Early Reading Instruction: What Science Really Tells Us about How to Teach Reading

I love Diane McGuinness brilliant analysis of where modern teaching has gone astray and the affects that it have on the reading skills of our kids. More so she also presents an effective alternative that she anchor in history.Not being English but Swedish I must say that her reasoning is translatable and useful for other languages than English. Even though she depicts Swedish to be extremely different in terms of having a far more simple spelling code than English, her reasoning and solutions are still applicable.I initially read the “Why Our Children Can't Read and What We Can Do About It” also written by Diane McGuinness and I can warmly recommend both of them, but since the content of them are quite overlapping you might prefer to just buy one of them. Still I couldn’t help my self so I think that I ended up with buying most of the books that she has authored and a few additional copies that I have given to friends and teachers.

This is probably my favorite book.If you are interested in "the science of reading," then this book will explain to you, in detail what that means. It provides a prototype for what an evidence-based reading program must contain, and how modern reading instruction is failing our children.This book is for anyone who teaches reading and wants to know what scientifically backed instruction looks like.

Diane McGuinness is a terrific psychologist and writer. Her books are fantastic. This is another book of hers that should be required reading for anyone who want to understand the process of learning to read. Though written for a technical audience, she writes so well and clearly that any lay person would find it understandable and enjoyable to read. Make sure to also read her other book, Langauge Development and Learning to Read.

A very comprehensive and well reasoned introduction to the topic for all

In this book McGuinness reviews reading research under the headings set out by the National Reading Panel. She makes a compelling argument for the kind of reading instruction known as synthetic, or linguistic phonics. The range of knowledge displayed is formidable.

This book is a thoughtful presentation on why reading in English is difficult, and on page one Diane looks at other language from around the world in which children acquire more easily and earlier than English. A relationship to the Alphabetic code is made - and then discussion on how to better help both early and later readers learn skills to deal with the English Language.As in the compliment to this book (see:  Language Development and Learning to Read: The Scientific Study of How Language Development Affects Reading Skill (Bradford Books) ) dyslexia is also mentioned in perhaps a new light - that it is not biologically based: "For a biological theory to be accurate, dyslexia would have to occur at the same rate in all populations" but it does not (p 3).It looks at writing systems and the history of and then gets into the nitty-gritty of how to teach reading. It breaks down pedagogy on many levels and is not just academic literature developing theory - but using theory that exists it provides ways to apply sound pedagogy.If you are interested in teaching reading - obviously you are if you are reading this review - I would recommend this book without hesitation.

I'm a 1st grade teacher who is very interested in learning more about the science behind teaching reading and this appealed to me. I've read a few chapters so far.... She outright rejects whole language from multiple angles- there are some great quotes in here! She is very blunt but it comes from studing and doing her own research. It is a great read, although technical (there is a lot about statistics).

Bit of a heavy read, but a good response to those who are still sceptical about phonics or see dyslexia everywhere rather than poor teaching.