Learning to read is a step-by-step process. It involves a series of developmental stages that come together, over time, to reach the ultimate goal of making meaning from the printed word.
It is the foundation of all learning.
As a literate adult you probably don’t remember learning to read as a child yourself. Imagine now if you were suddenly expected to learn a new language and master it quickly or perhaps you had to learn to read music for the first time with a completely unfamiliar set of symbols and in a complicated language with a large number of inconsistencies. It’s a big ask and we are asking it of our little children. Throw in upper and lower case letter symbols (and variations of several of these); add numerals and exceptions in sounds, digraphs and blends, silent letters and punctuation and you soon realize that English is a monster!
Nature has given us an oral language. Written language is a man-made technology and it is unnatural. It takes time to master each of the stages and support is needed at every stage to ensure your child is successfully launched into a life of literacy and learning.
Read on to learn more about each stage:
Step 2: Emergent Reading Stage
Step 5: Advanced Fluency Stage
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