Many reading programs are being used in schools and tutoring centers. All claim to be effective, but in fact, most merely rehash the same old sight-reading techniques that have been tried and found wanting over the past 70-plus years.
A rash of new courses purporting to teach phonics has appeared recently, and they do teach bits and pieces of phonics, but leave out large essential segments. This is much like a puzzle with many missing pieces, and reading has become a puzzle for many of today’s students. Academic Associates Reading Courses and Clinics supply all the pieces of the puzzle and teach students how to put them together into a complete, harmonious whole.
Franchised tutoring centers use basically the same techniques the schools use. The fact is there is absolutely no effective method of teaching reading other than phonics. Our Reading Clinic uses the most comprehensive, extensive course in phonics offered today, developed over many years of research.
Our students are never blamed or embarrassed in their attempt to learn to read. They receive individual attention from competent, trained, compassionate teachers who genuinely applaud their efforts. They are not put on display in a public setting, nor are they going to another “institution” after attending school all day. Our home setting is welcoming, warm, affirming, and challenging. They attend private lessons in the most effective method of reading ever developed.
Parents often ask if we offer reading tutoring. The answer to that question is we do not tutor students; we teach students all the sounds in the English language and show them the way the sounds are put together to make words. We sound out words and insist that our students do the same, because guessing or memorizing a word never works. We work individually with each student to assure correct pronunciation and comprehension. We do not proceed to a new lesson until we are confident that the material we have taught has been mastered. We do not use worksheets nor assign “busy work” while working with another student as some tutoring centers do. Your student is our only student. Every student learns to read.