Developmental and Corrective Readin2

Developmental and Corrective Reading GEDU 5312 By: Verlin S. Butler Submitted to: Dr. Eddings July 24, 2006 Maureen Gerard (2004), What’s a parent to Do? : Phonics and Other Stuff Child Childhood education: Spring 2004 The article stated how federal money is being spent on “scientifically based” reading programs. In 2003, President Bush directed Head Start programs across the country to function as early reading programs. The approach forced programs to look at direct, systematic approaches to early reading development and teaching the alphabetic principle to young children. These curriculum designs were developed primarily for struggling students and teaching disabled children how to use the phonic rules, and the alphabetic principle. It was designed to give teachers a guideline on how to perform their instructional strategies through drill-and practices techniques. The federal education approach showed that teachers and parents were confused about the literacy development and how children are supposed to learn how to read and write. Learning to read and write requires significant, caring adults to answer question concerning their time, efforts and dedication. So what’s a parent to do? This article states that many children are surrounded daily with print in their everyday world. Cheerios, McDonald’s and OFF, STOP-all of this is environmental print that parent can use to start the reading process. In fact, reading this kind of print constitutes the initial stage of reading development called “logographic reading” (Dombey & Moustafa, 1998; Frith, 1985). This article also suggested some environmental print activities: Take trips to the grocery store; have the young child help locate items in the grocery store to encourage focusing on the print on products’ packaging. A leisurely drive in the automobile is also be a learning activity, and the use of digital camera on environmental print can be use to help a child learn how to read. Using environmental print is just one way in which parents and teachers can draw attention to the alphabet and help the young child develop beginning reading skills. I really enjoyed reading this article because it gave me numerous ideas on how to use environmental print in my classroom. I feel that children learn best when they are engaged in activities that require them to use prior learning with new experiences. I believe every child should be given numerous opportunities to explore and learn from their environment. Exposing them to environmental print will draw the child’s attention to the alphabets and help the child develop beginning reading skills.