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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I have studied the science of reading. Good readers decode sentences at a time—not words at a time. Readers scan ahead. It’s not guessing per se. it’s efficiency. It’s much faster. Decoding is slow. For kids with low working memory it’s doing them no favors. Comprehension is the only thing that matters. A child does not need to decode an unusual surname. They just need to recognize it as a name. [/quote]

I have also studied the science of reading, and I agree with you that, initially, decoding can be slow.  It takes a few tries of efficient phonological processing (sounding out a word slowly) for the process to become stored in a section of the brain for automatic retrieval.

So after a child has decoded a word a certain number of times (in a typical student, perhaps 4 times, in a slower learner it might takes 6 or 8 or more tries) that word becomes "learned
 automatically.  But it doesn't mean they have memorized the word by sight.  They have memorized the process of decoding the words and have stored it in the "fast word retrieval" area of the brain.

Just looking at a word, say "milk",  and reading it over and over again will not develop this fluency.  But knowing the sound each letter makes, and sounding out the word over and over again, WILL develop it.   And then that rapid decoding ability will transfer over to any syllable with a similar structure; essentially any cvcc short vowel syllable.

So that's why this method is faster.  Once the students have mastered the basic code (consonants and short vowel sounds plus blending CCVCC syllables) and then the advanced vowel team code, they are well on their way to being able to decode ANY one syllable word.  From there they have a strong base to move onto 2 syllable words and more.
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