In 1997, Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read.

For over two years, the NRP reviewed research-based knowledge on reading instruction and held open panel meetings in Washington, DC, and regional meetings across the United States. On April 13, 2000, the NRP concluded its work and submitted "The Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read," at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.  Following are citations taken directly from this report.

• "Across all grade levels, systematic phonics instruction improved the ability of good readers to spell. The impact was strongest for kindergartners and decreased in later grades."

• "Teachers should be able to assess the needs of the individual students and tailor instruction to meet specific needs. However, it is more common for phonics programs to present a fixed sequence of lessons scheduled from the beginning to the end of the school year. In light of this, teachers need to be flexible in their phonics instruction in order to adapt it to individual student needs."

• "It is also critical for teachers to understand that systematic phonics instruction can be provided in an entertaining, vibrant, and creative manner."

• "The conclusion drawn from these findings is that systematic phonics instruction is significantly more effective than non-phonics instruction in helping to prevent reading difficulties among at risk students and in helping to remediate reading difficulties in disabled readers."

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Retrieved June 7, 2008, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm.


Following is a small representation of quotes taken from extensive research supporting our teaching methodology:

• “Phonemic awareness instruction is most effective when children are taught to manipulate phonemes by using the letters of the alphabet.” (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2003)

• Utilizing manipulatives and games to introduce and practice word structure concepts within more traditional phonemic awareness and phonics instruction effectively supports decoding and encoding ability. Teaching phonics within scaffolded applications (actually building and manipulating words) encourages students to formulate, test, and reaffirm their own phonetic “rules.”

•  It is also critical for teachers to understand that systematic phonics instruction can be provided in an entertaining, vibrant, and creative manner.(Report of the national reading panel, 2000)

• "In order to develop his mind, a child must have objects in his environment which he can hear and see. Since he must develop himself through his movements, through the work of his hands, he has need of objects for his work that can provide motivation for his activity" (Montessori, 1966, p. 82)

• “Some children with ADHD can benefit from having access to objects that can be manipulated quietly.  Manipulatives may help children gain some needed sensory input while still attending to the lesson.”  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, Teaching Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Instructional Strategies and Practices, Washington, D.C., 2004.