OUTLINE OF CONTENT found in Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons: An Effective Step-by-Step Reading Remediation Program for Older Students and Adults

INTRODUCTION, OVERVIEW, BACKGROUND AND ESSENTIAL INFORMATION  

This introduction portion of the book empowers the parent or teacher with the information they need to help their child or student develop proficient reading.  

·     Introduction/Overview of Reading:  (page 7-10) This section written for the parent, teacher or tutor provides an overview of teaching students to read. It includes background on the English language, the biologic process of proficient reading, an explanation of how individuals learn to read proficiently, why reading is difficult for many children and the evidence of effective reading programs developing proficient reader phonologic processing. This section helps you learn how reading works.

·     Skills Necessary for Proficient Reading: (Page 11-18) This section describes the skills necessary for proficient reading. It explains the fundamental skills necessary for phonologic processing (phonemic awareness, tracking, blending, knowledge of the written code and attention to detail), the development of correct efficient phonologic processing and an overview of the higher level skills (building fluency, handling multisyllable words, developing comprehension and expanding vocabulary).

·     Elements of an Effective Reading Remediation Program: (page 19-26) This section lists and discusses the specific elements of an effective reading remediation program.

·     Steps to Get Students on Track To Reading Success: (page 27-29) This reviews the specific steps to help a struggling reader develop necessary skills and learn to read proficiently.  It reviews and explains the steps of evaluating the student, setting a remediation plan targeted to the students needs and explaining the program to the student. The specific evaluation tools are included in the appendix.

·     Explanation and Specific Instructions for the Reading Lessons: (page 30-44) This section written for the parent or teacher lists the materials needed and gives the general instructions for all the lessons as well as directions for all the specific activities. Additional activities are also suggested.  These easy to follow instructions clearly explain how to conduct all activities to help a student develop necessary skills.

READING LESSONS: (page 45-236)

The reading program is arranged into carefully designed lessons structured for individual instruction. The lessons use a variety of targeted multisensory activities to directly teach all skills necessary for proficient reading. The reading lessons are organized into 10 different sections starting with foundational skills and then systematically advancing through higher level skills. These easy to use reading lessons give you the tools to teach your student necessary reading skills and directly help them achieve success. A brief description of the various sections follows.

·        Section 1: Basic Sounds and Critical Subskills (Lesson 1-9) This initial section reviews all basic sounds and insures the student acquires necessary foundational skills in phonemic awareness, automatic knowledge of the phonemic code, proper tracking, smooth blending, careful attention to detail and integrates these skills to establish correct ‘proficient reader’ phonologic processing.

·        Section 2: Additional Sounds (Lesson 10-17) These lessons continue strengthening the fundamental skills and phonologic processing as they systematically include complexities with alternate vowel sounds and increasing the number of 2 syllable words. 

·        Section 3: Vowel Combinations (Lesson 18-43) This section systematically introduces the vowel combinations (ee,oa, ai, ay, vowel-consonant-e, oi, oy, ea, ow, ou… and others) and provides for continued practice and strengthening of phonologic processing.

·        Section 4: R-Controlled Vowel Combinations (Lesson 44-56) These lessons systematically introduce the r-controlled vowel combinations (ar, or, ore, oar, er, ur, ir, ear… and others) and continue practice and strengthening of phonologic processing. Lessons incorporate an increasing level of 2 and 3 syllable words. 

·        Section 5:Silent Letters, Infrequent Sounds &Common Endings (Lesson 57-65) This section directly teaches some of the unusual and less frequent elements of our phonemic code (wr, kn, ph, ….and others). It also provides direct practice with some of the common endings (ing, er, ly, plural endings, past tense -ed)

·        Section 6: Reading Multisyllable Words (Lesson 66-77) These lessons directly teach the student how to handle multisyllable words. Lessons include direct guided instruction with multisyllable words including repeated practice of the most common prefixes and suffixes.

·        Section 7: Instructions for Guided Reading: Guided reading has significant beneficial impact on reading skills and is especially important in remediation. Daily guided reading is an important part of this reading program. This section explains guided reading and gives you specific instructions of how to conduct guided oral reading with your student.

·        Section 8: Building Fluency: This section explains what fluent reading is, how individuals develop fluency and provides information so you can help your student develop fluency.

·        Section 9: Developing Reading Comprehension Skills: This section provides an overview of reading comprehension and lists specific actions you can use to help students acquire reading comprehension skills and strategies. Directions and examples of techniques and activities you can use to advance comprehension are provided.

·        Section 10: Expanding Vocabulary Knowledge: This final section of the reading program overview vocabulary development and provides specific actions you can use to help your child or student expand their vocabulary knowledge. This section also includes a list of common Greek and Latin root words.

SPELLING LESSONS: (page 237-256)  This portion of the book provides a general overview of spelling and gives tips on how to teach your child to spell. Upon completing the reading program your child should spell phonetically. This spelling section goes beyond the phonetic understanding of our language to specific spelling information.  Helpful spelling guidelines and patterns are listed. These are not ‘rules’ to be memorized but rather guidelines and explanations that make spelling much easier. This is not memorizing rules or word lists but rather learning about spelling. The spelling instruction is organized into 31 specific lessons.

APPENDICIES: (page 257-290)

• Appendix A -  Sound Pronunciation Table: This appendix provides a table of all the phonograms and correct sound pronunciation(s). The table includes the phonogram (letter or letters), the sound or sounds it represents, notes on the pronunciation with an example of the sound within a word, and any notes of caution with pronunciation.  This appendix also includes tips for helping a child correctly pronounce specific sounds.
• Appendix B - Evaluation Tools:  This appendix provides the tools you need to evaluate your child or student for specific reading skills. It includes tools and directions for evaluating phonemic awareness, knowledge of the complete phonemic code, reading performance/accurate decoding skills, spelling and reading comprehension. It provides an explanation of how to combine and interpret the results of your evaluation and focus your reading instruction to meet the student’s individual needs. 
• Appendix C - Lesson Progress Chart: A simple chart to record your student’s progress through the reading program.
• Appendix D - Letter Formation Instructions: This appendix provides general instructions on correct letter formation. It includes directions for writing d, b, p to avoid letter confusion.
• Appendix E - Table summarizing spelling patterns for sounds: This useful resource lists the spelling patterns/alternatives for each sound. Examples are given for each spelling pattern. The spelling patterns are listed in order of frequency.  This is an excellent spelling reference resource!

Additional information on Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons: An Effective Step-by-Step Reading Remediation Program for Older Students and Adults is located on the Right Track Reading Website

The tools to achieve reading success, one student at a time!