Ultimate Phonics Reading Program Software {Review}

We were recently given the opportunity to review Ultimate Phonics Reading Program by Spencer Learning. As many of you know, one of my sons has struggled to read due to dyslexia. We have used many different programs to help him and some worked better than others. He is currently about two years behind his grade level in reading.

Ultimate Phonics Reading Program is a downloadable software that can run on most computers. To use, you must be running Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP; or for Macs, OSX 10.5.8 or higher. While it doesn’t come in CD format, it is very easy to download. I had no issues and I’m really not that good with technical stuff!

This phonics reading program software loads onto a computer and once it is on there no internet is needed. I absolutely love this feature because the wi-fi doesn’t always work like it should on our homeschool computer but because it doesn’t require any internet there are never any issues with this program!

Another benefit to using Ultimate Phonics Reading Program Software is that it can be downloaded onto multiple computers. This way you can use it on a laptap and a regular computer if needed. There also isn’t a limit to how many students can use this. We are currently using this with our older son who is a struggling reader but I could choose to use this with our younger son who is just beginning to learn phonics, as well.

Ultimate Phonics Reading Program Software is a complete systematic phonics program. It features 262 lessons. The lessons are broken up into six parts:

Ideas

Patterns

Word list

Words

Sight word

Sentences

The Idea Section is simply a concept they are teaching (like what a syllable is). There is a description of this and some info about the concept.

Patterns help the student learn a specific phonetic rule. For example, the pattern section might contain a certain phonetic rule like the letters “ai” make the long A sound in a word.

The Word List is great practice of whatever the pattern is that was just taught. There will be plenty of words that can be read that all contain the same rule.

The Words Section simply helps provide more practice and actually breaks down the words so that the student can hear each sound contained within that word.

Sight Words – Some of the lessons include sight words. These are words that the student is asked to simply memorize. There are only 113 sight words included in this program.

The Sentences provide extra practice of the words they have learned but it is contained inside a full sentence. This gives the student practice on other words, sight words, and the rule that was taught in the pattern section. There is a good amount of reading practice for a beginning reader or a struggling reader.

This program starts off with the basics of phonics and the 26 letters in the alphabet. It covers the consonants and vowels, the names of the letters and the sounds they make. This was all covered under the idea section. During pattern, they talk about the letter “B” (both upper and lower case) and the sound of B and continue on through letter Z covering all of the consonants.

By lesson 156 they hit “Long Vowel Sounds” under the idea section and quickly jump to the Magic E and the sound of long A under the pattern section. The word list is made up of words that contain the sound of the long “A” made by the magic E (at the end of the word). The Word section is the segmented word bake so that all the student has to do is roll their mouse over the individual sounds in order to hear the individual sounds of the word “bake”. They can also hear the word as it is written. There are approximately 35 words in the Word Section to help reinforce their practice in the individual sounds of words. There are about 10 sentences included in the Sentence Section which the student is supposed to try to read by themselves. This provides a good amount of reading practice that reflects the concept the student just learned. If they have trouble reading it, they can always tap the sound button on the screen to hear a narrator read the sentence to them.

By the middle to end of the lessons, which are included in this software, sometimes the idea is replaced by the Pattern Section. For instance, in Lesson 260 the lesson starts with the pattern of “ti” saying the “sh” sound, which is then followed by a word list. Also, sight words are not included in every lesson.

Overall, we have enjoyed this program. I think this would be perfect for either a beginning reader or a struggling reader.

I think it provides plenty of practice and a short distinct lessons which are good for kids who are already struggling with reading. They need smaller chunks to learn at a time. My son knows that it won’t take him more than 10-15 minutes each morning to complete his phonics, and that is perfect for us.
I do love the repetition of the practice.
I also love how there isn’t anything potentially confusing for the student. This reading program is set up so that anyone can succeed at reading (no matter the age).
I like that there aren’t any cartoon characters or extra games included. It is simply a phonics software and it does a great job at being just that.
The pages are set up with arrows at the top of the page so that the student can easily move along to the next section, when ready.
The student can have the narrator read to them if they need extra assistance.
As I stated earlier, I love that this is a software and not an online curriculum. This makes it so much easier to use, in our family.

There is only one negative, in my opinion. I would have loved to have a placement test because my son is 11 and didn’t really need to start at the very beginning. I think the idea is that this will fill in any holes in his learning, however, he easily could have placed right smack in the middle of the program. Even with this one drawback, I definitely recommend Ultimate Phonics Reading Program!