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Many children today to do not know how to read as well as they should. American children now rank near the bottom when it comes to knowledge in math and science. Often the methods used for teaching children to read these days are simply not effective.

We are seeing historic lows when it comes to standardized test scores for verbal ability. It is now estimated that as many as eleven million Americans are functionally illiterate. Learning how to read is a crucial step for other types of knowledge. There is educational software on the market today that can help children get a head start on their reading skills. Reading is the gateway to all other types of knowledge. When a child cannot read they will not be able to get access to the textbooks about all the other subjects. A child without the ability to read will always get left behind. The ability to read is central to success in so many areas of life.

There are two main ways that are primarily used to teach kids how to read these days. These methods are the whole word method and the phonics method. Each of these methods has its own drawbacks and benefits. The phonics method is probably the best known method of teaching children to read. Children first memorize the alphabet and the sounds made by various letters. Then students are taught to string the sounds together in order to read words. One of the drawbacks associated with this way of learning to read is that children will sometimes get bored learning their letters and give up. Additionally they may get so caught up in sounding out a word that they lose its meaning.

When using the whole word method children are instructed to memorize and recognize whole words. Rather than learning to sound words out children are taught to recognize whole words while reading. This method was created as a way to teach deaf children to read and can be very effective for those with problems sounding out words. For more information on childrens learn to read software visit MileStone Reading.