by Abigail Marshall, DDAI Information Services Director
©DDAI. Reprinted with permission

Q7. What is decoding? Is it to recognize and know the meaning of a word?

A: According to the article, "Learning to Read: The Stages of Reading Development" by Evelyn Peter (http://www.rlac.com/resources/stages.php), decoding is Stage One and is taught to children ages 6-7. Children in this stage begin to utilize their knowledge of consonants and vowels and to blend together simple words such as c-a-t, b-a-t, f-a-t, hip, lip, etc.

Natural readers whose strengths lie in linear-sequential, verbal thinking will pick up this skill rapidly. Children who are strong visual-spatial, non-verbal thinkers, and thus prone to developing dyslexia, have difficulty with decoding skills. After they have achieved ease with letter recognition, moving directly to whole word recognition coupled with learning the sound and meaning for each word is more useful to them.

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