Research and Read Quick

These research findings are direct quotes from the National Panel on Reading, requested by the federal government.  Entire Research Report is located at the National Institute for Literacy website.     www.nifl.gov

The following research does not support the use of phonics, phonemes, and syllables and should have been considered a ‘red flag’ by reading experts. These findings are part of the Panel’s Report used for No Child Left Behind and being sold for intervention in grades 4-10.

Brown text is response  -  to quotes from the National Research Panel  'in Black.'

• "Systematic - The plan of instruction involves a carefully selected set of letter-sound relationships that are organized into a logical sequence.” 

Read Quick (RQ)  is developed and taught as an organized system, following precise guidelines for users and teachers using 3 steps for a ‘logical’ sequence that is easy to understand and learn.

• "For children with learning disabilities and children who are low achievers, systematic phonics instruction, combined with synthetic phonics, produces the greatest gains. Synthetic phonics instruction consists of teaching students to explicitly convert letters into phonemes, and then blend the phonemes to form words."

The RQ system teaches forty seven (47) 2, 3, 4, and 5 letter clusters with consistent spelling and sounds and replaces all syllables for decoding.  The 47 Read Quick Combinations may be memorized in less than 2 months, much like learning the alphabet; embedded in long term memory by using the system for marking words while reading and spelling.

• "Evidence supports the futility of teaching 100-200 phonic generalizations, taught in traditional basal text. Most traditional phonics rules did not generalize well enough to justify teaching them. There were more exceptions to rules than instances of the rule."

Here research is explicit.  Phonics and syllables do not work and they are only citing the generalizations.  RQ is explicit and works for nearly every word in English.  Many programs still have teachers generalize phonic applications, teaching hundreds of rules in both reading and spelling.  RQ teaches same rules for both.

• "Most important forms of phonemic awareness to teach are blending and segmentation because they are the processes that are centrally involved in reading and spelling words."

The 3 steps defining the main parts of a word for decoding are segmented by the 47 Combinations, marking the C, G, and Y, and using 2 rules to mark vowels. The 'centrally involved' processes are clearly known and studied ahead of needing the skill  to  process.  When needed, they are marked for correct sounds.  Read Quick’s system for marking words provides a perfect blending sequence for every word.  Most students drop the need to mark a word in one to six months.

• "Evidence from all the research centers show that deficits in phonemic awareness reflect the core deficits in reading disabilities. These deficits are characterized by difficulties in separating syllables in words. Readers have difficulty in turning spelling into sounds."

Read Quick does not have this problem.  Letter clusters, we call Combinations, have consistent sounds and spelling, replacing all syllables.  Combinations are taught much like the alphabet.  Phonemic awareness is part of the Combinations and are identified for teacher and student by their sounds & spellings, having 1 or 2 sounds.

• "Phonemic awareness alone is not sufficient for many children. Explicit, systematic instruction in common sound-spelling correspondence is also necessary."

RQ has a perfect correspondence between spelling and sounds and the 47 Combinations are consistent and reliable in nearly every word, eliminating a problem phonics and syllables have for decoding.

• "Most effective instructional programs teach children to read successfully with frequent and highly regular sound-spelling relationships, systematically taught."

Research cites 48 ‘highly regular’ sound-spelling relationships; 31 are alphabet letters having consistent sounds and 17 are 2 letter Combinations, such as CH, AY and QU, and one 3 letter cluster IGH.  The research report identifies the 17 letters as ‘highly regular’.  All of the 17 letter clusters identified are part of the 47 letter clusters, we call Combinations, selected on the same basis as the 17 by research.

• "English contains more than 65 unique syllables, (exceptions to the rules), that do not follow a regular consonant-vowel pattern."

Compare this to the 47 Combinations that follow consistent spelling and sounds. Some Combinations contain irregular letter sounds that become consistent for spelling and speech, but require lessons to explain the problem in syllables.

• "Most effective instructional programs teach children to read successfully with only 40-60 sound-spelling relationships."  

Another reason how Read Quick is taught and why it is the most efficient, simple decoding method available. This is not a feature of phonics and syllables to help decode longer, multi-syllabic words.  Longer words are nearly phonetically perfect using the 3-Step System, with very few exceptions.

"Word recognition problems arise from breaking apart words and syllables into phonemes. This relationship is apparent in the majority of poor readers, including children, adolescents, and adults at all levels of 'IQ'."

Reason for massive reading failure in America.  Read Quick completely prevents this decoding problem for all learners.

Combinations identified in a word are already ‘broken apart’ with consistency and accuracy; the main reason ALL users begin successfully using the system after only a few lessons.  Poor readers give verbal outbursts of excitement when they read a difficult word correctly; experience users of the system have had in nearly every reading group.

• "Process of decoding words never read before involves transforming graphemes into phonemes and then blending to form words with recognizable meanings. This has proved to be a very difficult task."

This is why phonics and syllables have failed. The entire process of transforming graphemes into phonemes and then blending to form words is totally eliminated with RQ. There is no transforming involved in the 3-Step System, providing rapid success for all users of the system.

• "Difficulties developing decoding skills very often arise from difficulties processing sounds in speech and discerning the sub-parts of spoken words.  English has thousands of unique syllables that do not follow a regular vowel-consonant pattern."

This finding tells the story on the failure of phonics and syllables.  Read Quick is different for a purpose and works with ages 4 to adult for this reason when using Combinations.  Blends are taught in the software but are not part of the 3 steps. The 47 Combinations are normal speech and are pronounced when read or spoken.

"Reading occurs at the level of the single word and involves the ability to decode printed words. The basis of this problem arises in the difficulty in breaking apart words and syllables into phonemes."

The 3-Step System has completely eliminated this and other syllable decoding problems. Phonemes are part of the Combinations.

"Readers should learn the regularities and consistencies and deal with the exceptions as they are met." 

Read Quick’s total system eliminates all but the fewest exceptions, allowing students and teachers to deal with them for control.

There are so many exceptions using syllables that teachers finally tell words to developing readers and they soon forget what was said.  Students suffer the consequence in later years when they cannot decode words in middle school, high school, and as adults.

"Adults with reading problems exhibit the same characteristics exhibited by children with reading problems."

Adult education does not know where to turn or what to do for this significant majority of adults; more syllables that do not make sense?  RQ teaches decoding in age appropriate lessons that do not demean older students.

"Explicit -  The programs provide teachers with precise directions for teaching these relationships.”

Teachers, aides, tutors and parents know precisely what to teach with explicit instructions for teaching and remediating.

Read Quick’s decoding system exceeds all the research cited above and dozens of other current research findings, regarding the intervention of remedial readers, grades 4 to adult.

The foundation of Read Quick is the findings, relating to the significant success in teaching a sound-spelling correspondence systematically and explicitly.   Eliminating the need to search for the sub-parts of words and phonemes, needed for applying to a syllable, identifies some of the strengths of the 3-Step Read Quick-Learn Quick system.