Online Reading Interventions
Fundamentals first, then comprehension
Most reading difficulties – labored decoding, limited comprehension – can be traced back to a lack of mastery of phonemic awareness caused by delayed language processing. Reading should be effortless. If decoding takes concentration, it is exhausting, and crowds out brain space for comprehension.
Our online reading program accelerates development of the skills required for effortless reading. We use unique brain-based software – Fast ForWord – at home with remote oversight. Our students average 2 + years of reading gain in around 6 months.
Our program sequence replicates the natural steps to reading proficiency:
- Master language and phonics,
- Connect sounds to letters (decode),
- Read with automaticity (fluency),
- Read with comprehension
Most of our students are stuck on the first step. They struggle with phonics because their language processing is not good enough to hear the sounds inside words. So that’s our starting point, quick-fire sound exercises to strengthen language processing. Then reading-specific exercises, building to fluent reading with comprehension step by step.
Steps To Reading Proficiency
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
We start with 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:
- Processing & cognitive — language processing, working memory, attention
- Decoding text — decoding, eye tracking, phonics
- Language structure— vocabulary, spelling, grammar, literal reading comprehension
Then reading comprehension
Our reading series has these strands:
- 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 – reading comprehension with metacognition– thinking while reading, which aligns with most state standards.
Practice to Consolidate Gains
A key to reading proficiency is practice. When reading is automatic, it’s easier. And with practice, comprehension is easier. Then reading is interesting, and can hopefully be a lifelong source of pleasure. We help this process with speech recognition reading software, Reading Assistant Plus, and guided reading practice for middle school and higher, Reading Plus.
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.
FREE DEMO
Video & test drive
“Just this week he has finished an over 200 page book (the second in a series) in two days. Before the program, he was reluctant to read short chapter books, and it took him a month or so to finish the first book in the same series.”
“His reading score went up almost two full grades over summer due to Gemm Learning! …his confidence when reading and his reading fluency is so much better that he will be out of special ed soon. He picked up a big chapter book to read! This is from a boy who before Gemm would not even look at a book.”