>What do I do if my child's teacher is not providing much phonics instruction?

Many parents seek a tutor outside school or take it on themselves as a way to buttress what the child learns at school. Look on YouTube for the Purple Crayon challenge for a good example of this.

Hello! Are you answering questions about the science of reading?

What do I do if my child's teacher is not providing much phonics instruction?

There’s a lot of compelling evidence that suggests screen time is correlated with lower academic outcomes. Also newer research suggests that the brain has trouble focusing as deeply while reading on a screen. This is also true for adults.

Hey, and thanks for this AMA.

How long-standing are these problems (as opposed to being a consequence of pandemic-related learning loss)?

From a policymaker’s perspective, what top-down policy solutions to the literacy crisis have the most evidence behind their efficacy?

Outside the classroom, reading with your kiddo is the gold standard. Help them sound words out but also talk about the content, word definitions and what they like or dislike about the story. Children love storytelling.

Thank you!

Just a heads up, you’re leaving top-level comments, not responding directly to people.

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Reading to children is key to creating a love of literature but experts say it doesn’t suffice for many children to learn to read. They need reading fundamentals, like phonics.

The following words and terms come up frequently during any discussion of this topic.
Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language, correlating sounds with letters to sound out the word on the page.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to detect, identify and manipulate phonemes, a distinct unit of sound, in spoken words. It is one component of phonological awareness, an umbrella term that includes the awareness of the larger parts of spoken language, such as words and syllables, as well as smaller parts such as phonemes.
Balanced literacy, a variation of the whole-language approach that emphasizes exploring literature organically but includes the explicit instruction of phonics in small doses.
Science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically based research about reading that includes the five fundamental pillars: phonics (connecting letters to sounds,) phonemic awareness (identifying distinct units of sound,) fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Decoding means translating a printed word to speech and identifying unfamiliar words by sounding them out. This is a foundation of phonics instruction.
Three-cueing uses context such as pictures and syntax to guess the meaning of words that a student is stumbling on. It is urged primarily in balanced literacy and has become a focus of controversy.
Structured literacy emphasizes the highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy including foundational skills (phonics, spelling) and higher-level literacy skills (reading comprehension). The origins of this phonics-based approach go back to the 1920s, when Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham created a program that was systematic, explicit and highly structured, known as the Orton-Gillingham method, to reach struggling readers.

As a parent, what is the #1 thing I can do at home, outside the classroom, to help my first grader improve her reading?

Is there a strong correlation to literacy and parents reading to their children early on?

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Follow up.... do iPhones improve or make the literacy situation worse?

Can you explain the difference between "balanced literacy" and the "science of reading"?

Thank you, I absolutely agree. One of the ones I talked to even stated they would have a lawyer for you if you had to go to court for any reason, then in the contract (page 60+) they flat out state "We will not provide lawyers" it's sickening. Then they hire some standby firm you pay an extra $40 a month for so by the end of it all you are actually paying more than you would have if you just buckled down. I really hope a firm opens that looks at people's story and not their number. If a person has been making payments for years without missing something, why shouldn't a company say "They made it this far, lets give them a 10% and buy their debt out, they seem to be handling it."

How do you find balance and personal health with all the work you collectively have to face?

His body, his choice. Your body, your choice. Abstain from sex OR tell him to put a condom on. Least amount of effort for everyone, though I promise you he won't do that condom shit for very long.

Great question. It sort of depends on what the individual's goal is to do.

For example, I see some benefit to this type of service if the individual wants to avoid bankruptcy or can't qualify (or doesn't want to do) Chapter 7 and maybe would be in 100% Chapter 13 plan where the payment would be too high.

If someone goes this path, I would say to look at 4 things:

1. What percentage fee do the firms charge. Most firms charge 15-25%, but that is a HUGE range.

2. What are the BBB complaints and negative Google / Yelp reviews. Basically, try to find unbiased review sources. Oftentimes, people will look up debt relief and see an ad for top debt relief firms, click on that, and then just choose one-off that page. The challenge with that is that the top result on Google may be an ad, which they pay for, so it may be quite a bit more biased toward firms that spend a good amount of time on PR.

3. Understand whether the banks you owe money to are likely to sue you for unpaid debt. Too often debt relief firms don't seem to tell these to people, and it's a negative experience to get a debt collection lawsuit.

4. Understand whether you can avoid paying taxes on debt settlement legally by being tax insolvent. This is another thing I wish debt settlement companies were upfront about.

Alternative to debt settlement:

1. Yeah, budgeting better can help if you have some expenses that don't bring you benefit that can be cut easily. Some people have done this and still have no room.

2. Getting a side hustle to increase income could be helpful, but some people just don't have the time to do this.

I'd probably prefer these options as your credit score may stay intact.

If you can't do these, the common alternatives to debt settlement would be nonprofit credit counseling and bankruptcy.

Yeah, I would love for more regulation and shutting down of these firms via the CFPB. It feels that most companies just try to sell you on the default on debt scheme, but there needs to be some accountability on the quality of the calls. I've heard times when companies don't even tell you that you could get sued while in the program.

I believe the model started in the early 2000's, and there were a lot more sketchy debt-relief companies that would take fees before any debt was settled, but thankfully, they introduced Dodd-Frank that basically made it illegal to charge upfront fees. Here's a CFPB post about them taking action to shut them down: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-takes-action-to-stop-florida-company-from-engaging-in-illegal-debt-relief-practices/

What we found when we started is that there may be value ONLY if you face financial hardship and CANNOT pay the debt in full, not something you utilize just to get off the hook easily.

Why is it not illegal? I really do wish that at least some of these companies were banned at some point or there's much tougher regulation as I saw recently one instance where it appears the debt relief companies settled paid like $120 to creditors and then extracted like $2000 in fees from a hospice nurse that was getting payday loans to cover the monthly payment to the debt relief company. It was heartbreaking and made me so angry.

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What is the service, in more specifics, that your company and others like it provide to people?

Oh my goodness, that does seem unhealthy to go from 3:1 to 20:1.

when i started, 3:1 sales to negotiation. 3 months later when i quit approaching 20:1

>could smell what was going on and didn't like it...
>
>What's your ratio of employees who engage in sales activities to your employees who deal exclusively with lenders?

Firstly, sorry to hear about your experience. That sounds really difficult but glad you were able to quit beforehand.

Personally, we had about 50% vs 50% in terms of onboarding and negotiation. I'm curious about what the ratio was at your firm?

Do you recommend people use these companies? If yes, why and what to look for? If no, what is the alternative? Budgeting better?