Thank you for visiting WordsAhead!

Empower academic success
with correct and direct instruction
in English fluency and literacy.

many of the charts on the website are in PDF Format and Flash Format.

Click here to visit my database of Systematic Evidence

I was a 3rd grade classroom teacher and speech therapist.

In 1996, after retiring from public education, I used my teacher’s retirement savings which totaled $33,500 to repay a student loan and to buy state-of-the-art dialup internet service, sturdy chair, early version of Apple’s G4 computer, biggest monitor I could find, plus Adobe PageMaker/Acrobat software. Everything was more clumsy and expensive then!

My research and resulting creations have always been independent and non-commercial. Nothing has ever been for sale..

Charitable contributions to VLA helped buy literature, build this website, and gain WWW-visibility.

By re-visiting lessons I’d taught in the mandated phonics, spelling, and reading curriculum, I gained a heightened awareness of why some students continue to flounder and fail. I propose that, if we want all learners to succeed, procedural and substantive instructional reform is needed, including a deeper systematic analysis of words-to-be-read.

I do believe that -- TOGETHER -- we have the power to make a difference for our learners by making things different. Censorship by those in power who are not sympathetic can’t dissuade tangible evidence and an expansive attitude.

This site gives you an opportunity to consider a new path!

Organize word study around SPEECH SOUNDS, not AaBbCc’s.
Sound-by-sound, articulate and spell-out individual SPEECH SOUNDS.
Promote a more conscientious expectation: No skipping. No guessing.