Basic Reader is a complete reading program designed for elementary age students who are struggling with reading.
There are three major causes of reading difficulties: students do not have the necessary perceptual skills; students are not ready cognitively; or the teaching method does not match the students learning style.
Basic Reader addresses all of these causes and helps students read better in five easy steps:
- screen student for vision problems
- determine student’s learning style (figural, symbolic, or semantic)
- choose the best learning path for the student
- administer workbook and computer exercises tailored for the student
- reintroduce reading instruction
Basic Reader can be used with many different kinds of students:
NON-READERS
Finding the easiest path for them to learn to read is the key to success; that is what Basic Reader is designed to do. This strategy is particularly effective if the student has failed standard reading instruction – in that case, the first task is to convince them that they can learn to read, and the easiest path is the means of doing that.
DYSLEXIC STUDENTS
These students are very likely to be predominately figural learners. If that is the case, they will test higher in Figural ability than in Semantic. This will put them in the Figural track of the program that relies in part on a bridge language called LOCAN, which teaches basic reading and language structure through the use of logo-graphic symbols.
This has been very successful with many dyslexic students; of course, even in those cases when the root of the dyslexia can be traced to hearing delay problems, the non-verbal context of LOCAN can have an ameliorating effect.
ESL STUDENTS
We have found that the most fundamental problems with ESL students mastering English is not vocabulary, but rather the mismatch between other languages in terms of syntax and structure. The approach taken in the Basic Reader program addresses the problems of syntax and structure directly and concretely.
