Controlled Phonetic Reading’s Top Ten Strategies

for Teaching Struggling Readers:

  1. CPR Teaches with “Building” Phonetic Stories that add only ONE Phonetic Sound at a Time. By using the Controlled Phonetic Reading Program, students don’t have to wait until they have learned all the sounds of the alphabet before they start to read. Unlike any other reading program on the market today, Controlled Phonetic Reading gives your students the ability to read their first story after they have learned ONLY THREE letter sounds! Then just ONE new sound is added for each additional story until all 70 phonograms are mastered.
  2. CPR Incorporates Hands-On, Multi-sensory Learning. Using tactile skills is a powerful way to help struggling readers link the 70 phonetic English sounds to their symbols. CPR has students identify a letter by touch without sight, which is a proven strategy to help students solidify a letter’s shape with its name. Letter sounds are also taught by having students reach into a bag and identify an object by touch that begins with the same letter sound.
  3. CPR Builds Phonemic Awareness Daily. Because phonemic awareness is the foundation of reading, CPR teaches students to rhyme, separate the initial, middle, and final sounds in a word, and identify how many words are in a sentence, plus how many syllables and sounds are in a word. CPR also teaches manipulation of sounds within a word by oral activities such as having students say the word, “cat,” then repeat the word, but change the “c” to a “p” (pat), and the “t” to “n” (pan), and finally, the “a” to “e” (pen).
  4. CPR Introduces the Most Frequently-used Letter Sounds First. For example, the letters,” I,” “T,” and “P” are three of the most commonly-used sounds in the English language, so the first story the students read consists of just these three letters. This allows students to read more words more quickly!
  5. CPR Teaches ALL the Sounds of the Letters. Students can sound out most words if they are taught ALL the letter sounds, especially for the vowels. For example, the letter “A” has a total of four vowel sounds, including the (aw) in the word, “ball,” and (u) in the word, “across.” CPR reinforces all four of these sounds by reviewing them daily with flashcards.
  6. CPR Makes It Fun with Games. By playing CPR’s suggested games, such as Connectthe-Dots, Hangman, and Five-in-a-Row, students enjoy learning the letter sounds! Provided word cards from the students’ stories make playing games easy for the instructor and fun for the students, reinforcing the letter sounds previously taught.
  7. CPR Includes 3D Letter Craft Worksheets that Illustrate Letter Sounds. Kids love arts and crafts! CPR incorporates these activities by having students glue small 3D objects onto a letter that illustrate its sound. For example, students glue buttons onto the letter “B.”
  8. CPR Engrains Alphabetical Order By Using 3D Letters. By having students race the clock to see if they can alphabetize 3D letters in a one-minute timing, CPR teaches alphabetizing skills, tracks students’ improvement, and adds a bit of competitive fun!
  9. CPR Improves Fluency and Speed of Reading. Ready-made speed tests are included in CPR to ensure letter sound mastery. They consist of single words (about 45) in random order taken from the reading stories that include the newly-learned sound
  10. CPR Reviews Phonogram Flashcards Daily. By having students name and spell the letters and their sounds daily, CPR ensures mastery. It includes flashcards of the 70 phonograms for a quick and easy way to review previously-learned sounds. Also, CPR has students name and spell each phonogram after it is dictated to them by the instructor.