TEACHING THE ALPHABET - Our Method - Teach Any Child or Adult to Read

Teach Any Child or Adult to Read is a simple home literacy programme. Anyone who can read can teach reading - no special training is needed, just the ability to read and a desire to help.

Home page of Teach any child or adult to Read, where our motto is "Reading is Living"

Profiles of the home reading programme, Rebecca Ostrowiak (a pioneer in teaching dyslexia), Edna Freinkel, and the Readucate Trust and its donors

Our method is multi-skill, multi-sensory, multi-emotional

Ask Edna Freinkel, a literacy expert, for advice about teaching children or adults to read

News and updates about Readucate activities

Order the Teach any child or adult to Read home literacy programme

We view reading as a six-legged animal. Each of the six legs is equally important. If any leg is weaker than the other, the animal will limp and the prospective reader will struggle until all the legs have been mastered.

The way that the animal walks reflects how it feels about itself, its self-image, as well as how its care givers feel about it. If the animal receives praise, warmth, and patience, its whole attitude will reflect that positive environment.

The Rebecca Ostrowiak Reading Animal

Because of the unique approach to decoding, learners can soon start reading material that is school-related, job-related, books, newspapers, safety instructions and computer screens: in fact, anything they set their eyes on.

Writing includes many forms of communication: essays, stories, letters, Email, memo instruction notes, speeches and exam answers, all of which should be planned, in a logical, sequential order, in good language, so that the reader or the listener knows the writer's intention.

Spelling is the basic structure of the language. Spelling rules form the code of reading. Thus when learners learn the rules and are shown how to identify them within words in any context, they become self-reliant and independent, their cognitive skills improve dramatically and they can look up words in dictionaries. Adults respond to this method equally as successfully as children do and find it comforting to have rules to guide them in their written and reading experiences.

Acquiring correct study skills enables the learner to study independently and pass exams happily.

In order to prevent problems, expand vocabularies and extend knowledge, the memory is developed in a trained, sequential multi-sensory way that develops alertness, interest, motivation, self-confidence and wider horizons.

Comprehension is the ability to understand what has been read. However, it is vital for learners to develop sufficient confidence to have the courage to think independently, to "read between the lines", to learn to infer and deduce messages. Lives can be saved, school results improve, productivity soars when employees and learners know and follow written instructions, manuals and safety rules.