Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read

I was taught using the rigorous Spalding Method - Writing Road to Reading. I felt the phonics based nature of Spalding gave me an excellent grasp of the English language, but I dreaded dragging my homeschooled children through memorizing a hundred spelling rules and exceptions (none of which I even remember anymore). Something just felt "off" about that... but I also knew that a ton of common reading programs just don't work well, and I had heard that the 100 Easy Lessons book can be agonizing for many as well. Discovering the phono-graphix method was exhilarating - a breath of fresh air! It uses the reliable, time tested phonics-based foundation, but in an extremely intuitive way that just makes sense for how kids' brains naturally work.This reading method feels like play-based learning. The first section of the book, despite its length, is important to read to understand WHY the phono-graphix method works so well. Methods that involve heavy rote memorization of letter blends, word families, sight words, or a hundred spelling rules and exceptions do not set kids up with an intuitive ability to decode new words and spell properly the way the phono-graphix method does.Instead of the drudgery of battling through page after page of repetitive lessons or rote memorization, you're using letter tiles to create, sound out, and manipulate words, then writing while sounding them out to mentally solidify the link between sounds and the "sound pictures." Even many nonsense words are used to prevent the dangerous "guessing" habit and ensure that each "sound picture" is deliberately decoded. Mistakes are an important, positive part of the learning process as well. This, along with the creativity wiggle room afforded by the play based method, makes it ideal for my strong willed child.Cons: You really have to spend the time learning the system and how to use the book to understand your objective and why it's important to teach this way. It also takes time to cut out the letter squares and store them in numbered envelopes. Tip: If you don't want to cut up the book, you can get a PDF of just the manipulative pages to print (maybe on heavier paper) and cut out: https://shop.phono-graphix.com/Reading-Reflex-Manipulatives-Pages-downloadable-PDF-RRpdf.htmAnother con is that the complexity of navigating through each activity/lesson in the book; It's a bit of a maze to get from one activity to the next in the correct order and then repeat the process with each set of phonemes. Still 100% worth it, but if you need a system that's laid out more clearly, more linear, and easier for the instructor to navigate, the ABeCeDarian program is also based on the same Phono-Graphix approach and is known to be a little more user friendly (at the cost of more expensive and numerous books.One of my favorite benefits to the phono-graphix method is seeing my child easily advance to decoding longer, complex words with very little overwhelm, as well as watching him develop an uncanny intuition for spelling mastery at a younger than average age.I can't recommend this reading program highly enough! For preschoolers (playing the phonics games suggested for younger children), K-1 graders, and literally any other age.

I liked this book. Our daughter was just naming a word after seeing the first letter, totally random guess reading. This book taught us how to blend sounds as we'd go through the written word, to not just make sounds individually, is in "bad" you do "b" then "ba" then add the "d," which is a little different than how I learned - Sesame Street style "b" "a" "d." And that really ended up being a tool for ME, which is why I chose to say us, rather than her.She started out with prior knowledge of all/ most single letter sounds. And knew some memorized words, but was not reading them. I read the book before beginning any change in our house.We started with a sort of Montessori method at our house, little books with a letter on the front and then pictures of objects that had that starting sound. I then used reading reflex as a reference to create more sound books. I like that phonics isn't used for natural blends, ie "sh" "ch" "th," etc. is taught as an independent sound and "bl" or "st" is really seen as a true blend of sounds as this simplified the amount of sound books we used, and I agree with the author in regards to this idea. I believe it made reading easier. Again I used this book as reference, my daughter thought the stories were a little dumb because they didn't make sense, but maybe that helped her from inference reading. My daughter is 7, went from reading on a basic kindergarten level to reading more than a third grade level in less than 9 months. We used to the method off and on, as I am pretty relaxed and I answer questions when I get them. The book helped me immensely as she developed reading errors, otherwise I don't think I would have known how to quickly remedy any issues. I'm a biologist homeschooling our kids, not an elementary teacher by trade so I really appreciated finding a reference book.I am currently answering questions for my eager 5 year old, when they are ready they ask! I do think parents should be ready, yet relaxed and wait til the moment, but don't miss the moment as I think it passes as they learn ways to cope with not reading and may be less inclined later as "well, I haven't really needed it yet" begins to show its head. Having this book on hand will prepare you for when it happens and can help as you progress to full on reading.My reasons for four stars, we had a lot of word cut outs from my Montessori dabbling, but if books had been solo I would have liked more word building, obviously you could do your own. Be prepared to have things available for your child, independent of the book. If the authors had a website with extra stuff for parents as we don't have school buying power, that'd be super, or add more to the book. I feel it advanced quickly into complex words. I did find it silly that letters don't "make" sounds, so you are advised to refrain from saying what sound does "a" make, I don't know I just found it interesting. I'm not sure if it matters or not if it's a word picture or that a letter makes a sound. But the authors have seen many many more children than I. I catch myself saying it, only to rephrase it.

