We believe education is a powerful key to the future for kids! The enrichment, self-confidence, and empowerment that comes through growth in academics is a critical step in a child’s development. Our unique reading intervention program, Read Right, is a critical piece of our continuum of care that creates excellent readers through a new way to learn.

How? Read Right’s goal is to rewire the neural network in our brains that we use for reading, but let’s make that a bit simpler.

Historically, we’ve been taught to sound out the words – using phonics and decoding – and string those sounds into words and phrases. For the overwhelmed or underperforming reader, this technique can confuse them further when trying to understand the purpose of punctuation, much less comprehension of the text. The Read Right curriculum encourages kids to derive meaning from the text they are reading. Through instruction and encouragement, tutors help the students figure it out on their own, which fosters confidence and a new comfort in reading they’ve never experienced before!

In 2005, Read Right’s developer, Dr. Dee Tadlock, was the first to publish and publicly explain how neural network building is “essential to both early reading instruction and correcting all reading problems.” Read Right’s methodology explains it like this:

When humans learn to perform any kind of activity, we build a “network” in the brain to guide the doing of it. A “network” is a complex system of neurons that fire automatically and in sequence to guide all the activities we perform (including reading). We don’t know it is happening because the activity is implicit…Dr. Tadlock’s intensive inquiry revealed that the root cause of nearly all reading problems is a neural network incorrectly built to guide the act of reading.

Read Right’s methodology explains that “no individual can “tell” the brain how to perform a complex process; rather, the learner must experiment and figure out for themselves how to do it. The same is true for proficient and above reading ability, or what Read Right calls ‘excellent reading.’” This means the reader:

• Is 100% internally comfortable as he or she reads
• Understands the author’s message at a literal level (assuming sufficient background knowledge to enable understanding)
• When reading out loud, it sounds natural, like conversational speech.

Thornwell is proud to have tutors certified in the instruction of Read Right methodology and supporting the development of “excellent” and confident readers!

To connect with a thought leader about literacy and Thornwell’s Read Right program, contact our Media Relations Team.