The All-Important Reading Lesson

A thorough lesson on the Six Types of Syllables should be taught to new readers; to poor readers; to damaged readers; to anyone wanting to speed up and improve reading and spelling skills. With deeper Code knowledge, and improved automaticity, readers of any age will decode and interpret Print with greater finesse and fluidity. When the brain is trained to automatically handle the decoding side of reading, the reader can then focus completely on drawing meaning from the print; on comprehension. Few understand the importance of the syllables for precise speech and accurate use of English in all of its expressive and receptive forms and levels.

In fact, the ability to instantly see, identify, and use the Six Syllable Types is so important that, if I was given but one opportunity to teach onereading lesson, that lesson would be "How to Use Syllables to Improve Reading and Spelling Skills."

I purposely use the structure "if I was" because some months ago, I was given the opportunity to teach that lesson. A young man, who had always struggled with reading, was here working on my computer. I suggested that we trade skills: a reading lesson for his computer assistance. During a 90 minute lesson, I taught him to spot and use the Six Types of Syllables. I have not seen him since, but he did phone to report that the one lesson has made all of the difference; that he is now reading everything he has long wished to read; and that he is reading smoothly with rapid decoding and effective comprehension.

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Reading Comprehension depends on…and is limited by…the brain’s Ability, Agility, and Fluidity as it rejects or make connections among and between: automatic Code processing; streaming thought processes; vocabulary and concept banks; language and communication skills; storage of aural and oral information; and the reader’s knowledge and experience base.

By teaching both Phonics and the Six Syllable Types to automaticity, the brain takes over the responsibility for rapid Code processing thereby vastly improving the ability of the reader to develop brain processes that are agile and fluid while interweaving thought; while checking and rechecking knowledge, experience, and language against a developing mental image.

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