Hooked on Phonics- Helping Your Child Enjoy Reading

Hooked on Phonics™ My Experience

By: Tonya Foust Mead

In 2005-06, after returning to the United States after spending several years abroad, my son was enrolled in a combined kindergarten-first grade class in one of the top schools in Massachusetts. Parents were told by school administrators that the Academy’s students consistently scored in the top 10% on standardized tests.

Standardized Test

After the completion of 2005-06 school year, we moved to a different state. At the beginning of 2006-07, to access his achievement and readiness for the first grade, my son was administered the DRA standardized achievement test.  He scored ‘1’ for English and Reading Comprehension while the first grade benchmark was 16. As such, he’s reading and comprehension skills were considered below average for first grade. Conversely, his score for Math was 123 of 183, and was on target for Math.

Preconceived Notions of Lack of Ability

These scores set the tone of the year ahead. During school orientation week, he asked to sit in the front row, but was moved a week later to the back row. He was consistently called upon first to answer tough questions and if he responded with an incorrect answer, he was directed to lie his head upon his desk. A few months into the school year, he received an unsatisfactory grade for failing to complete a drawing project in a timely fashion even though he colored perfectly within the lines.  At home, he was a very attentive and quick learner. He would urge his parents to review his homework. He would wake in the middle of the night, concerned about his grades. However, his enthusiasm for learning changed dramatically in the school setting. For instance, while getting prepared for school, he began to stress his displeasure in returning to school. He would complain about his teachers, indicating that they were always angry with him. He reported that his teachers hurried him along with his school work so that they could have play time. His penmanship at home was excellent. However we noticed that the papers he had completed during class timer were sloppy, illegible and hastily prepared.

The last straw was the time in which one of his teachers accused him of lying and gave him an unsatisfactory grade on his report card for ‘Communication.’  This was after a parent teacher conference in which the teacher did not indicate that the lack of his communicative abilities was a cause for concern. Further the lead teacher had the gall to tell our son’s father that his child is ‘Passive/Aggressive’.  Little did she know that the child’s mother was a School-based Psychologist in another school district.

Parents as the Core Teaching Team

We were beginning to surmise that the teaching abilities of the teaching team were questionable.  At one point we considered hiring a reading tutor. We dismissed this and felt that his best teachers would be his parents. Thusly, we continued to read Science and Technology books to him almost on a daily basis. We also purchased Scholastic reading books level one and two. Finally on a whim, we visited a used book store and located ‘Hooked on Phonics’ by SRA. It was purchased for only $15.00. The Hooked on Phonics system contained five cassette tapes and 35 reading vignettes. A system was devised so that we would read two vignettes as least once per week.

Parent Advocacy

On the school front, we requested and were given another conference in which we recommended that our son be moved to another English and Reading teacher. During the end of the meeting, the teaching team held firm in their refusal to consider such a request. Finally in exasperation, we prepared an ‘Intervention Plan’ and asked the teaching team to sign it and to present it to the school principal. At this point, hesitation on the teacher’s part began to diminish slightly. We were promised in writing that our son would be given another standardized assessment for English and Reading Comprehension.

School Actions

Our son was tested within three days of the parent/teacher conference. Unfortunately we were not made aware of the results until another error by the school surfaced. As we had lived in multiple countries prior to our return to the US, our son was considered by this state’s No Child Left Behind (NCL policy as a on-native English speaker. Another formalized letter from us requesting yet another meeting was sent by hand. Finally within four weeks of this second letter we held the audience of the principal and reading specialist.

Re- assessment Results

Our son was tested utilizing the Rigby PM Benchmark. His reading level jumped from ‘1’ to ‘8’ with 92 percent accuracy. Furthermore, he had a self correction ratio of 1:3. Even with this improvement, the reading specialist made an analysis, subjectively in our view, that our son had no problem decoding the language but had according to her, ‘major difficulty demonstrating comprehension through retelling.’ We argued quite succinctly that if a child feels intimidated, threatened and considered ‘below average’ by his teaching team, this may have a negative affect of lowering his confidence. He would hesitate in retelling stories in such a coercive environment although his understanding of the story was without flaw.

The principal refused to move our son to a different English and Reading Comprehension instructor but changed the title of the teaching team and class from ‘Below’ to ‘Average’. He also promised that in knowing our son’s capabilities a little better, next year he would be assigned to a more versatile team.

Conclusion

Personally and professionally, I would strongly urge all parents to get involved in their child’s education-- the earlier the involvement the better.  Public and private schools do much to label our kids. Often this labeling is negative and without expert knowledge of the criteria that constitutes academic success, deficiencies or psychological strengths and weaknesses.

Additionally, the Hooked on Phonics program is highly structured. After just one month of reading several vignettes, our son re-gained his confidence in reading.

Finally, if your child is male, your reading library should be filled with topics and subjects that would interest him and engage his creativity. Books on volcanoes, spy planes, submarines, natural disasters, dinosaurs, insects, reptiles should fill the shelves. Stories of pirates, comic book characters and battles of famous wars, lost warships, etc will pique his interest. There is a plethora of misleading research purporting to show that young  kids have the same interests as it pertains to gender. The public and private schools are aggressively supporting the notion that girls are misrepresented in the sciences and leadership positions.  Supporters of dismantling gender bias go overboard in presenting materials to kids and their students which deemphasize the strengths of the male gender. Do not be misled. If your son has not taken an interest in reading, perhaps it may be due, in large part because the subject matter has not ignited his creativity.
Dr. Mead, PhD, MBA, MA  is a consultant specializing in human behavior, school and social psychology.  She is working on research  to determine if teacher intentions, behavior and verbal communication negatively affect kids. Thank you for sharing.