We have been working and working with one of the commercial phonics programs to help our young child learn to read. It does not seem to have been exceptionally beneficial. Do you have any other ideas about how to teach him to sound out words? - Poor Phonics
Answer: First of all, you need to realize that not all children need considerable instruction in phonics to become good readers. The old "look and say" method still works for many children. They simply have the ability to look at a word and memorize what it says after they have been told a few times.
We have no idea about how much phonics instruction your child needs, as it definitely varies with each individual. One approach in the phonics area that is very helpful with many children is the learning of word families like -ill, -at and -in. The fancy name for these letter groups that are preceded by a consonant is "phonogram." If students learn the 38 most commonly used phonograms, they will be able to read more than 600 common one-syllable words.
Here are the most commonly used phonograms in one-syllable words:
-ay, -ill, -ip, -at, -am, -ag, -ack, -ank, -ick, -ell, -ot, -ing, -ap, -unk, -ail, -ain, -eed, -y, -out, -ug, -op, -in, -an, -est, -ink, -ow, -ew, -ore, -ed, -ab, -ob, -ock, -ake, -ine, -ight, -im, -uck and -um. This list was developed Dr. Edward Fry, Professor Emeritus of Rutgers University.