Summary of Phono-Graphix Research (continued)

Clark & Uhri, 1996; Ogden Hindman & Turner, 1989; Shanahan & Barr, 1995; Lindamood & Lindamood, 1975; Truch, 1994; Alexander, Andersen, Heilman, Voeller & Torgesen, 1991), with overall gains seven times faster than the next best method. Since the publication of that data in the Orton Annals of Dyslexia in 1996, we have seen a total of 247 clients. The average age of these clients is third grade, eighth month. The average length of remediation is nine and a half, one hour sessions. The average gain on the Woodcock word identification test is one year, eight months, and on the word attack it is four years, three months.

 The complete study can be obtained from the International Dyslexia Association (previously the Orton Dyslexia Society).

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Summary of Preschool Study

In the Fall of 1996, at the request of Dr. Sandra Scarr, nationally recognized child developmental expert and then president of KinderCare, Read America initiated a clinical study of the efficacy of implementation of the Phono-Graphix Reading Fundamentals programs in several KinderCare classrooms in Central Florida.

KinderCare teachers were trained for an average of 16 hours. Students received an average of 20 minutes per day in small groups of three-to-five for 11 weeks. At the start of the study the average age of the students was four years, nine months. The youngest student was three years, eleven months and the oldest was six years, nine months.

The results of this study were fantastic. Segmenting scores on a fifteen trial test moving from zero to eleven. Blending scores on a five item test went from zero-to-four. Code knowledge on an eight item test went from zero-to-eight. At the close of the study the average reading age of the children was first grade, first month, and the average number of correctly spelled words on a five trial test was four.

Summary of Gainesville Reading Groups Study

Once we had shown how effective Phono-Graphix was in a clinical (one-on-one) setting, we were anxious to learn of its efficacy in a classroom. A study was designed to apply the Phono-Graphix method in a reading groups format. Elaine Manion, the reading teacher at the Millhopper Montessori School in Gainesville, Florida attended a one week training course at our Orlando training center. She returned to Millhopper and implemented the method with children age six through ten years. The children received fifteen minutes of Phono-Graphix reading instruction four-to-five days per week in groups of four-to-nine students. Groups were based on intake performance and teacher recommendation. During the study the children received no structured reading instruction in class. Classroom language arts instruction involved grammar, sustained silent reading for ten minutes three days per week, and spelling tests with words provided by the reading group teacher and based on the Phono-Graphix curriculum. The study period was from just after Labor Day until the end of the first week of May (8 months). Pre-and post-tests were administered. Tests included the Woodcock Reading Mastery word identification sub-test and word attack sub-test, the previously mentioned blending test, the segmenting test, the phoneme manipulation test and the code knowledge test. At the start of the study twenty-five percent of the students were reading below grade level on the Woodcock Word Identification sub-test, forty-one percent were reading above grade level and thirty-four percent