As a retired teacher, I highly recommend this book. I used it in teaching my students how to read. This book is a valuable resource, witheverything included to teach and practice learning phonics! Even stories, at different levels.

This is a great resource for parents to use at home with their PK-1 children, or with any older student who is struggling with reading. I wish I had discovered this book when my children were younger. Instead, I now use this book in my work as a literacy interventionist working with students, many with dyslexia along with other activities based on the Science of Reading.This method uses a "speech to print" approach vs a "print to speech" approach. Instead of teaching the graphemes OW can "say" either /ow/ or /o/, the focus is first on the sounds. What are all the possible graphemes we could use to represent an /o/ sound? We could write <ow> <o> <oe> <o_e> etc. etc. Kids become familiar with many ways to represent sounds.The book is non-technical, written in a conversational tone, and is easy to get through quickly. Activities can be easily photocopied and then cut out for instant hands-on-learning. Although easy to read, one does have to read carefully! The format is a bit tricky with having to jump through to many different parts of the book, and then jumping back again. The lessons do not go in a perfect linear order throughout the book.Starts with simple basic code (individual letter sounds) and proceeds through advanced code (digraphs, vowel teams) and then multisyllabic work. I find the basic and advanced code sections very thorough, but the multisyllabic section could use both more explanation and more activities for students to do. The jump from advanced code to multisyllabic seems lacking in skills for students.Overall this is a useful book for parents and educators alike. It's easy enough for parents to do at home and have great success. It's also good addition to other literacy activities in the classroom or intervention settings.

I can’t recommend this book enough. This book aligns with the science of reading. We had tried many many ways to teach my Dyslexic Autistic ADHD son how to read but they didn’t work. This did. You work on reading, writing, spelling and auditory discrimination of sounds to words. Everything you need is in the book you just need a photocopier and all lesson plans are given with instructions and solutions to mistakes made. There are peer reviewed studies backing up the efficiency of this method. One thing I would add whilst doing this book is Phonemic Awareness exercises. Easily done during the lessons as you can swap, remove letter tiles as an add on to the lessons. Honestly this book was a game changer for my son. The activities varied enough to help with transference of knowledge, no lessons are long so helped with concentration and the multi modal approach ensured he made the brain connections for the information to finally stick. I would recommend Dandelion Launchers and Readers alongside this as the follow the same order of Phonics being taught so the skills being learned can be practiced in real reading without the frustration. If you are reading this review it is probably because you have a struggling reader or want to help struggling readers. This should be in your toolbox. If you can read you can teach a child to read with this.

Great book!!

My son's kindergarten teacher uses this book in his classroom, and recommended that the parents follow a long a bit.I used this, Jolly phonics gestures that I learned from the internet, Usborne Phonics flash cards, and a tray with salt in it so he could practice letter formation. In two weeks he read the word cat, and at a month he could read the over 25 basic words and he wrote the word cat, Vie (his friend), and poop.This book works. I recommend it to EVERYONE! Honestly, it's helping me with my litteracy too!You will not regret using this book!

I rarely write reviews but felt I must! this is a great item. This seems really useful for helping children with with reading. i do think the introductory sections in the book be shorter and clearer but the exercises themselves are laid out well. it would have been 5 stars if the intro chapters were better!