Visual processing often means how well you discriminate between one letter and another or one word and another. This is prominent with kids who confuse letters, also known as letter reversals. Below are some examples of letters and words that kids mix up…
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Vocabulary and Reading: The Connection
How are vocabulary and reading connected? To understand what you have read, you need to know the meaning of the words you are reading. Research tells us that vocabulary knowledge, including both oral and written vocabulary, is critically important for a child’s success in school (Kamil et al., 2008). That being said, each person has…
Best Practices for Teaching Phonics
What is phonics? Phonics is the ability to pair individual sounds with a visual symbol (letters). This method is frequently used to teach reading. Phonics teaches the sounds that letters or groups of letters make when spoken. Phonics is the process of matching sounds to letters. Reading experts refer to this as the alphabetic principle.…
Visual Discrimination and Reading
Visual Discrimination Visual discrimination is the ability to discern subtle similarities and differences visually. This is the process of seeing the details of what we are looking at. ​​What is the same? What is different? Shapes, sizes, and colors are details to be looked at. In regard to reading, when you see the details and…
Top Things to Look for in a Summer Reading Program
Note: If you are already a Scholar Within Reading & Spelling Program member, you have access to the same material as in the summer program. Table of Contents The struggle is real when it comes to keeping your K-8th graders entertained and educated during the summer months! After all, there’s only so much Minecraft, swimming,…
ADHD Sleep Problems: Sleeping Tips and Solutions
How to Adjust to the Time Change Table of Contents Overview Sleep problems can affect all of us and are especially difficult with the time change. Sleep is critical for our minds, memory, learning, and development. While sleeping, your brain organizes information, makes connections, and even solves problems. Sleeping tips and solutions can help you…
What Causes Problems with Spelling?
Many children and even adults have problems with spelling. Spell check can often only get you so far. Sometimes spell check cannot even tell what word it is you are trying to spell. You may have even written a word that is a word but not the word you intended to write. Poor spelling abilities…
10 Spelling Activities for Any Word List
Looking for a method to the madness of learning to spell? Take a look at Scholar Within’s spelling program. We teach spelling through spelling patterns with systematic step-by-step video lessons and hands-on activities. Learn More Spelling activities can make spelling practice a bit more fun and can help with spelling problems. Spelling problems can happen because…
Reading and Spelling: Decoding and Encoding
How are Reading and Spelling Connected? Reading and spelling are two sides of the same coin. In order to do one part well, you need the other part. In order to read, you need to decode (sound out) words. In order to spell, you need to encode words. In other words, to spell, you need…
Phonemic Awareness and Reading
What is Phonemic Awareness? Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds – phonemes – in spoken words. A phoneme is a unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another, for example, /b/, /k/, and /s/ in the words bat, cat, and sat. Phonemic awareness is critical to reading and…

