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Helping your child become a better reader

with ReadingDoctor® Online

Information for parents of children using the program at school.

Please note: A more detailed guide for parents who have purchased the program independently may be found here.

Reading is a skill children learn

Reading is not natural! Children need to be taught how to read. Scientists have shown that children need to connect the letters they see to the speech sounds in spoken words when learning to read. This connection helps kids link the letters to the spoken form (and meaning) of the word, helping kids to teach themselves new words when reading.


spoon

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1. Link letters & sounds

E.g. understand that the letters 'oo' represent the speech sound /oo/ as in /spoon/.

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2. Blend the sounds

Join the sounds represented by the letters in a word - e.g. say /s/ + /p/ + /oo/ + /n/ = /spoon/ when reading the unfamiliar word, 'spoon'.

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3. Decode new words

Letter-sound knowledge + blending skills facilitate decoding of new words. With practice, unfamiliar words become familiar and are recognised instantly.



Decoding is a bridge linking spoken language and written language!

MEET THE PROGRAM

What is ReadingDoctor® Online?

ReadingDoctor® helps children to improve their reading skills by teaching them to independently decode written words and connect them with meaning. With around three years of carefully structured phonics activities, the research-supported program adapts to each child's learning needs, providing extra support and practice where needed.

Evidence-based literacy improvement tool

Scientific studies show that it improves important skills. You can read about the scientific evidence supporting the program HERE.

Focuses on critical reading foundations

Develops key skills found through research to be crucial in learning to read and spell, such as phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, decoding ability + more.

Practice matched to learning needs

A carefully designed sequence of activities adjusts to student strengths and weaknesses and provides lots of help and repetition for difficult items.

WHAT CHILDREN LEARN

Four building blocks children work through

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Letter-sound knowledge

Learning the links between letters and groups of letters that represent speech sounds (e.g. sh → /sh/).

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Blending for decoding

Joining individual speech sounds together to make a word, like joining the sounds /m/ /a/ /p/ to read map.

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Segmenting for spelling

Splitting words up into their separate speech sounds, like breaking dog into /d/ /o/ /g/ to help spell it.

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Learning tricky 'sight words'

Learning to instantly recognise highly frequent, irregularly spelled words helps students to develop fluency.

Accessing the Program

If your school has a subscription to the program, families do not need to buy a separate subscription. Your child can use it for free!

At school

Your teacher oversees your child’s learning and can monitor their progress.

At home

Your child can sign in using the same school login details and continue their assigned activities.

To log in at home, use the Name Card supplied by your child’s teacher:

Accessing the program

PC, Chromebook, or Mac Users

  1. Open Google Chrome and go to readingdoctor.com.au, then, at the top-right of the page, click on the activity login button:
  1. Save that page as a bookmark for easy access.
  1. Enter your child’s Username and Password on their Name Card and press ‘Login’.
  1. Once logged in, remind your child to click the ‘Full Screen’ button to minimize distractions:

Accessing the program

iPad Users

  1. Make sure the Reading Doctor® Online app (Version 1.0.10 or later) is installed from the App Store: Click here to download
  1. Open the app, tap ‘Login’, and then enter your child’s Username and Password. You can also tap 'QR Scanner' to use the provided QR code for an easier login.
  1. If using headphones, check that they are connected and working properly.

Getting Started

To get started with the program

  1. Students click or tap on the big green button.
  1. The program will automatically take children through approximately three years of systematic synthetic phonics teaching
  1. It adjusts activity difficulty automatically based on your child's progress.

How the activities work

For a brief description of how activities work in ReadingDoctor® Online, please watch this video:

LEARNING PROCESS

The program adapts to

your child's needs

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80% or Higher

A score of 80% or higher unlocks the next level of difficulty.

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50% to 80%

Scores between 50% and 80% prompt a repetition of the activity at the same level.

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Below 50%

If below 50%, the program will offer an easier activity.

How you can help

Quiet environment

Ensure that your child works in a quiet, distraction-free environment. Use headphones if possible!

Supervise & support when possible

Supervise the session to help your child understand the tasks without interfering with their independent progress.

Keep positive & encourage persistence

Encourage persistence and celebrate effort, especially when tasks become challenging.

Make practice sessions regular & short

Practise daily if possible, or at least every few days. Stop when your child would be happy to do one more activity! Stop earlier if tired or frustrated.

Use decodable books

These are books with text that aligns with the phonics skills being taught. They are like ‘trainer wheels’ that help students develop their reading ability until they are ready to read regular books!

Read to your child!

Keep reading together! ReadingDoctor® helps build word-reading foundations. Shared books build oral language skills. Read aloud to your child and enjoy stories together. Talk about new words, ask questions and discuss ideas!

Thanks for reading this summary!

We hope the program makes a significant difference to your child's reading ability.

Please note: if you think the program is too easy or too hard for your child, let your teacher know as the starting level can be adjusted. If you need more information, please ask your child's teacher or see the:

For technical assistance, please contact our support team.

If you don't have access to the program but would like to try it, you can: