Words in Color for Dyslexia

Words in Color techniques and materials were designed so that every student can avoid, or overcome, confusion in the process of learning to read. For students of any age diagnosed with dyslexia, our experience is that Words in Color is successful in framing the right types of activities to enable them to meet the challenges of learning to read head-on. 

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Words in Color Goes Beyond Traditional Phonics

Words in Color addresses all of the learning targeted by traditional phonics programs, but does much more.

Although the English alphabet has 26 letters, we use more than 26 sounds in our speech. In fact, American-English speakers use more than 40 sounds, and there are often many ways to spell the same sound – sometimes dozens of ways. This is very confusing for beginning readers because letters only show how a word is spelled, not how it is spoken. Phonic reading programs break up the regularities (rules) and many of the irregularities (exceptions) into separate lessons for students to drill, practice and memorize. Instead of relying on memorization, Words in Color presents all the difficulties of the language up front, but with a helpful clue – color!

When Caleb Gattegno arrived in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it was shut down for Christmas. During this 48 hour period, he taught himself how to read the local language. He couldn't hold a conversation, but he could read every sign on the street. When he discovered it is supposed to take 18 months to teach Amharic, he decided to test his method on others. Gattegno had illiterate ministry employees in their 50s and 60s reading newspapers within six hours.

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