The Rabanus Method®
With the systematically structured course (workbook) which was completely developed by Katrin Rabanus during more than 50 years of teaching practise, children acquire the sound-letter-relations with help of hand gestures. This course spanning about 150 pages comprises a pre-training unit in which basic prerequisites for learning to read are acquired. This is, above all, the blending together of sounds or letters. In this rather technical difficulty the main problem of children with reading disabilities is located. The first course unit offers only single-syllable words on a 1:1-level of association of sounds and letters. Retrieval of meaning has no importance yet in this basic learning level.
Children who previously persistently failed to learn to read can take advantage from this method since individual learning difficulties –as encountered in primers– are always considered and hence the learning process is supported. It is widely accepted by educational experts that illiteracy could be significantly reduced using such method for children with learning difficulties.