Reading is one of the easiest things to teach if you use dot patterns and decoding word lists. Dot patterns help the student recognize the individual lines that make up letters and numbers. Decoding word lists teach the student to isolate the parts of a word to make it easier to read. Students use highlighters to decode words into separate sound units or small words. This creates confident and fluent readers in a minimal amount of time. For example, if the word to be decoded was 'confident', the student would highlight 'con' in one color, 'fi' in another color and 'dent' in a third color. They then read the word as three small units instead of one overwhelming single word.

I can't stress enough how well this system works. Together, we can teach all kids to read.

The holidays are once again upon us. It is always an exciting time for our young ones. Unfortunately, it is also a time when struggling students lose some of the educational advances they have just gained. It is very important to continue to work on basic math facts and writing skills throughout the holiday season.

Teaching reluctant readers word decoding gives students a tool or reading strategy; it increases reading fluency; and more importantly it builds their confidence. Decoding helps train the eye to see an unfamiliar word as a series of small words or sound units.
eg., uncandid = un - can - did; midwinter = mid - win - ter

It is important to make sure students can add numbers together that equal 10 and to be able to subtract from 10. This is especially important for older students that are having difficulties with basic math and it is essential if they want to be quick when solving higher level math problems. Most students started counting by using their fingers, their ten fingers are right there in front of them and still they don't see the relationship between the groups of numbers that add up to equal ten or numbers that are subtracted from ten.

Three methods are often used to solve plus six, plus seven and plus eight math facts:

Doubles are very important math facts. They are essential for multiplying. (I have a multiplication system that only requires the students to remember a few multiplication facts.)

Adding 10s
Tell the student to just put a one in front of the number. This is a great opportunity to show the student how to add columns together. Draw a line between the numbers to create a visual of the two columns (1|0.) For example, 10 + 4. The student adds 0+4=4, then brings down the 1 to get 14.

Adding 9s
Always use what the student already knows to solve what they don't know. They now know plus 10, so they simply have to subtract one from that answer. For example, 9+6. Solve 10+6=16, then subtract 1 to get one less than 16 or 15.

Remember it is important to teach the concept involved when teaching math especially to student whom are having problems.

Letter and number reversals are a major handicap for a large number of students. Those reversals make reading, writing and math much more difficult. I have devised a simple but invaluable tool – Dot Patterns – that has an amazing effect on correcting these letter and number reversals. Its success is one of the foundational principles that motivated me to create the TeachAllKids website to share this idea with others.
Since this technique has been very successful for dozens of my students, there is strong empirical evidence that at least a very large percentage of all students who reverse their letters and numbers should be using Dot Patterns regularly. There are also other benefits of this technique which was originally used as a valuable thinking-skills tool. For those students who reversed their letters, I initially used other methods but they proved to have very limited success, by comparison. However, soon after introducing Dot Patterns, I began to notice that students also stopped reversing their letters and numbers.

It is my belief that all students can reach their educational potential. Those with dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), brain injury, and intellectual disability have all benefited from the worksheets and teaching methods found on this website. I believe that using dot patterns to train the brain, decoding to unlock the mystery of reading and increase fluency will be beneficial for students with any type of learning difficulty. If we give the students the tools they need to succeed in math, reading and writing, we will be giving them a very precious gift — the keys that unlock the doors to learning.

Together, we can Teach All Kids,
Linda Derman.

What are dot patterns?
(example of a dot pattern)