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Under “normal” educational conditions, reading intervention programs like the ones developed by Essential Skills to implement reading intervention strategies are mainly focused on students who are struggling in the classroom. Kids that do not keep up with their peers often need to have specific problems identified and ideally remedied. Primary classroom teachers are charged with the care of 20+ young individuals.

The ability to read well is arguably the most complex and essential skill a young child will acquire. Future learning is highly dependent upon a child’s ability to read competently and for content. Elements of reading fluency include strong decoding skills, recognition of sight words and the ability to derive meaning from context. A fluent reader will read aloud with appropriate inflection and timing. They will also retain and understand what they have read. Essential Skills provides some of the best reading programs for elementary schools to help early readers build fluency and strengthen reading skills.

Since the use of sight words is essential for fluency in both written and spoken language, all teachers should have a good grasp on what “sight words” are, and why they are so important.

All educators know the importance of teaching children to read. It is a complicated task consisting of several different abilities. Much of a child’s future learning will depend upon achieving basic linguistic skills in the proper order, and with the necessary support when needed. For struggling readers, acquiring these skills, and receiving sensitive, well-informed scaffolding is even more important.

Teaching any child to read is a complex task requiring effort and commitment from all involved parties. When the child also has learning disabilities, the levels of commitment, time, and specific instruction skyrocket. Ideally all children will begin literacy instruction in a tier 1 environment, using methods and tools that will identify areas of need early in a student’s education. Online reading programs for special education from Essential Skills can be used with all early readers, as well as older remedial students. These programs provide instant feedback to teachers, including areas of success and weakness. Once a difficulty has been identified, Essential Skills programs can be used to address missing skills and give students extra practice where they need it most.

The importance of early education cannot be overstated. Many school districts have transitioned from a single half-day to two years of full days at the kindergarten level. This prepares young students for the more formal learning environment they will encounter later. Reading programs for kindergarten by Essential Skills help give children the basic prereading skills they need in a format that appeals to a variety of learning styles.

As adults we are immersed in a world full of text that seamlessly transforms into meaningful messages. The written word enables us to communicate with colleagues, family and friends, keep informed of current events and enhance and broaden our imagination. This experience of reading effortlessly requires a great deal of effort to accomplish. Children must acquire a complex set of skills and learn them in a systematic way to grow into lifelong readers.

Our world surrounds us with text in myriad of forms and for many purposes. Fluent readers may not even notice, but for students who struggle with the printed word, many parts of life that seem simple to others are a puzzle to them. We read for information, communication and pleasure, but children who are struggling are at risk of giving up altogether. This impacts not only their education, but the rest of their lives. Everyone doesn’t need to read Shakespearean sonnets or translations of Plato, but people should be able to read a news headline or understand directions on a pill bottle.

The words “special education” used to evoke images of contained classrooms of children that were removed from the general school population. Often riding in separate buses, eating lunch in their classrooms and generally differentiated from the school community, these children were naturally stigmatized. That system, while well-meaning, offered students who were already challenged little hope for success or even integration into society.

Learning to read and write is one of the most complex and essential skills a young child will be faced with. Virtually all subsequent education is dependent upon the acquisition of working vocabulary and reading fluency. It can also be the most challenging and rewarding task for educators to teach this primary foundation of future learning. Dolch sight words are a list of the most common words used in the English language and Essential Skills has developed a sight words program that teaches this list in addition to other common words using engaging online activities designed to strengthen students’ reading skills.