"Bricks and Mortar":
Basic Reading Skills

INTRODUCTION

We trust you will find this unusual reading system helps your child/ren to learn to read, or to overcome difficulties already experienced. Just a few minutes a day looking at the Disk pages whilst you read the Notes for those pages to them (or they can settle down with a tape you've made of the Notes and work independently) can make a whole lot of difference to a child's overall comprehension of reading structure. Try it and see for yourself.

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Initially you might not feel they're getting anywhere - but repeat each day for a couple of weeks and you should see a noticeable change.

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Reading should be fun! You may well find that after only a few practices your child will spontaneously start "word spotting" in everyday situations - this system isn't intended to "drill" children into repeating words off pat, instead it's designed to spark their interest in words so they start looking and finding out for themselves.

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Dually it provides them with the basic tools they need to get started - the shapes and sounds of a few basic letters initially, and some clues as to how the letters fit together to make words.

Very early on in this reading system, children find they have to look carefully at the individual letters of words on the Disks, to differentiate between some very similar-looking words. This gets them out of the habit of "guessing" at every word, which a lot of children may do if they've been faced with a wide variety of reading books. "Bricks and Mortar" starts them back at the centre of learning by linking shape, sound and overall structure.

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Children can lose confidence in their ability to read very quickly if they're presented with too many unfamiliar words. Whilst they're learning (or re-learning) the basics, using "Bricks and Mortar", try to ensure they only use books with "linked words" for other reading practice - e.g. the Ladybird scheme, or progressive stages of the Biff, Chip and Kipper stories on the Oxford Reading Tree - where each successive book has similar vocabulary to the last, with just a few new words.

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The words won't be the same as the ones you'll find in "Bricks and Mortar" - but if the child is grasping the basics of word structure and letter sounds from this system, s/he will be able to apply that knowledge to other words in other books - gradually. The important thing is that the new-found [or newly-rediscovered] confidence and interest in words shouldn't be shaken in any way.

Your child learned a whole language in a couple of years. So you know you have a rational and intelligent human being on your hands! He or she should be able to grasp the basics of reading in about three months - probably less. If s/he has been "struggling" for rather longer than this, it's probably because some of the "basic building bricks" of reading are missing from what s/he has absorbed. "Bricks and Mortar" re-presents all the bricks in a holistic structure which is easy for children to take in and use.

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Your child is capable of exploring reading at the same rate s/he absorbed language - probably a lot faster! You may be surprised at the rate at which s/he will accelerate, once the basics are grasped.

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Children instinctively try to "find out more" once they begin to experience something - whether it's the potential to use their bodies to crawl, to walk, to run, or the ability to use their minds to fathom sounds, language, communication, reading. Your child is not likely to be any different .....

These notes are primarily written for parents, especially those who have despaired at their child's "lack of progress" when they *know* they have a bright-eyed, lively, alert, capable, fun-loving small person on their hands. Your child is just as capable of learning to read as anyone else. If that hasn't happened yet - well, try "Bricks and Mortar". We wish your child every success :)