Blog

by Read Right Staff
Read Right Systems

Our intention is not to inspire fear; it is to point out that becoming an excellent reader–not a “basic” reader–is a life-shaping event.

So–invest in it.

Flying under the radar for several years now is the reality that lower literacy levels have a direct correlation to homelessness. Low literacy means individuals struggle with multiple areas of routine life: completing a job application; creating a resume and writing an accompanying cover letter; and even completing forms required to rent an apartment–or to apply for public assistance.

Low literacy holds people down. A hallmark of low literacy is the struggle to read text above a second or third grade level.

Read Right Systems is dedicated to eliminating low literacy. Our focus is not achieving a basic reading level. Our focus was, is and always will be reading excellence–or, reading comfortably and with full comprehension at or above a level that matches an individuals age and/or level of intellect.

The secret to excellent reading is not decoding, or the ability to sound out words in a text. Presently, federal and state public education programs believe this is the required foundation of reading ability. As of 2018, there were an estimated 1.5 million homeless children in the U.S. (three times as many as 2008) and, when they arrive in schools, they are frequently funneled into reading support programs that begin with phonics and decoding. Federal and state-funded programs do this to children regardless of age–kindergarten through Grade 8.

Through 40 years of successful work with struggling readers of all ages, this is what we know: If children and adults already know the sounds made by the stable letters of the alphabet (letters that only make one sound), it is a waste of time to teach decoding–as well as a contributor to continuing frustration and low self-esteem when it doesn’t work.

The secret to excellent reading is helping the individual student discover that combining basic phonics knowledge with all kinds of knowledge they’ve already stored in their minds is the key to reconstructing an author’s intended meaning. Once they understand that the sole purpose of reading is to create a meaningful message from text, they begin to fly.

We know this with certainty because we’ve rapidly eliminated reading problems with children of all ages (pre-K through high school) and adults (young adults through senior citizens). And, the methods we use don’t take years. More often than not, it takes less than a year.

Homeless in America needs to end–but so does low literacy. Please consider sponsoring a homeless child in a Read Right Reading Intervention program. Call this number to learn more: 360-427-9440, ext. 115.

by Rhonda Stone
Read Right Tutor & Communications

The mother of one of our youngest students recently shared uplifting news. After a few weeks in our online tutoring program, her six-year-old was beginning to love school again.

The comment resonated with me. Fourteen months before, I was helping my adult daughter address my grandson’s disappointment and resistance to classroom reading instruction. As a kindergartner, Ray arrived at school already knowing how to read. In a few short weeks, the upper first-grade reading group where they placed him was turning his already excellent reading ability into halting, stopping, annoying word-by-word reading. It is the way classrooms all over America teach reading these days. It didn’t take long for traditional classroom reading instruction to destroy Ray’s delight and interest in books.

Fortunately, we used “parent power” to insist he return to his kindergarten classroom, where he could simply read books he enjoyed while his classmates received the traditional phonics and decoding training that leads to word-by-word reading. It was heart-breaking, though, because we knew it was NOT how Raymond figured out how to read.

Read Right methodology is truly special. We do not tell children how to read, which is the essence of “reading instruction.” Instead, we create the right kind of environment where children can apply ALL of their neural resources to figuring out the complex process for themselves. Actually, this is the only way any of us learns how to perform complex processes: how to walk, talk, ride a bike, or how to become an excellent athlete, musician, or reader.

Our highly trained Read Right tutors are ready to serve you and/or your family. The process begins with a phone call or an email…

The following is an excerpt from a 2009 Presentation by Tony Buffalo at a National Indian Education Administration conference, during a joint presentation with Dr. Dee Tadlock. It is an excellent message for all.

“There (are) so many negative things in our daily lives sometimes that it’s hard to dream and, if you cannot read, the door is shut so tight you don’t see a way out.

“And so, for me, I appreciate and thank Dee Tadlock (developer of Read Right methodology) for being a mother…that persevered to find a way for her son to overcome his reading problem; a mother that cared to seek a way that he could have that door open that he could have that chance.

“Through her perseverance, my reading problem has been corrected. For me as a Lakota woman, I have dreams for our nation. I have wants and wishes for our people all over, but also for our own reservation–and that’s not possible unless we can educate. …We can’t overcome 200 years of oppression unless we can educate ourselves. And the way we do that is to be able to read and understand what is out there in the world. It’s the only way we can do it.

