reading fluency and comprehension. A few of these, were things that I do often. 

If you are just starting out teaching a child to read, this book recommends that you only teach the sounds. Do not teach the names of the alphabet. Just the sound. To teach both the name and the sound is overloading the child with information he doesn't need in order to read and can actually confuse him in the long run.

They recommend not teaching the sounds of the letters with pictures on flash cards (boy, I was glad I got this book because I was just starting to teach reading with flash cards with pictures on them). The reason is because this teaches the child to guess what the words are with the clue being the first letter of the word.

They recommend you start teaching your child to put together short 3 letter words right away. Don't wait. As soon as they can recognize the sounds c, a, t, teach them how to put that together and say the word.  They have lots of words and games that you can photocopy for yourself in order to teach your child.

They recommend that you not teach the phonics rule that says, "when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking",  because there are so many exceptions to this rule.  The authors of this book have learned much from their reading  institute, Founders of Read America, Inc,   The students that had the most needed remedial help all had been confused at some point in their reading stages by some of the above mentioned things, and then some others I haven't mentioned.

I purchased this resource from:

Sonlightcurriculum.com