Online Reading Programs

2+ years average gain in ~6 months

The steps to reading proficiency are:

1. Learn the sounds of language (from birth)
2. Learn alphabet and connect sounds to letters (decode words)
3. Read with comprehension (requires automaticity in decoding)

Reading should be like listening, effortless.

But for many children, it is not.  For most of those children, the hurdle is the very first step.  For them, language processing is muddy, they cannot make out every sound in every word.

And so reading is another language, not a text version of the language they hear.

Gemm Learning’s online reading program starts by improving processing so your child can make out the sounds inside words – using quick-fire, adaptive exercises that build language processing, day by day. Once the sounds are heard clearly ( in “word memory”), mapping to letters is natural, and reading is easier, more automatic.

And if reading is automatic…

… decoding is not distracting, and so comprehension is easier.  With practice this becomes reading comprehension with metacognition.

Furthermore, children who read with comprehension find reading interesting. It can become a habit.

Steps To Reading Proficiency

Most children come to us because they avoid reading, the can’t read for long periods, they don’t understanding what they are reading, they are slow readers or they have a diagnosis – dyslexia, ADHD or a language-based learning disability.

Our software is adaptive, it figures out the skill areas holding your child back, and then exercises those skills. Ultimately though, all children need to learn reading in the following sequence.

Reading fluency first

We prepare the brain for reading using self-paced exercises that are the equivalent to hearing tens of thousands of words in just a few weeks. This intensive practice helps develop phonemic awareness and the other fundamental skills required for reading automaticity:

• Cognitive — language processing, working memory, attention
• Text — decoding, eye tracking, phonics
• Language —  vocabulary, spelling, grammar, literal reading comprehension

Improvements in cognitive skills removes the muddiness from word memory, making reading more fluent, more automatic.

Then reading comprehension

Our goal is reading comprehension with metacognition, defined as understanding, thinking while reading, making connections, putting the text in context, self-correcting while reading. To broaden reading skills and to cover the common skill gaps, we have a series of reading programs with these strands:

• Spelling – conventions, rules, exceptions
• Grammar and language structure
• Vocabulary
• Sight word growth
• Reading accuracy
• Reading comprehension
• Thinking while reading

Reading comprehension for elementary age children is the ability to connect to prior knowledge or personal experience while reading. Our ultimate goal is the 8th grade reading standard, reading comprehension exercises that align with most state standards.

See How Gemm Learning Works

Call today to find out if we can help.  If you are still not convinced, watch this video.

Disclaimer

Every person is different, and so every outcome is different. We cannot claim to be 100% effective in every case.  We do offer a guarantee, but in learning nothing is certain.  More about our claims here.