Using the
Whole-Word Approach
to Ease Into Phonics

There are many different beliefs of what the 'best' way of teaching a child to read is, and on-going debates persist as to whether the use of the whole-word approach or phonetics is more effective. Our suggestion is to use the whole-word approach to ease into phonics!

eReadingPro utilizes the whole-word approach, as research has shown that over 80% of the population identify themselves as visual learners. Small children are also predominantly visual learners and can therefore learn to read more effectively using the whole-word approach. Scientific studies have also shown that children with learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Autism or Down syndrome are also visual learners, and therefore also read words as pictures. In learning to read via the whole-word approach, readers begin to understand that a word represents a 'thing'.

Our system of teaching reading using the whole-word approach ensures that each word is shown first as a single word, then it comes back and is shown as a couplet (when paired with another single word), again within a 3-word phrase, and finally within a sentence. By the time the child sees the words within the sentences, they have seen each single word over 100 times!

Comprehension is ensured by using words that represent 'people or things'. For example: names, food, actions, colors, etc.

How to 'Ease into Phonics' Using the Whole-word Approach:

• Once the child masters each word as a whole, begin to show how the decoding of that word works.
• Break the word down into letters.
• Break the word down into phonetic components.
• Put the word back together to show how those letters and sounds make up the whole word!

Click here to see a 3-year old boy with Down syndrome reading three-word phrases using our program!

Click here to see a 5-year old boy with Down syndrome who is also deaf, learning to read using our program!