Mi Aniefuna Senior Research Manager | Official Website
Mi Aniefuna, a senior research manager at EdSurge Research, shared a personal account of her 4-year-old daughter's reading progress in an EdSurge column. Aniefuna described how her daughter, Iman, demonstrated early reading skills by sounding out and recognizing words on a computer screen.
Aniefuna tested Iman's abilities by typing unfamiliar words such as "pillow," "final," "notice," and "triple." Iman read most of them quickly and attempted to sound out "independent." This experience highlighted the child's ability to decode phonemes through daily letter blending practice.
The article references the science of reading, which examines how the brain learns language, drawing from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and philosophy. The field has been studied for about 50 years and focuses on areas like phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Aniefuna credited much of Iman's progress to following evidence-based methods promoted by Spencer Russell, a former teacher who runs Toddlers Can Read. Russell's approach involves parents teaching their children reading skills through simple exercises and consistent routines. Aniefuna noted that Russell's instructional style keeps young children's attention during lessons focused on blending sounds.
"As a researcher, it seems like a no-brainer to do what research says. But being a researcher also makes me a critical optimist — some might say a skeptic — for better or worse. In this case, the research on the science of reading is pretty consistent. That might be because there isn’t too much dissent about how our brains process information, although there are some debates among researchers, but it’s fairly straightforward to apply what we know about how our brains learn language and reading."
Aniefuna emphasized prioritizing sound identification over letter recognition in her teaching approach. She also incorporated short lessons at regular times and created games to engage her daughter.
She acknowledged that while early foundational skill building is an important predictor of later academic success according to research findings, it is not the only factor influencing outcomes. Aniefuna said she balances structured learning with activities her child enjoys.
The family plans to continue supporting Iman's development in both reading and writing while preparing to focus more on math skills in the future.
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