Mrs. Pournelle's Reading Program

Mrs. Roberta Pournelle is rjp@earthlink.net  and can answer specific questions better than I can.

She is an internationally certified Reading Specialist (i.e. she has all the credentials to call herself an expert) as well as twenty years experience at teaching people t0 read English. You can find out more at her web site, Reading TLC.

If you wrote me about her program I will have forwarded your mail to her. However, she gets a LOT of mail and it may be a while before she gets to it. You should also visit her web page at http://www.readingtlc.com. You can also order a copy from there.

If you have or know of children having difficulty learning to read; or if you have or know of children who have finished first grade and cannot read ordinary English and in particularly who cannot read words they know and use, you need this program and you need it now.

Her reading program was developed through over 20 years of teaching children to read, not solely from theories. The 'program' was originally a lesson plan with posters and acetate overlays, and used in classes of up to size 30 or so students, as well as for individual tutorials. It incorporated a number of features such as "uncover/discover" developed by Roberta and so far as I know unique to her program and those who have learned to use it. It has always been highly effective.

It was subsequently made into a computer program tutorial guide. The 'program' has taught over 6,000 people (of all ages) to read. Some were upper middle class English speaking, others were inner city English speaking, many were English as second language non-English speaking; home languages included Spanish, Chinese, and Armenian. It has been used for adults who speak English, and is in use by American teachers in foreign countries teaching both children and adults who are simultaneously learning spoken English.

The program teaches English only. It is not available in other languages. The instruction is in English. It is available only in the Windows version now although there used to be DOS, and Macintosh versions. The DOS version required a tutor who can read English from the screen.  The Macintosh version used the Macintosh text-to-speech engine. The Windows version was recorded on CD by Roberta Pournelle.

The vocabulary it teaches is an augmented set of the Thorndike 1000 most common words in English, but since it is a program that teaches systematic phonics with clozure, when the student has completed the program the student's 'reading vocabulary' includes the entire speaking vocabulary; in addition, students will be able to read words such as scientific terms like trinitrotoluene that they have never seen before, as well as any other gobbledegook that can be written in phonetic English.

The program begins with the theory that if you can read, you can read anything; it does not use a 'controlled vocabulary' approach. The vocabulary used in the stories (which are part of the lessons) includes all the common words in the English language, but also includes many other words needed to tell the story.

There are approximately 75 lessons. Each lesson takes from 5 minutes to half an hour depending on the student. Each lesson must be completed before going on to the next. Usual progress is one lesson a day. The program is systematic in its approach, and builds on what has been learned. BLENDS begin at about lesson 20. The program uses a copyrighted form of computer animation to assist in learning this vital skill.

The Windows Multi-Media version uses syllables, sounds, instructions, phrases, and words recorded by Roberta Pournelle: over 3,000 such sound files come with the program. Because this is done by a human rather than a text-to-speech engine, the inflections and accents tend to be more accurately rendered.

The Multi-Media version speaks the instructions to the student, and tests progress. Both the Windows and Macintosh versions of this program have been extensively tested in both public and private schools with astonishingly high success rates. All versions of the program consist of about 75 lessons each taking from ten minutes to half an hour, generally one lesson a day. While the primary testing has been on children, the program has been used with success by adults. It has been used in grades 1 through 4 with students whose primary language was English, and also with students who spoke essentially no English and whose primary languages were: Armenian, Chinese, Spanish. In all cases the success rate was very much higher than that for students who did not use the program.

We know of no case in which an English speaking student has completed the lessons and been unable to read. This isn't as wild a claim as you might think: public schools routinely got 100% success rate at teaching reading in first grade during the 1920-1940 period.

 Be warned: there are no fancy graphics in this program. We have found that on-screen graphics are distracting. The student will generally prefer hopping animals to a lesson, but doesn't often learn much from playing with those graphics. We have also found that once the student begins to make progress, learning to read is its own reward. Most students want to know how to read, and this is especially true of those who insist they are not interested; in nearly every such case the student has become convinced, often by repeated failure, that learning to read is simply impossible for him or her.

We know of no case in which a student (who knows spoken English) has completed all the lessons of any version of the program and remains unable to read English.

We know of no other software that can repeatedly show a year's growth in reading ability in four months and under.

For pricing and availability, send email to Mrs. Pournelle, rjp@earthlink.net, or see http://www.readingtlc.com/

NOTES

Blends is the term used for words that require blending syllables. This program uses a visual technique that seems to help comprehension.

HISTORICAL NOTE:

There are three forms of the program. Version One, available for both DOS and Macintosh systems, is a tutorial: it requires a literate person as tutor. The literate person need not be a trained teacher. Parents have used the program with great success. Older siblings have also been successful, and in one private school the 'reading tutor' for first grade was a 4th grade student lugging a portable computer. He had a very high success rate. The primary disadvantage to this version is the requirement for a literate person as a tutor. Of course for parents who want to spend quality time with their children this is an advantage, not a disadvantage.

The Macintosh edition of Version One is considerably more polished than the DOS edition, but employs the same lessons. A revised DOS/Windows edition is in preparation but the programmer -- me -- is pretty slow and I wouldn't wait for it. Roberta is trying to learn Visual Basic but I wouldn't wait for that either.

The Multi-Media version on the Macintosh uses PlainTalk. The Multi-Media version was developed in collaboration with the text-to-speech R&;D team at Apple Computer, Inc. If your Mac is capable of PlainTalk but doesn't have it, we can arrange for you to get it with the reading program. Write for details.

THE DOS AND MAC VERSIONS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE.