Areas of Practice

Automatic word recognition skills - Effective word-recognition strategies permit children to quickly and automaticallytranslate the letters or spelling patterns of written words into speech sounds so that they can identify words and gain rapid access to their meanings
Phonological Awareness - a key skill that lays a foundation for success with reading.
Rapid Naming - the ability to name letters, symbols, words, or objects in a quick and automatic manner. This is your ability to easily retrieve information, rapidly and automatically without effort.
Phonological Memory - The ability to hold on to speech-based information in short-term memory.
Sight words - Words we teach our readers to know by heart so they don't have to spend decoding time.
Word Attack Skills - Being able to recognize and analyze a printed word to connect it to the spoken word it represents. These skills are a must to transition students into successful confident readers.
Contextual Reading - depending on the context, or surrounding words, phrases, and paragraphs, of the writing. An example of contextual is how the word "read" can have two different meanings depending upon what words are around it.
Fluency - the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, students must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, confident fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately
Oral Reading Comprehension - The oral translation of printed or written material, often used as measure of a student's overall reading performance to examine aspects of reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension that cannot be observed directly from the act of silent reading.
Silent Reading Comprehension - Reading silently improves students' understanding because it helps them concentrate on what they are reading, rather than the pronunciation of individual words. When we read silently, we can form mental pictures of the topic being read and discussed.
Spelling (encoding/decoding) - Decoding involves translating printed words to sounds, or reading, and encoding is just the opposite; using individual sounds to build and write words.
Vocabulary development - Reading vocabulary refers to the words that a student can read and understand. When students know more words, they are more able to understand what they read. There is a strong connection between understanding the meaning of words and understanding a story, textbook or other reading materials.
Written expression - Just as readers monitor comprehension while they are reading, writers monitor the comprehensibility of their writing.
Handwriting