Mentone Woman's Research Leads to Innovative Reading Instruction Program

Reading specialist and Mentone resident Sonya Nelson knows first-hand the struggles many children and their parents face when it comes to learning to read.

Her experiences with her own daughter prompted her to take matters into her own hands, become a certified reading specialist and develop her own DVD reading instruction program, "Learn to Read with Skip and Daisy," formerly the Milestone Reading Program.

Nelson first sensed something was wrong when her daughter was in the third grade.

"When my daughter Brittany started school she showed signs of being an early reader. Her kindergarten teacher focused on the sounds of the alphabet and Brittany quickly learned them, receiving awards for being one of the most promising young readers," Nelson said.

"Brittany's first grade teacher, however, was using a method called whole language. The teacher would read a story to the group while the children followed along in their books. After the teacher finished reading the entire book, each child in the group would repeat the book from cover to cover, exactly as the teacher had already read it. Once the children could 'read' the stories in a particular level, they would advance to the next."

Nelson realized the method of reading instruction being taught at her daughter's school was unlike the way she learned to read in elementary school in the late 1960s and 1970s, when phonics-based approaches to reading were the norm and children were consistently taught the sounds of the English code and the consonant blends that are at the beginning of words.

Though Brittany quickly progressed to being one of the highest reading levels in her class, at home, if she were unfamiliar with a book, she had no idea what it said, Nelson said.

"If I took a word from the book she was 'reading' and wrote it on a piece of paper, Brittany had absolutely no idea what the word was, yet in context of the story she read it perfectly. I started to panic," Nelson said.

From there, things got progressively worse for Brittany at school.

"The first week of third grade I received a phone call from Brittany's teacher requesting a conference. The teacher informed me that Brittany did not know how to read. My child had gone from a supposed 'advanced reader' to being clinically illiterate. I was determined to find an answer," Nelson said.

After hours and hours of research and reading every book she could get her hands on, Nelson learned that using systematic phonics was the most effective way to teach reading. She eventually became a certified reading teacher through a school located in Florida called Read America.

"Within four months, I taught Brittany to read fluently. I gave up my retail business, started teaching children to read and have been doing it ever since," Nelson said.

But Nelson's endeavors didn't end there. She began developing her own, easy to use DVD reading instruction program aimed at taking her efficient and innovative system of reading instruction she uses on her students and putting it into a format that children everywhere could benefit from.

Spending countless hours of her free time in the evenings and on weekends developing her program over the last three years, Nelson has finally completed the "Learn to Read with Skip and Daisy" program, a three-DVD set including workbooks, geared toward getting children reading quickly and correctly.

The program also includes a separate "Learn the Alphabet with Skip and Daisy" DVD geared for preschoolers just starting out.

The "Learn to Read with Skip and Daisy" program has already been picked up by Rainbow Resource Center, a Michigan-based distributor of educational products to homeschoolers, parents and educators. Nelson continues to travel around the country, attending educational supply and homeschooling conventions to promote her program.

For more information on the "Learn to Read with Skip and Daisy" DVD reading program, visit www.milestonereading.com.