How do you know when to switch phonics programs?

[mo2]

How do you know if the program is failing you, or if your child just isn't ready to learn to read yet? Is there is some magic way you can tell, or is it just a guessing game? :confused1:

[8FillTheHeart]

There are definitely reading readiness skills that you can test to make sure your child is ready to learn to read.

Some very basic things:
1-sequencing skills (being able recognize distinctive patterns and be able to identify what the next object in the sequence should be.

2-simple phonemic awareness--the 26 basic sounds and correctly connect the correct sound with the correct letter

3-initial sounds --saying a word and them being able to identify the correct sound (now if the work is kitten and they say c or k, obviously they are connecting the correct phoneme even if it might not be the correct letter)

4-final sounds (recognizing that dog ends in /g/, etc)

5-rhyming words--can they recognize that cat and sat rhyme, but that sit does not, etc.

Those are some of the most basic readiness skills. If any of those are missing, than they probably are not ready to read b/c they haven't developed enough "phonemic awareness" which means the processes required for decoding words are not going to be successful.

[dcjlkplus3]

How old is your little one? I do think age plays into it. How much do they like reading other things? Does it just not seem to be sticking?
I think it is more an observation game than a guessing game.