When the letter before “ed” is “t” or “d” we say the vowel sound, so the “ed” ending is two sounds, /e/+/d/, and we get “ted” or “ded.” There are also a few words like “rugged” and “wicked” where we choose to pronounce the /e/ sound, though we wouldn’t have had to do so, since we have words like “bugged” and “picked” where we say /d/ and /t/ respectively.

As for when we say just /t/ or /d/ for the “ed” digraph, this depends upon the voicing of the consonant preceding it. If the consonant sound is voiced, we use the voiced sound /d/, whereas if it is unvoiced we use the unvoiced sound /t/. Here are a few examples using voiced/unvoiced consonant pairs. You can check others yourself.

/b/ (voiced) versus /p/ (unvoiced)
grabbed=grabd; trapped=trapt

/z/ (voiced) versus /s/ (unvoiced)
buzzed=buzd; bussed=bust

/g/ (voiced) versus /k/ (unvoiced)
bugged=bugd; bucked=buct

/v/ (voiced) versus /f/ (unvoiced)
shoved=shovd; huffed=huft

Interesting, huh?

P.S. To determine if a sound is voiced or not, put your thumb and forefinger on either side of your neck and feel whether you’re vocal cords are vibrating as you say the sound.
Voiced/unvoiced pairs vary only in whether or not the vocal cords are vibrated. Other lip, mouth and tongue placements are the same.

The problem is that visual perception is not the main issue with most of the kids that have trouble learning to read. Instead, it’s visual efficiency skills, i.e., the ability to use both eyes together, especially for close work like reading. My recommendation is to look for a vision therapy department nearby (hopefully there is one) and check it out.

If they are seeing a fair number of patients and parents are satisfied with results, establish a working relationship with them, referring to them and hopefully getting referrals back. Far more of the kids I initially evaluate end up benefiting from vision therapy than from phonics instruction. It’s more often the vision issues that are holding them back, though some of them also need an intensive phonics course as well.

Rod

I have decided to start a reading tutoring business in my area and I am so grateful to have stumbled upon your website. I work in a public school and our teachers are unfamiliar with visual perception issues. I learned about them last year through research. I have learned to do the MVPT test for perception problems and I’m wondering if you think its a good idea to do this test when I first assess my new tutees? Or, maybe after a phonics assessment failure?

Thanks,
Jane

First, I’m sorry for the delay in getting the workbook published. I’ve gotten distracted lately.

Regarding your eleven-year-old son, have you investigated the vision side of things yet? In my experience, if he’s really having trouble with basic reading at that age he probably has a vision problem of the nature I discuss elsewhere on this site. That’s especially true if another sibling is also having trouble learning to read, as I believe that the vision problems are genetic in nature.

I much prefer to have the vision issues addressed first with vision therapy and then attack the phonics problem. Many times the phonics instruction isn’t even needed then because the child starts to learn on his own, including using phonics information he was previously taught.

I’ll email you directly regarding the workbook.

Rod

I have a question…my sons know the first vowel sounds, the basic consonants & wh, sh, ch, & ck. How do I teach the others? Do I drill them with all the sounds, then move into how it’s done in Reading Reflex or start with the methods in Reading Reflex and just go from there?

I have downloaded all your articles on this site (I put them in a Word document so I can find them easily) and read through them last night. Your method of chunking words seems so much easier that Wilson’s.

Also, is it possible to get an “advanced copy” of the workbook? Pretty please??

Thanks for your site!

Rod

I suspect that we will find that Omega-6’s (from our grain-based modern diet) are utilized when Omega-3’s are unavailable (or in short supply in our modern diet) and that when fish oil is supplemented, the brain gradually rebuilds itself using the preferred Omega-3’s, thereby becoming more efficient.

How does it rebuild? I don’t know, but cells continually die off and are replaced, so maybe this happens in the brain’s neuronal structure as well? One reference in the Oxford-Durham study referred to the slow exchange rate of Omega-3’s for Omega-6’s I believe, but I haven’t looked at it. It involved an animal study, as I recall.

As for how all this ties in with a dyslexia being genetically determined, I suspect we’ll find that when the dyslexia gene is active, a shortage of Omega-3’s in the diet predisposes a child to having the active gene exert its influence more readily. Maybe this is why so many older people have trouble identifying the non-readers they knew in childhood. Our Omega-3 filled diets back then might have held off the genetic predisposition? On the other hand, maybe there were just as many non-readers, but we didn’t recognize them as such. Any 80-year old former 1st/2nd/3rd grade teachers out there reading this who can shed some light on the subject?

And thanks for the link to the article. It was really long, but I read most of it. It’s interesting that Doman realized long ago that crawling, visual skills, balance, etc., all tied together somehow, and has been working on them for years.

Rod