Deaf mother teaches all her children to read with Alpha-Phonics!
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
5d ago
“I know you have many people tell you that your program does work, but how many DEAF parents have told you?” Six years ago, my older daughter Chayah was taught using your Alpha-Phonics book and she learned to read at age 4. Today she collects books such as John Grisham’s novels (her best liked books), Nancy Drew; The Boxcar Children, Smithsonian magazines, and she read almost the entire library in my living room. There were times I didn’t think some books would interest her but she read from first page to last page in every book. Even rereading them. She reads books like The Com ..read more
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A Phonics Comeback in Ohio
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
1w ago
It appears that another knowledgeable individual is waving the banner for phonics in Ohio: Literacy reforms coming to Ohio classrooms. by Aaron Churchill in the Akron Beacon-Journal Significant changes in reading curriculum and instruction are coming to Ohio elementary schools — and they couldn’t come soon enough. For decades, ineffective methods have plagued classrooms, leaving too many students struggling to read. A recent survey from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce found that two of the most popular curricula statewide are Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell’s Classroo ..read more
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Women Shouldered Most of Kids’ In-home Schooling Needs During Early Pandemic
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
1M ago
(We don’t think this comes as much of a surprise…) February 21, 2024 By Laurel White Women took on more education-related childcare responsibilities than men during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this disparity was even sharper for some lower-income women, according to a new University of Wisconsin–Madison study. The study, published in the journal Sociology, found that daily time spent helping children with education-related activities, such as virtual schooling, homework and school projects, decreased for men in 2020 compared to previous years. For women, t ..read more
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Hey! It’s National School Choice Week!
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
2M ago
Every day has at least one thing for which it is a “National Day” – there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them. And, of course, every week is a “National Week” for something. Most are frivolous attempts at marketing but occasionally one comes along that we can really get behind, and this is one of them. At the website for  NSCW (National School Choice Week, of course) they walk us through the subject and begin with a definition: “School choice means giving parents access to the best K-12 education options for their children. These options include traditional public schools, public char ..read more
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The Savant who Knew his Mother’s Love (part 3/3)
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
2M ago
(continued from The Savant Who Knew his Mother’ Love, part 2)  May’s Miracle Then, in his sixteenth year, something May calls “The Miracle” occurred. The family had been in bed for hours. About 3:00 a.m. May awoke and thought she heard music. Assuming that Joe had left the television on, she got up to turn it off. But when she walked into the living room, the television was dark and silent. The music was coming from Leslie’s bedroom. She opened the door and saw her son sitting at the piano, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The music was Liberace’s theme song, and he had heard ..read more
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The Savant who Knew His Mother’s Love (part 2/3)
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
2M ago
The Savant who Knew his Mother’s Love (part 1/3)  Leslie Lemke in concert … Shipped Out to America Skipping ahead to adulthood, May became engaged to a soldier, following the urging of her mother. He was a man that Maria Hansen had helped during the war. By age eighteen May was an American wife. Her first marriage had wonderful adventures of its own, and it saw five children into the world. But I will fast-forward this part of her life, through the raising of her family and her eventual widowhood, then to a new marriage, and to the day when she received her final charge. When Leslie ..read more
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The Savant who Knew His Mother’s Love (part 1/3)
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
2M ago
  Joe and I are different from other people. We just accept things when God puts them before us. It’s like accepting what you have to do in life. Things come at you, and you don’t say, “Am I going to do it?” You say, “Now, how am I going to do it?”  May Lemke Occasionally, we learn of extraordinary teachers. They excel above all others. We can only sit back and marvel at their work. They just seem to know, without any explanation of how or why they know. This is the story of one such teacher, who raised a severely handicapped child. It is told in Shirlee Monty’s book May’s Boy: An I ..read more
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WORDS ARE FOR THINKING! How Many Do You Have?
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
3M ago
When you have an idea, do you have enough words to express it? If you need a new word, where do you find it? If you answered, “From my word memory,” then how did it get there? The answer, although probably obvious, is this. The more words a child has heard during childhood, the more words that same child will ultimately use when reading, speaking and writing. Building Vocabularies Vocabularies are first built through human interaction, mostly between babies and their parents or primary care providers. Also, with the advent of technology, read-aloud children’s books are available when ther ..read more
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Learning to Read Versus Learning to Love Reading
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by David Ryan
3M ago
[We found this very interesting and valuable article on the website “Tulsa Kids” and would like to share it with you!) December 27, 2023   Dr. Anita Ede Learning how to read is a major accomplishment for a child. Once achieved, a whole new world opens up for children because they can now independently read about topics that interest them. You may picture your child happily reading in a favorite chair and anticipate many visits to the library to check out a book about a favorite hero, mystery or snake. Sadly, this happy scenario may not happen. The enjoyment of reading does not neces ..read more
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The Special Reading Group & Phonics Cards for Christmas?
The Alpha-Phonics Blog
by Meg Rayborn Dawson
3M ago
In 1955 Rudolf Flesch published his book, “Why Johnny Can’t Read”. He blamed the reading programs of the day. He explained that English is an alphabetic language, and that in order to learn to read efficiently students must learn to “sound out” words rather than merely recognize them at sight. His book included a note to mothers – encouraging them to teach their children to read – and word lists in the back of the book, which they could use to do so. The book sparked a rebirth of what is known as the reading wars. Educational Journals fought back with many articles in defense of the new method ..read more
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