• Basic Language Skills

  Basic Language Skills is a structured, sequential, multisensory approach to teaching basic reading and spelling skills. Featuring a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction, Basic Language Skills equips teachers with skills and strategies that link:

  • reading and written expression,
  • decoding and comprehension,
  • mechanics and composition,
  • direct instruction and opportunities to read and write.

  Basic Language Skills is an expansion and extension of the Orton-Gillingham-based Alphabetic phonics program. Developed by Suzanne Carreker, director of teacher development at Neuhaus Education Center in Houston, TX, the program incorporates the latest research findings in the areas of literacy and best instructional practices. The program emphasizes the regularity and predictability of the English language. Due to deficiencies in the processing of phonological information dyslexic students do not readily acquire the alphabetic principle when learning to read. The instructional techniques of Basic Language Skills instruction are characterized by phonemic awareness, graphophonemic knowledge, language structure, linguistic patterns, and processes (19 TAC § 74.28). Instructional approaches include explicit, individualized, and multisensory strategies (19 TAC § 74.28).

  Daily activities in Basic Language Skills lesson include:

  • Instant Letter Recognition
  • Phonological Awareness, with an emphasis on phonemic awareness
  • Discovery Learning of a New Concept
  • Review of Letter Sounds and Basic Linguistic Concepts
  • Reading Practices at the Word and Text Level, designed to develop accuracy and fluency
  • Syllable Division and Morphology
  • Spelling
  • Handwriting
  • Comprehension and Composition
  • Oral Language Development

  Basic Language Skills is appropriate for reading/dyslexic specialists, special education teachers, and private therapists. Because of their extensive training, Basic Language Skills teachers possess flexibility to work with both struggling and dyslexic readers in their areas of greatest need, adapting the pace of the program to each student's needs.