SOI HELPED AND AIDED THIS STUDENT IN HIS READING AND LANGUAGE ABILITIES.

Good readers are phonemically aware, understand the alphabetic principle, apply these skills in a rapid and fluent manner, possess strong vocabularies and syntactical and grammatical skills, and relate reading to their own experiences.

Difficulties in any of these areas can impede reading and language development. Learning to read begins far before children enter formal schooling. This child in second grade was referred to us with the specific problem areas of reading and understanding. He also didn’t like the school subject Language.

• Spells poorly and has difficulty recalling facts and numbers
• Has trouble learning new skills (compensates by relying on memorization)
• Has trouble following directions or instructions
• Struggles to recognize letters, match letters to sounds and make a sentence
• Inability to read simple 3 letter words or associate them
• Can’t comprehend what he reads or listens in the classroom

We started with his personalized workbooks and CDs, which are available based on students’ test results. These workbooks have an added advantage in that tasks are articulated within the book. In other words, the easier part of a given module is presented early in the sequence and the more difficult part is presented later.

They contain modules that match the exact development requirements of a given student, to his reading, relational thinking, finding the small differences, and sequential patterning.

This is the feedback which the school gave us:

When we informally assessed him in July 16 he was not able to associate sounds with alphabets and was not able to read CVC words (three letter words). He could read few sight words. He had no comprehension at all.

Today, January 17, when we assessed him, his reading and comprehension has improved drastically. He can now read story books of level one and explain the story, to us in his own word. He is able to read at his grade level in his English textbook, with a little help needed for big words and pronunciations.

They also noted that his attention span has also improved. This shows how the personalized materials have made a big difference to child and he started liking the language subject. Not only this, the parents are overwhelmed and are happy to see their child progressing.

SOI testing and personalized materials are available in India, the United States, and all around the world.

written by: Sadaf Merchant, clinical psychologist at Energia Wellbeing