How Ready Reading Came to Be
The philosophy of using a consistent sound/symbol relationship was implemented in the 1950's with the introduction of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA) in England by Sir James Pittman. Briefly, in the ITA, the phonemic alphabet included the basic 26 letters of the alphabet along with 18 more symbols representing specific sounds used in the English language. Therefore, words used the combination of letters and symbols to read and write. I had the wonderful opportunity to teach a pilot program using ITA for five years with first grade students. We used ITA exclusively for the first semester and chose to begin the easy, gradual transition second semester to traditional orthography (TO) with its various spellings for letter sounds. The progress these students made was astounding–after just one semester they could read and write any word using the phonemic alphabet! Unfortunately, some detractors kept ITA from gaining a foothold in schools, but most had little validity as compared to what I saw in the classroom.
When I moved away from the pilot school, I resumed teaching where the adopted basal reading series came nowhere close to enabling students to read in the first semester of school–and it was very frustrating. Knowing what could be achieved through a different approach, with the blessing of the school administrators, I chose to adapt the philosophy I learned from using ITA to formulate my own program with which students could begin to read in the same manner as ITA but use the regular alphabetfamiliar to parents and teachers.
When I established the format for Ready Reading in 1970, it was believed to be the first and only program of its kind in its original content and the way it taught beginning reading and writing of words through explicit synthetic phonics instruction. The concept of one specific letter/sound correspondence for each of the 26 letters was followed for writing all lesson words and sentences using traditional orthography. As with ITA, in the second semester the lessons began to incorporate various spellings for each letter sound. As other teachers observed my students’ progress, they began asking for copies of my lessons. When I moved again to become the remedial reading resource teacher in a new school, the first grade teachers all used Ready Reading and I took it to the next step. With the book in the works, I included the elements of sensory input and multiple intelligence that enable all students within the class to be even more successful with their varying learning styles. Although students learn at different rates, they become more independent with word identification and reach or surpass their reading expectancy levels for the age and grade. In the section on Research found in www.readyreading.com you can see test results significantly above normal with Ready Reading being used for all first grade and/or kindergarten classes. In fact, Ready Reading was so successful in our school that my caseload of remedial reading students dwindled and became comprised of only new students who enrolled...I had worked myself out of a full-time job.
Ready Reading is not just a phonics program–it does much more than “pattern word phonics” so familiar in many of today’s basal reading programs. At the time when they are beginning to learn to read and write words, it is important for students to also read them within the context of sentences and stories. Therefore, the Ready Reading Storybooks and Story Comprehension activities were written for students to apply and extend their reading abilities along with writing independently. The skills incorporated into Ready Reading lessons provide a seamless integration for achieving Core Competencies and standards established by various educational programs that recommend inclusion of phonemic awareness and phonics with other basic language arts skills often taught separately from reading instruction. As a natural progression with ReadyReading, later spelling instruction no longer has to include words spelled phonetically and can concentrate on irregular spellings. Even irregularly spelled words are easier for students since they can use phonetic clues for at least parts of the words. Additionally, manuscript penmanship doesn’t have to be taught separately since letter formation is included in Ready Reading using visual and kinesthetic/tactile clues.
In a nutshell, Ready Reading’s systematic approach to teaching beginning reading using synthetic phonics instruction to decode and encode words is fortified with sensory input and use of multiple intelligences. Ready Reading has awed students and parents with the student achievement and has teachers and administrators saying it’s the most dynamic resource they have used in their classrooms!