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For many of us, reading is as effortless as seeing. We are constantly surrounded by and absorbing text without even thinking about it. Warning signs, advertisements, instructions, text messages - we are inundated by textual information, often without even being aware of it. Many children struggle with skills we take for granted. Learning to read can be a complicated task, and so much later learning depends on the fluency of a student’s literacy skills. Essential Skills offers a wide assortment of reading programs for schools that can help children foster a mastery and enjoyment of reading.

Recently, we have all seen our educational institutions shift curriculum delivery models as necessities dictate. These uncertain circumstances can be challenging and confusing for parents, children, and teachers, all of whom are scrambling to find something that works. Happily, Essential Skills provides a range of online educational software to help to maintain a stable and consistent learning experience. There are numerous benefits to good online educational software for schools.

RTI (Response to Intervention) is a process used to shift educational focus away from identifying students as “learning disabled” toward the delivery and evaluation of targeted instruction. This process is designed to provide struggling students with a specific course of action to help them succeed. Reading intervention programs for elementary schools like those produced by Essential Skills provide schools with valuable tools that will support all stages of the RTI process.

This has been a very different and challenging time for those involved in education. Parents are scrambling to find childcare options and wonder how they can successfully supervise their child’s learning. Children may be confused by the uncertainty of the future, lonely without their friends, or miss the structures and routines of the classroom. Teachers are suddenly flung into a very different mode of delivering lessons. Most people would agree that remote learning is not a substitute for the in-class “whole child” experience. Fortunately, Essential Skills offers a complete suite of elementary reading programs online that will ensure classroom consistency, engaging and challenging lessons, and reliable monitoring of progress.

Early Recognition and Response

It has been noted that students who begin their school years struggling to keep up with their peers are likely to fall further and further behind. A high-quality early reading intervention program can be used to identify and help mitigate these difficulties in young children (3 to 4 years). Research based reading intervention programs have been supported by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and have proven to help many at-risk children before the need for assessment, identification, and placement in special education programs in the public school system.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

To find the answer, we should first understand what phonemic awareness is. It is basically the recognition that language is created by combining smaller units of sound known as phonemes. As young children learn to speak, they may not recognize the fact that words are not usually one sound but a combination of smaller sounds. Because spoken language tends to be fluid, kids will often hear words and even phrases as a single auditory experience (“gimmeeahug” rather than “give me a hug”). Phonemic weakness has nothing to do with intelligence but frequently results in a reading or writing impediment. A Phonemic awareness program implemented at an early stage in language development can help to lessen these affects.

Can kids learn while they’re playing games? Word building and decoding are key elements in language acquisition. To become proficient requires repetition, review, and experimentation. These tasks are easier for parents and teachers to encourage when the student is engaged. There are many choices available to make learning fun. The best online phonics program will offer a variety of games and activities to play while learning.

For all students, learning to read involves a complex set of skills that must be acquired in stages. The ability to recognize letters and using them to form words (decoding) must become fluid before students are able to read for meaning. Children with autism may require more review and practice to move beyond decoding. Computer programs are an excellent way to enhance implicit memory and when choosing a reading program Autism Spectrum Disorder should be taken into account. People with autism generally have good implicit memory skills and can become proficient at decoding words. Difficulty with explicit or episodic memory can make “reading for meaning” more challenging. Luckily, research-based reading programs for special education are available to assist in this area.

Every child struggles with early reading skills and all parents worry. Fortunately, there are a number of signs to recognize a real problem. Once these issues have been identified, online elementary reading programs can provide a wide variety of engaging research-based activities to target your child’s specific difficulty. 

In today’s environment, children are surrounded by and interacting with screens and online activities practically from birth. Gone are the days of leafing through (often outdated) encyclopedias or wandering through library stacks doing research. Today’s young student has virtually unlimited access to constantly updated information anywhere, anytime via phones, tablets, and computers. There are also countless applications that make tasks much faster and easier for students to accomplish, including online educational software to help make learning more fun and engaging.