Why do Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons teach each and every little step? Do I really need to actually teach my child to follow from left to right when she reads? 

Right Track Reading Lessons teaches each and every little step because reading is an artificial complex learned skill! Review the article Skills Necessary for Proficient Reading: Explanation of Foundational Skills to Develop Phonologic Processing and Higher Level Skills to Advance to Proficient Reading  While some students may ‘pick-up” or ‘get’ these skills on their own, many do not. Many students develop serious reading problems when they accidentally miss essential subskills. While the detailed and complete instruction may be overkill for some children, detailed instruction insures your child does not miss acquiring an essential subskill.  The importance of the initial critical subskills can not be overlooked. It is not coincidence that many older students who struggle are missing basic essential skills.

Yes, it is important to directly teach a child to read from left to right. Correct tracking is one of the essential sub-skills for proficient reading. To read proficiently, the student must process print left to right. Direct instruction in tracking insures the child or student acquires this vital skill. For more information see the article Directional Tracking Explained: Why Directional Tracking is Important to Reading Development .   

While all elements are explicitly and directly taught in the program, you obviously may adapt the program to your child. The advantage of one-on-one instruction is you can monitor and adjust instruction to meet the individual’s needs. If the child needs extra work you provide it. If the child has mastered a skill you can and should move on. For example, if your child blends sounds without problem, then it is not necessary to spend extra time teaching this skill. Don’t skip teaching a skill, but once your child masters it then you don’t need to spend extra time directly working on the skill in isolation anymore. However, make sure the student has actually mastered and continues to apply the skill correctly.

When remediating an older student who struggles with reading, it is particularly important to directly teach each skill. These struggling readers have previously missed acquiring the essential skills and are unlikely to ‘pick up’ necessary skills without the direct systematic instruction. Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons includes direct instruction in each skill to insure the struggling student develops the necessary skills. Correct directional tracking is one of the essential skills that many older struggling readers lack.

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Additional information, articles and resources on teaching students to read proficiently is located on the Free Reading Information page of the Right Track Reading website.

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This information was written by Miscese Gagen a mother with a passion for teaching children to read proficiently by using effective methods. She is also a successful reading tutor and author of the reading instructional programs Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons. The purpose of this information is to empower parents and teachers with information on teaching children how to read. We CAN improve reading proficiency, one student at a time!  More information is located at www.righttrackreading.com ~ Copyright 2005-2007 Miscese R. Gagen