The One Subject that is More Important Than Any Other!

We all know that in school students will have multiple subjects including English, math, history, science and foreign languages, but the one common denominator in every lesson is reading! A child must have strong reading skills to achieve success in each of these subjects. Without strong reading skills in fluency and comprehension, students will struggle to understand written instructions. They may experience difficulty in following a storyline in both ELA and history, while also confusing math and science word problems.

Far too many schools teach children to read only by sight, putting little emphasis on phonics and the rules of language. This often shows up with children around the 3^rd grade. It seems this is the time when many students, overwhelmed with memorizing so many words, just begin to guess. Reading may be choppy with very little expression. The student may be concentrating on just getting from A to Z in a passage and probably won’t be able to give many details of what has been read.

When my brother Dr. Bobby Bowie, began the Bowie Center 26 years ago he found the best reading program available to be The Wilson Reading System. It teaches each child how to fluently and accurately decode. Unlike traditional reading programs it is very interactive and multisensory. Wilson teaches total word construction and includes encoding (spelling). It is also a super fun and engaging program that most students enjoy!

Regardless of the reason a person struggles to read, the Wilson Reading program can make a positive difference, securing strong reading skills for life. The Bowie Center has helped students as young as four and up through high school, to become independent readers. We have even had a few adults go through this program, learning later in life that they too have time to add reading to their successes.

I started my granddaughters in Wilson Reading when they each turned four and I believe it is a main reason they are both excelling in school. More importantly, it instilled a great love of reading in them! Now I can’t promise you that your child will love reading as a result of the Wilson program, but I do know that with effort and consistency it will increase each child’s reading abilities by leaps and bounds, leading to greater confidence and more smiles in school!