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Dr Charles Potter’s Reading Fluency Programme
Dr Charles Potter’s Reading Fluency Programme implements individualised learning programmes (ILP’s) focused on treatment of dyslexia, as well as reading, writing, spelling and working memory development. An ILP is activity-based, and is introduced through face to face or online sessions related to the child’s individual learning needs as identified through initial assessment and ongoing evaluation.
Our materials are electronic, and our methods have been designed to be implemented by parents working at home, as well as by teachers and therapists working with children needing learning support in schools. Parent implementer manuals are supplied as well as other training materials, and there is also online support as and when parents need this.
Each child’s ILP is tailor made. This is done through diagnostic assessment, profile and error analysis. Based on the assessment, the child’s learning needs are identified, prioritised and then linked to learning stategies, methods and graded electronic materials. Implementation of the ILP then takes place, based on short 20 minute sessions undertaken side by side with the child’s schooling and other commitments.
Results have been excellent with children from different cultural backgrounds, and have been published internationally. As a result, our methods and materials are used by a network of parents, teachers, therapists and schools internationally.
How to Start the Process of Identifying Needs
The best way to make contact with the programme is by email to pottercs@gmail.com or by SMS or WhatsApp message to +27 82 330 7589. Allow 48 hours for return contact by email or WhatsApp, followed by discussion of whether our methods and materials potentially match what your child needs.
This is then usually followed by diagnostic assessment which is either conducted face to face or conducted interactively online, so that the child’s problems can be identified and quantified. The assessment involves use of questionnaires and tests. The information is then used to establish learning strategies, methods and graded materials at the child’s level. These are then prioritised and implemented step by step in the ILP to address the child’s learning needs.
The Process of Addressing the Child’s Needs
Our methods and materials are based on the theories of automaticity proposed by the Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria, who suggested that human mental functioning involves the concerted working between different systems in the brain. As fluent and integrated functioning develops in the child, each system makes its own unique contribution to the organization of the brain, and to the child’s learning and behaviour.
Based on Luria’s theories, the aim of our methods and materials is to develop automaticity in reading, writing and spelling, as the basis for the child’s learning at school. Electronic materials are used to support the individual learning plan (ILP) implemented with each child.
The methods and materials used are drawn from our data-base of reading books, activity books and materials for treatment of reading fluency, phonemic and phonic difficulties, as well as linked problems with reading, writing, spelling, reading comprehension and sequential working memory. The methods and materials then change as the ILP is implemented, as fluency develops and as progress at school is made.
You will see in the sidebar a number of the types of materials used in a child’s ILP. Information is also provided in the sidebar on how to access these via links to our publishers’ websites or directly from my practice, as well as links to international publications on our methods, materials and results.
Individual programmes and formats for online learning
Our methods and materials can be implemented by parents working with their children at home, as well as through face to face or online sessions, or a combination of these. The aim is to develop an ILP in a format designed to provide an activity-based learning programme focused on the child’s needs. This involves the child’s parents in planning and evaluation as part of the instructional process.
As each child’s learning and emotional needs are different, a child’s ILP is usually based on a variety of different types of activities and methods. These are designed to be implemented by parents, tutors, teachers or therapists working with the child, as well as in supporting sessions which can be conducted face to face or online, working with the child and his or her parents at home. The aim is to involve those working with the child as partners in the implementation and learning process.
Electronic books, activity books and materials
Each child’s individualised learning programme draws on a data-base of electronic books, activity books, materials and methods. As our data-base is extensive, the types of work which can be provided include:
- Materials and methods for work in developing phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, synthetic phonic skills and phonic analysis.
- Materials and methods for reading fluency development.
- Materials for language skills and reading comprehension development.
- Activities for identifying main ideas and summarising skills based on reading of text and use of the internet.
- Cloze activities.
- Activities for structured language experience development.
- Materials and activities for descriptive and creative writing development.
- Materials and methods for word analysis and working memory development.
- Materials and methods for sequential working memory development (e.g. programmes based on combined use of phonic analysis and revisualisation techniques).
- Materials and methods for developing rapid naming, rapid reading and spelling, as well as rapid processing abilities.
- Listening skill and auditory processing activities (eg programmes involving use of audible books).
- Problem-solving techniques and activities.
Information and publishers’ links are provided in the sidebar to the types of materials likely to be used in the child’s individual learning plan as well as links to international publications on our methods, materials and results. The particular activities used and the formats for implementation are based on assessment as well as evaluation based on contact with the child and the child’s parents.
A child’s ILP is thus evidence-based, and likely to involve a number of different types of activities. It is also likely to use a variety of electronic materials and resources, which change and also increase in level and complexity as the child’s basic skills develop and the child’s learning needs are addressed.
Establishing needs
In order to establish what is suited to a particular child’s needs, parents normally make initial contact with the programme by phone or SMS or WhatsApp or by email. We will then email you to arrange a time to phone you back on WhatsApp to establish personal contact and to discuss what you need. The phone call usually focuses on the child’s reading as well as any other areas of difficulty. We also ask you to talk about the child’s schooling and what has previously been done to try and get over any problems the child has at school.
This initial consultation is conducted telephonically free of charge. It is offered as a service, to point parents in the right direction, and to suggest practical solutions as well as ways of working which may be helpful. We also answer any questions you may have about our materials and methods, and how these have been developed and used internationally with both first and second language speakers of English.
Over the years this personal and evidence-based process of working with parents has proved to be the best way to start and to find direction. It involves an exchange of information, and there is no cost involved or obligation to proceed.
Face to face and online sessions plus supporting learning strategies, materials and methods
Our work with parents and children is evidence-based, and based on diagnostic assessment followed by either face to face or online contact sessions. Both assessment and interactive contact sessions are central to ensuring that a child’s individual learning plan is both relevant to the child’s learning needs and at a level of language, reading, writing and spelling appropriate to the child’s basic skills.
The aim is for each activity in the ILP to be focused on and target each child’s learning needs. Overall, the aim is to provide activity-based learning which suits the child’s unique learning style, using appropriately graded methods and electronic materials. Manuals are also provided to assist parents, teachers, therapists and tutors in implementing the reading, writing, spelling and working memory activities which form the basis of each child’s programme.
Model of intervention
Intervention with children is interactive, activity-based and multivariate. It is based on the assessment and implementation model outlined in the following international publications on our programmes, methods and materials, which can be accessed via these links:
There is also a direct link to the chapter, as follows:
and
There is also a direct link to the chapter, as follows:
Learning gains are measured through pre- and post-assessments. Results and parent evaluations have been very good, and also indicate that children have enjoyed the activities in their individual programmes. Pre- and post assessment gains are listed in the tables of results in the above publications, as well as in additional publications on the methods and materials used the children’s individual programmes. We encourage contact with parents as well with therapists and teachers working in the field, and our publications are made available as a service, free of charge.
Training in use of our methods and materials
There is a network of people using our methods and materials internationally. There are workshops supported by a training course for therapists, teachers and parents in our methods, many of which are unique. The workshops and the modules in the training course focus on the development of reading fluency as well as the development of writing and spelling fluency.
The training course is non-formal and modular, and can be provided online via email supported by cellphone contact, based on materials and manuals drawn from the programme’s data base. Alternatively training can be provided face to face through workshops. These are designed to enable our methods and materials to be implemented working practically with children.
Dr Charles Potter: Educational Psychologist
Cellphone +27 82 330 7589 Email: pottercs@gmail.com
Dr Charles Potter's Reading Fluency Programme 