Writing Road to Reading 6th Rev Ed.: The Spalding Method for Teaching Speech, Spelling, Writing, and Reading

For more than fifty years, teachers and parents have used the Spalding Method to help millions of children learn to spell, read, and write. An accredited, phonics-based, total language arts program based on educator Romalda Spalding’s intensive study of how children learn, this multisensory approach is so natural and stimulating that reading itself is never taught outright—it simply begins.

The Writings Road to Reading shows teachers and tutors, parents and homeschoolers how to use the Spalding Method with their students and children. Incorporating spelling, writing (including handwriting), and listening/reading comprehension, the Spalding Method engages children’s visual, auditory, speech, and tactile faculties to transform the path to reading, writing, and comprehension into a superhighway.

As children put sounds together they form words, then combine those words into sentences. By learning how language works, children develop their creative minds and reasoning skills, which allows them to progress quickly to absorbing—and enjoying—good literature: first graders enjoy Where the Wild Things Are; second graders gobble up The Velveteen Rabbit; third graders savor Charlotte’s Web.

Spalding students consistently score far beyond national norms—demonstrated by more than fifty years of student achievement data. Most important, they love to read and write. In a digital world filled with distractions, The Writing Road to Reading is a vital educational tool to help children develop the literacy and critical thinking skills they need to thrive in today’s world.

Romalda Bishop Spalding, a graduate of Columbia University, developed her method using principles learned from the eminent neurologist Dr. Samuel T. Orton and her experiences teaching children with language problems at Harvard Children's Hospital and public and private schools.

Mary E. North, Ph.D., is director of research and curriculum at Spalding Education International (SEI). She is vice president of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council and serves on the executive committee of the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification of Structured Language Education, Inc. SEI is located in Phoenix, Arizona.