The Progress & Performance of cognitive and phonological training for this level of the MD4 Reading program are shown below by training area. To view all skills trained in each individual area please see the "Skill Training by Area" below.
Area 1 - Optic > Visual Perception
Student has demonstrated highly trained degree of skill in accurately perceiving differences in visual information of significant complexity. Student is able to accurately perceive seven complex shapes and observe minute differences between them.
Area 2 - Recall > Sequencing & Tracking
Student has demonstrated a more highly attuned ability to accurately differentiate between the sounds of similar sounding words and remember the location of those words on a grid. This accomplishment demonstrates skill in sequencing, phonological awareness, and memory at a moderate level. The ability to correctly sequence information beyond simple letters continues to grow and the student is demonstrating these abilities at a higher level of difficulty and complexity and in a shorter amount of time.
Area 3 - Array > Visual & Auditory Memory
Student continues to build strength in strengthen their immediate, short term and long term auditory sequential memory and demonstrated that they have an initial ability to retain four pieces of information that they have heard only once for a limited amount of time and replicate that data in its correct sequential order three times while experiencing distraction. Iso-sensory techniques have been employed in this process. This is the beginning of training with four pieces of data.
Area 4 - Audio > Phonological Awareness & Memory
Student has achieved a higher degree of elision skills and is able to breakdown a word that has been heard into its pieces and determine what sound remains when a syllable is removed from that word. Student has demonstrated a stronger ability to use syllables that they have heard to form real phonologically regular words. Multi-sensory tool are being employed to assist in this process. Student may not be completely independent in this area at this time but are beginning to gain proficiency that can be translated to other words containing the same syllables.
Area 5 - Tactile > Visual Motor Integration
Student has demonstrated a basic level of competency in moving lines and shapes to very exacting places in space in order to form abstract objects. The exercises in this level are designed to build strength in spatial relationships and hand to eye coordination. The skills demonstrated in this level are critical to both the reading and writing process. At this time, the integration process is growing but not maximized.
Area 6 - Bamboozle > Eidetic Processing
Student has mastered and been able to retain a list of forty irregular words of a fourth grade level bringing their total words mastered to three hundred and sixty. Student has not been allowed to misspell these words and has been strictly restrained from ingraining incorrect spellings. Multi-sensory techniques have been employed in this process.
Area 7 - Harmony > Phonics
Student has achieved a moderate degree of skill in using open and closed syllables to successfully form nonsense words. The use of nonsense words is desirable because it eliminates the possibility of students referring to words already known to be successful in the exercises at this level. The understanding and use of open and closed syllable is critical to fluency and the student will receive additional training in this area.
Area 8 – Swift > Fluency
Student continues to build reading speed and comprehension by reading sentences three times at increasing speeds and answering comprehension questions about the material read. Three hundred sentence readings have been completed in this level with twenty seven hundred completed overall. This process also incorporates the phonics principles trained at this level. Student is not yet reading fluently but is gaining speed without sacrificing comprehension.
Students who have successfully completed the forty training exercises comprising Level 9 of the MD4 Reading curriculum have successfully demonstrated a more advanced level of skills in a wide range of areas and completed three hundred and sixty exercises in total or forty-five percent of the overall program. The specific skills trained can be found in the "Skills and Abilities Developed" section below. To view specific skills trained in each "Area" of the curriculum please see the “Skills Training by Area" below.