Is teaching phonics the best way for my child?

Answer 1

This is from my perspective as a philosophy professor. It is probably not what you are seeking, but in case this helps anyone, for what it is worth:

Learning how to read is an integral part of learning how to attend to and notice the world and everything in it. It is not a skill alongside other skills; it is not a calculable kind of knowledge; it is not an acquisition.

I know this might sound abstract, but the best way to help children is to sit with them patiently, peacefully, and just notice things, especially the little things that are not obvious. This fosters in a child emotional presence as well as presence of mind. Presence is really what is required first and foremost for children. Children today interface with screens and they are bombarded with distractions and numbing sounds. It destroys the capacity for attention, for presence to things and the details in them. It prevents them from really hearing sounds and understanding words.

Whatever cultivates presence and patience helps a child with "higher order" intellectual tasks later on in life. Earlier on, there should not be so much concern with a child's intellectual development. Besides, Intellectual development doesn't come from rehearsing the intellect first and foremost. It comes from compassionate awareness.

We should approach reading with reverence, and in our attitude convey what it means to children, quietly, by example. Reverence is essential. But we typically don't encourage reverence; we encourage performance.

This might sound like a bunch of nonsense, and you see I am not trained in the field of education. But I am a philosophy professor. Philosophy requires the most rigorous reading of texts there is. I see what my students are lacking. I do not believe it is an intellectual lack. It is a lack of attentive capacity, and a lack of emotional awareness. Young people are alternately frightened and deadened. Social media is destroying bodies and minds. We cannot reverse this by trying to make children "smarter" or more "advanced."

We need to sit with our children and look at things, again and again; this is what we must do. That's where reading comes from, not from technical learning. The technical solutions will come naturally, or, in some cases (for example, with certain learning disabilities), they won't, or they won't as much as in other cases or not in the same ways. But children ought not to be valued for their technical skills, whether or not these are intellectual. We don't need more "intelligence" in the world. We shouldn't ask of children that they be smarter. We need more attention, in the philosopher Simone Weil's sense; we need attentive compassion. The essence of the problem is not about reading at all, but a problem much deeper. Without attention to it, children will not really learn how to read.

Answer 2

The best way for most students to learn how to read is a combination of sight and phonics, however, children with learning auditory processing issues or sight issues, might not benefit from phonics. Each child should be assessed for their learning style and to ascertain if they have any physical reasons that they have difficulty with reading. (i.e. hearing or sight problems)

I developed a Learning Icon Program for children or adults with special needs to help them learn how to read.