Research Basis and Evidence:
In order to learn to read and write, all students must memorize abstract alphabetic symbols to which names, beginning sounds, and motor movements have been arbitrarily assigned. This task is challenging for regular education students but it can be even more so for students with special needs and for those at risk of reading difficulties. Establishing letter-sound proficiency for all children is consistent with the Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer, 1986) and Orthographic Mapping (Ehri & Roberts, 2006; Ehri, 2020) models of scientifically-based reading. Yet early childhood standards, assessments and conventions prioritize lower and upper case letter name recognition. Findings from four recently published Randomized Controlled Trial studies (summarized in Roberts, 2021) compared generic approaches to teaching beginning alphabet knowledge. The researchers considered: alphabet content taught, grapheme-phoneme predictability/complexity, names versus sounds (order), contextualizing learning, letter order, optimal rates of instruction, and conceptual frameworks for how students learn. The Sunform approach to letter learning is consistent with the key findings from these landmark studies:
Ehri, L.C., & Roberts, T. (2006). The roots of learning to read and write: Acquisition of letters and phonemic awareness. In D.K. Dickinson & S.B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (Vol. 2, pp.113–131). New York, NY: Guilford.
Ehri, Linnea. (2020). The Science of Learning to Read Words: A Case for Systematic Phonics Instruction. Reading Research Quarterly. 10.1002/rrq.334.
Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 6-10
Roberts, T.A. (2021). Learning Letters: Evidence and Questions From a “Science of Reading” Perspective. Read Res Q, 00(00), 1–22.
The Sunform Alphabet System has been the subject of these four published research studies:
Reading Improvement
A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Reading
A Unique, Neurologically Integrated Approach Designed to Simultaneously Teach Letter Sounds and Formations
Fall 2006, Vol. 43, Number 3
The Journal of At-Risk Issues
A Publications of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network;
How a neurologically Integrated Approach Which Teaches Sound-Symbol Correspondence and legible letter Formations Impacts At-risk First Graders
Vol. 14, Number 1, pp. 13-21
The Journal of Education Research
At-Risk Preschoolers Become Beginning Readers with Neurologically Integrated Alphabet Instruction;
Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 61-73