“So, I tell my own children this is going to take you anyplace that you want to go, anywhere in this world. When you open these books you will understand. They can take you anywhere. There’s no end to possibilities of where you can be, what you can do, or what you can become. I try so hard to light that flame of hope and desire within our children. Because I know how much they face, I see it every day.”

by Dee Tadlock, Ph.D.
Developer, Read Right Methodology

Read Right Certified Tutors are the best trained, hardest working, most focused educators we know. Why are we so sure? The next time you meet a tutor from another reading program, ask how many hours of training they’ve received.

Then, consider this: Read Right Online Tutors and Read Right school-based program staff receive about 240 hours of training in the process of earning their Read Right certification. Our training process is not a “packaged program.” It is a hands-on training system. Yes, our tutors work with a manual. However, our training also involves active use of the manual with students every day for months as tutors perfect their skills.

With 40 years of experience behind us, we know this with certainty: Excellent reading ability cannot be explicitly “taught.” It can only be developed by each individual learner through a process involving implicit attempts, failures, analyses, adjustments, and more attempts until success is achieved. Our tutors are trained to create the right environment where students can do this complex work and, in the process, totally eliminate their reading problems.

It sounds simple, but of course it isn’t. Fortunately, every one of our tutors knows how it works and knows how to coach students on the path to reading success.

We are proud to do this work–and, moreso, Read Right Systems is very proud of our many online and school-based tutors.

By Rhonda Stone, M.P.A.
Read Right Tutor & Communications

One of my favorite photographs arrived in our offices during the summer a few years back. It was sent to us by a middle school reading remediation tutor in the process of being trained to eliminate reading problems with Read Right methodology.

Educators love when students enjoy cooperating with instructional methods. The favored photo shows a small group of students working with a tutor to improve reading ability–and each is beaming in the photo. The image has another important message: Four hands–white, black, and brown–coming together in a joyous high-five.

Today, educators and parents are often frustrated by promises for success that “packaged” reading intervention programs make. The promise: “Do this and your student’s reading ability will be easily transformed.” Well, it’s not that easy. If it were, America’s schools would not be struggling to make those promises work.

Every reading problem is different from student to student, but the source is ALWAYS the same–and understanding the source is pure brain science: The neural network that the struggling reader built to guide the process of reading is flawed. The only way to eliminate reading problems is to guide each individual student through the complex process of building a new neural network designed for only one purpose: to comprehend an author’s message.

It sounds logical and perhaps even easy, but popular reading theory has the entire reading field off track. Popular theory claims students must first learn to decode individual words, then become fast and efficient at identifying each word in text, then expand vocabulary to expand concept knowledge, and–finally–learn comprehension strategies to make sense of text.

Instead of solving reading problems, popular theory contributes to them–and creates unhappy students who resist reading because it’s hard and reading seldom make sense. Students directed to improve reading ability this way may experience modest improvement, but the methods cannot eliminate the reading problem.

It cannot happen because proficient reading ability requires complex cognitive processing, such as the type of neural processing required for talking, walking, bicycle riding, and other complex neurobiological work. All of these (and every process performed by the human brain) require implicit brain function that spontaneously connects explicit knowledge associated with the an activity to the implicitly functioning brain systems that must be activated to make the process work. No one can control that which is “implicit” because the activities occur below the level of conscious awareness.

“Implicit learning” is controversial because it is often misunderstood by the reading field. The field of neuroscience recognizes that implicit work is the nature of brain function. However, human procedural learning requires integration of multiple implicit memory systems, as well as multiple brain systems responsible for managing specific functions. Thus, it requires unified process-oriented learning, NOT instruction in individual parts and pieces.

The Read Right solution for reading problems is this: Optimize the use of implicit procedural learning to build a new neural network to guide all activity associated with reading.

It sounds simple–but it isn’t. In fact, the idea is so complex and the related methods are so revolutionary that the reading field struggles to understand how they work. Understanding begins with accepting one controversial premise: The cause of virtually all reading problems (including most dyslexia) is flawed reading instruction.

Read Right methods are grounded in a proper understanding of implicity procedural learning. As a result, they work–and that is what makes everyone smile.