For more than 15 years, I have worked with children who struggled to learn to read. Many of them had already been labelled "dyslexic." Yet in case after case, I found children who were bright, curious and eager to learn, but who had become confused by the way reading had been taught.
This observation led me to write Teach your Child to Read.
The book is built on a simple premise: before we assume a child has a disability, we should ensure that the child has been given clear and effective instruction.
Many children who are classified as dyslexic are, in my opinion, instructional casualties. They have learned incorrect letter sounds, been encouraged to guess words from context, or have never mastered the high-frequency words that appear repeatedly in children's books. When the foundation is shaky, reading becomes difficult, frustrating and often discouraging.
My book was written to provide that foundation.
The Importance of Correct Letter Sounds
Everything begins with the sounds of letters.
The introduction uses family words to demonstrate how letters should be pronounced when teaching children to read. A child who learns inaccurate or distorted sounds is already at a disadvantage.
I have found that many reading difficulties can be traced back to confusion over the most basic building blocks of written language.
Why I Teach Letter Names
Some reading programmes focus exclusively on letter sounds and dismiss the importance of letter names. I take a different view. Letter names are useful because many English words begin with letter names. Consider words such as:
Ace, bee, ceiling, deep ,giraffe, ice, jade, Kate …
A child who understands both letter names and letter sounds possesses a stronger foundation for understanding the spelling system of English.
The Systematic Teaching of Dolch Words
Each lesson introduces the Dolch Words required for that lesson.
Rather than overwhelming children with long word lists, the words are introduced gradually as they become useful. By the final three lessons, children will have encountered all 220 Dolch Words.
I teach these words through rote memory.
This should not be controversial. Children routinely memorise multiplication tables, days of the week, months of the year, telephone numbers and addresses. Memorisation is one of the most powerful learning tools available to us.
Consider the word with. A child is taught to spell and read it as:
w-i-t-h, with
w-i-t-h, with
w-i-t-h, with
w-i-t-h, with
w-i-t-h, with
The sequence is repeated five times before moving on to the next word.
The words are recorded in an exercise book divided into three columns. New words are added vertically down the first column. When the bottom of the column is reached, the list continues at the top of the second column, and later the third.
At the beginning of every lesson, the child reads through the accumulated word list.
As mastery develops, words are removed from active practice. When a child can correctly spell and read a word three times without error, the word is ticked off and no longer needs to be reviewed.
In this way, practice time is focused on words that have not yet become automatic.
The goal is simple. I do not want the child to analyse the word with every time it appears in print. I want the child to see the word and know it instantly.
When enough high-frequency words become automatic, reading becomes less laborious. The child can devote more attention to understanding the text rather than struggling to identify individual words.
This process continues until all 220 Dolch Words have been mastered.
In my experience, many struggling readers have never been given a systematic way to memorise these high-frequency words. Once they acquire them, reading often becomes noticeably smoother and more enjoyable.
Building New Words from Familiar Chunks
Beginning around Lesson 20, children learn how to create new words from chunks and patterns they have already mastered. This is an important step because English contains many recurring letter patterns. Once a child learns a chunk, that chunk can be reused to unlock many larger words.
For example, a child may first learn:
oo from there oon → poon→ spoon→ spoons.
The same process can be used with many other word families:
ay → lay→ play → playing → display
ight → light → lighting →
Rather than encountering every word as something entirely new, the child learns to see familiar pieces inside unfamiliar words. A child who recognises oon can more easily read moon, soon and spoon. A child who recognises ight can more easily read light, night, flight and bright.
This approach reduces the memory burden on the child. Instead of memorising thousands of words individually, the child learns reusable building blocks that can be combined to read many new words.
In this way, children move beyond simple memorisation and begin to understand how English words are constructed. English contains countless recurring chunks that can be reused to unlock thousands of words. This helps them become increasingly independent readers.
Context Clues Come Later
Many programmes encourage children to use context clues before they can reliably decode words.
I take the opposite approach. Children first learn how to read words accurately. Only after they have developed reasonable decoding skills do I introduce context clues. Context should help confirm meaning, not replace the ability to read the printed word.
Once children can decode words and possess a growing sight vocabulary, context becomes a valuable aid to comprehension. It should be the final step, not the first.
The QR Code Difference
One of the most powerful features of the book is the QR-code support.
Not every parent has the time to sit beside a child for every lesson. For that reason, the book includes QR codes that children can scan with a phone or tablet.
The QR codes allow children to:
Hear the correct pronunciation of letters and words
Follow lessons independently
Track the words as they are being read
Review difficult sections as often as necessary
Practise even when a parent is busy
In effect, the QR codes provide a patient reading companion that is available whenever the child needs support.
A child can simply scan the code, listen, follow the text with a finger, and work through the lesson with minimal parental supervision. The tracking feature helps children connect spoken language to print while reinforcing correct pronunciation and word recognition.
This feature encourages independence while helping children avoid developing incorrect reading habits.
A Complete Reading Programme
Teach Your Child to Read: 30 Lessons is not a collection of isolated activities. It is a complete programme that combines:
Correct letter sounds
Letter names
Systematic Dolch Word memorisation
Word-building strategies
Reading fluency
Context clues
Independent practice through QR-code support
My philosophy remains simple:
I teach phonics. I teach high-frequency words. I teach whatever helps a child read.
The goal is not to win debates. The goal is to help children become readers.
For just US$2.99 for the Kindle edition, parents receive a complete reading programme that can be used at home with minimal supervision.
30 lessons to crack the code.
220 Dolch Words to build fluency.
QR codes to support independent learning.
Teach Your Child to Read: 30 Lessons is available from Notion Press Malaysia:
https://notionpress.com/my/read/teach-your-child-to-read
For those from other countries it is available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Luqman-Michel/dp/B0CG26MJBY
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