How Phonics Differs From Other Methods Of Learning To Read

Children who are struggling to read might find that it is difficult to do because of all the sounds they must understand when learning how to read. Rather than learning to read thousands of words all at once, children learn how to read by breaking down how a word sounds. Fortunately, if your child is struggling to learn how to read, there are phonics books that can help, like an Orton Gillingham phonics book.

What Phonics Does

Phonics reduces the English language down to only 44 sounds. Your child will begin by learning the easiest sounds first. Phonics teaching can be used for children of any age.

The best form of phonics is systematic phonics instruction. Some children who do not learn through phonics will end up with severe reading difficulties. The English language has a complicated spelling system and it needs to be taught in a systematic way.

Explicit Phonics

Unlike with other forms of reading education, which expect children to gain an understanding of the connection between words and sounds automatically, explicit phonics expects children to understand connections by teaching them explicitly. 

Embedded phonics is another alternative that asks a child to understand the meaning of a word based on clues that are embedded in the sentence. The child might also be asked to look at words that start with the same letter and consider how the other letters for the word are different. 

There Is Nothing Wrong with Decoding Words

Adults will often sound words out when they have not encountered the word before. After sounding the word out, you are then able to recognize the word that you didn't know previously much more quickly. Even though there are some words that do not follow the normal rules of decoding words, a child can still guess what a word is with the use of phonics.

How a Phonics Book Can Help

Phonics books contain various sentences that include sentence patterns related to a particular phonics pattern. They also come with bright images that are meant to grab your child's attention. The earliest sets are very simple. The later sets are meant to be more difficult but will not usually increase in difficulty very quickly.

In addition to ordering a phonics book, you can also order or download phonics sets that make it easier for your child to remain focused when learning how to read. Contact a company that sells educational books to learn more.