Stareway to Spelling: A Manual for Reading and Spelling High Frequency Words(2006 Revised Edition)

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Stareway To Spelling is ideal for all students aged 7 and upwards. Adults of any age can also benefit from Stareway To Spelling. Astonishingly, these 300 words form 72% of the all the words that we regularly use. The problem with many of the words is that they are not phonetically consistent (that is to say, how a word looks and how a word sounds varies). Anyone who struggles to 'decode' words when reading also struggles to retrieve and ‘encode’ words when writing and spelling. In effect, for struggling readers, the ‘sight’ and ‘sound’ of words do not work well together for them. There is only a weak connection between the two. The neural pathways are not well established so for some, the correct choice of letters and their placement does not come easily. As a result of this offer, Keda’s house was soon overflowing with struggling readers. Keda even designed an extension to her house to include a custom-built classroom and persuaded her doting husband Albert to build it. The next time the student read there is almost always a huge improvement in both speed and accuracy.

At the time Keda began her research into children’s reading problems, few people had even heard of the term ‘dyslexia’. Keda became fascinated by the condition and her private research soon became an all-consuming obsession. It is our recommendation that the minimum age for a child to start Toe By Toe would be: 7+ years of age. In the UK then the optimum age to begin Toe By Toe (if it is delivered in school time) would be the start of year 3. The unique syllable division employed by Toe By Toe is very easy to use. Once the sound of a phoneme has been taught using the ‘polynons’ (nonsense words), these rules can then be applied to any multi-syllabic word and students find a whole new world of reading opening before their eyes. A. It is difficult to be specific. So much depends on the severity of the student’s spelling problems together with the frequency of lessons. Basis on four 20-minute lessons per week, most students will complete the manual within six months. Non-dyslexic people are more likely to be unaware of the rules and skills Lewis Carroll applied when he wrote the poem.

A. As in the previous answer, both manuals can be used in the same lesson. Again, we recommend alternating between a reading lesson one day and a spelling lesson on the next. Alternatively, some people prefer to finish or partially complete Stride Ahead before starting Stareway. The important thing is that they are getting intensive practice in accurate decoding. We are trying to make decoding as ‘automatic’ as possible. As a tutor, you are not going to succeed without the active co-operation of students. Inspire them and ensure they never lose heart. A. The length of time necessary to finish the manual depends very much on the severity of the student’s reading problem. We refute this charge. Our counter is how do most words enter a person’s vocabulary? Surely, ‘Barking at Print’ is how we all start to read in the first place?

A. Our aim is to establish high frequency words in the long-term memory. Just because a student spells a word correctly on one occasion is no guarantee that it will be known the next time. However, years of our research have established that if a student is able to spell a word successfully on FIVE consecutive occasions - with a gap of at least 24 hours between testing - this indicates that it has been stored in long-term memory.Every target should be met, BUT (and this is very important to remember) it is not necessary to reach every target time in sequence.

Toe By Toe is a small red book designed for anyone who finds reading difficult. This includes weak readers who struggle to decode or those with dyslexic difficulties. or more likely, the student’s low self-esteem and/or negative attitude to the task does not allow for success. To further emphasize the importance and weight of these 300 words, here are some more facts for you about the English language: Once a student masters the spelling of these 300 words, they can correctly be considered ‘literate.’ Just try to do any ‘manipulating’ discreetly so students remain unaware that they have ‘failed’ (as they might see it) in any reading task.Keda retired as a teacher at her primary school in 1989. She used her teacher’s pension to finance Toe By Toe and it was finally published in 1994. It has become a phenomenal success. Since publication, Toe By Toe has sold more than 500,000 copies, helping hundreds of thousands of people to overcome their reading difficulties and as a result, dramatically change and improve their lives. As a rough guideline, if a student studied Stride Ahead 30-minute every day, the average time to complete Stride Ahead would be 2-3 months.

She divided the children into two groups. A control group where conventional methods were used, and her ‘guinea pigs’, where Keda tried anything and everything to see what would work. Toe By Toe can be found in use in many diverse places worldwide, ranging from Aboriginal prisoners in the deserts of Western Australia, to posh prep schools in the highlands of Kenya, to remote regions of the Yukon in Canada. It is used in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic and the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific. Maori school children use it in ‘buddy schemes’ and it is working well with ethnic Chinese children in Hong Kong and Singapore. A. We recommend 20-30 minutes for a Toe By Toe session. However, as anyone who has worked with severely dyslexic students will know, even 20 minutes may be much too long. The key element for optimum results is frequency. Even 10-minute sessions done on a daily basis will yield tremendous results. So, if a student is struggling to reach a particular target (and showing real signs of frustration in the process), do the following: Far more important, indeed the most important thing is to make students feel that they are finally succeeding with what is - to them - a mysteriously difficult skill.

Toe By Toe provides a sense of progress and momentum from day one. It is this that keeps them motivated and ‘on task’. Certainly, by the time they have reached Part Four they should be reading something which matches their interests away from the scheme itself. Keda always had a keen and inquisitive mind and this question of why some children had difficulties in learning to read nagged at her. She thought that she had somehow failed these students, so she made an offer to their parents. She asked their permission to teach their children at her home - without charge - at the end of the school day. A. Students with reading difficulties will establish a word in their short term memory. However, they are likely to forget it just as easily unless we fix the word in their long term memory.