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Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read
Reading is the single most important skill for any child to develop. And the key to learning how to read effectively is recognizing the sounds that letters and words represent. With the help of the revolutionary system known as Phono-Graphix™, you and your child can discover the sound-picture code that is the foundation of the written English language.
Help your child unlock the sound-picture code.
An effective and easy-to-understand approach, Phono-Graphix enables you to teach your child to read in one-tenth the time of phonics with a 100 percent success rate. In just eleven weeks, you can bring your kindergartner to first-grade-level reading—even learning-disabled children can reach grade level or higher in just twelve weeks.
Reading Reflex provides you with:
-Simple diagnostic tests to determine your child's reading level, and a Literacy Growth Chart so you'll know what goals to establish
-Detailed instructions and illustrations to help your child develop strong, consistent reading skills and to correct ineffective reading strategies such as part-word reading and memorizing
-Fun and easy-to-follow exercises, hands-on materials, worksheets, stories, and games that you and your child can do together
-Enjoyable lessons that are carefully constructed to meet the interests and capabilities of children of all ages
Help your child unlock the sound-picture code.
An effective and easy-to-understand approach, Phono-Graphix enables you to teach your child to read in one-tenth the time of phonics with a 100 percent success rate. In just eleven weeks, you can bring your kindergartner to first-grade-level reading—even learning-disabled children can reach grade level or higher in just twelve weeks.
Reading Reflex provides you with:
-Simple diagnostic tests to determine your child's reading level, and a Literacy Growth Chart so you'll know what goals to establish
-Detailed instructions and illustrations to help your child develop strong, consistent reading skills and to correct ineffective reading strategies such as part-word reading and memorizing
-Fun and easy-to-follow exercises, hands-on materials, worksheets, stories, and games that you and your child can do together
-Enjoyable lessons that are carefully constructed to meet the interests and capabilities of children of all ages
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
13 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Carmen McGuinness
5 books3 followersDr. Carmen McGuinness is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and health psychologist, specializing in children with disabilities, attachment, and family trauma. In addition to working with children and parents, Dr. McGuinness has taught psychology graduate students and is the author of three popular academic books. Recently she released her first fiction novel, Unintended Consequences a Psychological Romance (June 1, 2017).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 22, 2022
Loved! I just got approval to be certified in this method for our school and I know it’s going to help our kids so much!
June 19, 2021
Brilliant book!!! I used this book to teach my 4 boys to read and have used these principles as a teacher for the past 22 years. When my first son was about 5 years old, I bought "Why Our Children Can't Read, and What We Can Do about it: A Scientific Revolution in Reading" by Carmen McGuinness. The title of the book says it all - it analyzed mountains of research to discover why some children could not read fluently and what could be done. This book was so compelling that I bought Reading Reflex, which outlines some of the research of the first book, but is primarily a guide on how to teach a child to read. It clearly outlines the steps to take and the problems that might be encountered along the way and how to fix them.
My oldest son is now 27, and he and his three brothers are excellent readers. I am grateful that I had this wonderful book to help me teach my children to read. Because of the guidance and tools I received from this book, they developed strong literacy skills and learned to love reading. I have a Master of Teaching and have taught numerous children how to read. There is nothing wrong with looking at different reading programs and ideas, but this is my number one resource, my point of reference and the book I recommend all teachers and parents alike start with. This is particularly important because many, if not most teachers - even reading specialists - are not taught how to teach children to read (They are taught how to analyze reading but not HOW to actually teach a child to read). Do yourself a favor. Buy this book first.
And to Carmen McGuinness, if you ever read these reviews, THANK YOU!!!
My oldest son is now 27, and he and his three brothers are excellent readers. I am grateful that I had this wonderful book to help me teach my children to read. Because of the guidance and tools I received from this book, they developed strong literacy skills and learned to love reading. I have a Master of Teaching and have taught numerous children how to read. There is nothing wrong with looking at different reading programs and ideas, but this is my number one resource, my point of reference and the book I recommend all teachers and parents alike start with. This is particularly important because many, if not most teachers - even reading specialists - are not taught how to teach children to read (They are taught how to analyze reading but not HOW to actually teach a child to read). Do yourself a favor. Buy this book first.
And to Carmen McGuinness, if you ever read these reviews, THANK YOU!!!
January 13, 2023
No method is perfect for all- but- with so many programs out there it is confusing!
This is an excellent pick for format and price for starting decoding instruction for someone if they have no background in how to go about helping their child get the word off the page.
I noticed a comment that Reading Reflex was just teaching decoding - seemingly at the detriment of other reading supports such as context. However, the prime purpose of this program is to teach decoding!
In the '70s, 80s, and 90s, decoding was not stressed as an essential skill. I was getting my degree and teaching during this time. Whole language instruction emphasized that students learn to read through immersion and seemed antagonistic towards teaching phonics. People like Goodman, through idealistic and unproven theories, damaged a generation of readers who required direct instruction in decoding. [In the '90's, as a special education teacher, my methods were against board policy - but all my students could read at their language level.] Over 50 years of research has now proven the importance of explicit decoding instruction as the basis of reading as you first need to 'get the word off the page'. Then - use every strategy and tool for meaningful reading. Becoming a skilled reader depends on factors such as language skill, background knowledge, vocabulary , ability to monitor comprehension, decoding. ... It is huge.
Reading Reflex claims to do one of these. And it does it quite well for many.
[Reading for All -my 'passionate' topic -]
This is an excellent pick for format and price for starting decoding instruction for someone if they have no background in how to go about helping their child get the word off the page.
I noticed a comment that Reading Reflex was just teaching decoding - seemingly at the detriment of other reading supports such as context. However, the prime purpose of this program is to teach decoding!
In the '70s, 80s, and 90s, decoding was not stressed as an essential skill. I was getting my degree and teaching during this time. Whole language instruction emphasized that students learn to read through immersion and seemed antagonistic towards teaching phonics. People like Goodman, through idealistic and unproven theories, damaged a generation of readers who required direct instruction in decoding. [In the '90's, as a special education teacher, my methods were against board policy - but all my students could read at their language level.] Over 50 years of research has now proven the importance of explicit decoding instruction as the basis of reading as you first need to 'get the word off the page'. Then - use every strategy and tool for meaningful reading. Becoming a skilled reader depends on factors such as language skill, background knowledge, vocabulary , ability to monitor comprehension, decoding. ... It is huge.
Reading Reflex claims to do one of these. And it does it quite well for many.
[Reading for All -my 'passionate' topic -]
July 9, 2020
As a Reading Specialist, I do my best to read as many resources as I can, so I can continually improve my teaching practice and challenge my own thinking. I picked up this book because it is intended to help parents teach their children to read, and I feel that it is my responsibility to know what published resources are available to parents.
The further I got into this book, the more frustrated that I became. The author repeatedly stated that any other form of decoding/word solving instruction (other than Phono-Graphix) is wrong and hurtful to children’s reading development. No two readers are alike, so blanket statements like ^that^ are unnecessary and misleading. This strategy may work for some, but not all (just like the 25ish other intervention “programs” that I use with students each day).
I gave this book a two star rating because there are a handful of useful activities presented in some of the early chapters. Reading this has encouraged me to dig into parent reading resources much further.
The further I got into this book, the more frustrated that I became. The author repeatedly stated that any other form of decoding/word solving instruction (other than Phono-Graphix) is wrong and hurtful to children’s reading development. No two readers are alike, so blanket statements like ^that^ are unnecessary and misleading. This strategy may work for some, but not all (just like the 25ish other intervention “programs” that I use with students each day).
I gave this book a two star rating because there are a handful of useful activities presented in some of the early chapters. Reading this has encouraged me to dig into parent reading resources much further.
August 19, 2017
It was very interesting and I feel it could be a very beneficial way to teach reading and writing.
October 25, 2019
Great lessons to improve and teach reading
June 20, 2022
I liked this — I’m doing the actual training right now but I’m glad that I read this in addition.
August 23, 2023
I loved what this book taught about reading, but it was difficult to do the lessons with the kids.
January 10, 2009
This book had a lot of info on the teaching of reading and phonics and related education history. It's method of teaching that letters are symbols for sounds rather than letters "make" sounds made so much sense. However, my son lacks some auditory skills for effectively using the method at this time. Maybe we'll go back to it in a few months. We nevertheless played around with some of the exercises in the book and really enjoyed them.
February 9, 2010
Being a little more "delight driven" in my approach, I found this book to be a little formulaic. I worry that it would be too structured for a young reader, and too "program specific." I.E. it might be confusing to use this in conjunction with school or another program. Great, great, great for kids with learning disabilities or late readers.
January 23, 2010
This looks like a very intuitive method of reading for children. I introduced my 5 year old to some of the concepts, and she has already adopted the jargon of the book. I got this book free on paperbackswap.com, too!
December 28, 2008
It has some good points but then there was a lot that I really didn't agree with. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I try to implement some of the strategies with my tutoring students.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews