The ultimate guide to Heggerty Phonics and reviews

Heggerty Phonics or HeggertyPA is one of the most popular courses you can find today. But is it worth your time? Is the course good? And most importantly, will it be helpful? Here is all you need to know about this course and phonological awareness. 

How does Heggerty Phonics work and its unique features

Heggerty Phonics is a platform focused on providing professional development for teachers across the country. It was founded in 2003, and the headquarters of the company is in Illinois. 

The story started when Dr. Michael Heggerty saw how much his students struggle to read. He understood that change was necessary, and he started his own practice. Today, Heggerty Phonics instructions offer a different approach to basic education. 

One of the main differences compared to other similar platforms is that Heggerty Phonics offers a variety of courses you can check out. 

You can enroll in the course physically, online, try out on-demand classes, explicit instructions, daily lesson videos, download sample lessons, and free webinars. All of this can help children understand the science of reading as well as improve their alphabet knowledge. 

Is Heggerty Phonics useful for dyslexics

The short answer is yes. The course is designed to provide knowledge to teachers, so they can create more effective lesson plans. If you compare it to traditional methods, Heggerty Phonics goes in-depth to allow students to fully understand the idea behind reading skills. 

It shows the connection between letters and sounds they make, and it explains everything they need to know about phonics. Once they understand the sounds these graphemes can represent, it will have a huge effect on early literacy skills. 

The method also offers progression where all the sounds are grouped, and the student will progress through words based on their difficulty. Naturally, the age of the children is important, and the first-grade classroom won’t have the same program as older kids. 

How does Heggerty differ from other programs

There are a couple of reasons why Heggerty is such a great option and why it is able to stand out from the crowd. For many people, the key is flexibility and versatility. You can enroll in the course in many different ways. 

You can’t afford to go to the other part of the country? No problem. You can easily listen to the course online. There are also webinars, materials, and many different ways to get the necessary knowledge. 

Additionally, the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculum gives a whole new way to study the language. Of course, nothing is stopping you from using other methods in combination with phonemic awareness lessons. The only thing that matters is that your students will be able to read properly. 

Phonemic awareness and assistive tools for elementary students and schools

What is phonemic awareness skill? Instead of starting with ABCs, reading can take a more detailed approach. Learning about sounds that make words or even letters. These individual sounds are called phonemes. 

So, the first step would be to learn about phonemes, how they sound, and how they are represented with letters. Once children understand the first step, they can proceed to segmenting and forming words, adding, substituting, or deleting syllables, phoneme isolation, learning about consonants, and so on. 

Of course, this method is longer, but it includes all the necessary details children will need. And there are several different tools you can use to simplify the process even further and be beneficial for reading success. 

Text to speech

Text to speech tools are one of the most popular accessibility apps you can find today. And if you are interested in quality, Speechify is the answer. The app can easily convert any type of text into audio allowing students to hear the content instead of reading it on their own. 

And this can make a world of difference. Speechify works on any device you might have, including various operating systems. This means that you can use it on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and even as a Google Chrome extension. 

Additionally, the app offers optical character recognition or OCR, which means that you can scan printable documents and turn them into audio. This versatility is one of many reasons why Speechify is so popular. 

It is also an excellent tool for language learners and those that struggle with reading. They will be able to hear proper pronunciations, and easily explore what this app has to offer. 

Computer pens

Computer pens come in many shapes and forms. You can use scanning pens (or reading pens) that are able to scan the text you are reading. While they are called pens, you won’t be able to write anything with them. 

Instead, they are equipped with OCR allowing you to scan the page and listen to the content. Another option is to go for a pen that you can use on special paper to write anything, while the pen records the audio. 

This means that you can go back and check what your teacher talked about if you didn’t manage to write it down. 

Voice recorders and other aids

Voice recorders are great for creating audio files during classes, and they can allow children to have literacy instructions recorded without any issues. This is especially important for children that have both dyslexia and dysgraphia, and it will make things a bit easier. 

Children can also use hand motions, letter cards, letter names, and anything else that can help them understand the logic behind final sounds and letter-sound correlation. Once you create your primary curriculum, you will be able to use it for the next school year as well. 

FAQs

Is Heggerty a good program?

Yes. Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons are one of the best ones you can find today. It focuses on K-2 education, especially on dyslexic children. These programs are great for small groups but can be effective in regular classes for the whole group. 

Is Heggerty just phonemic awareness?

No. Heggerty offers a variety of programs and courses you can check out. You can explore Foundation Skills, Decodables, both English and Spanish courses, as well as different levels based on children’s age (pre-K, K-2, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and others). 

What is a phoneme?

A phoneme is a unit of sound. These sounds are represented by letters (or a combination of letters like digraphs), and the idea is to teach children about these basic elements that create words. It is a simpler approach that can help struggling readers.