People often ask just what, exactly, is dEcode®?

A short answer might be to say that it is a comprehensive set of more than 1000 pages of different types of reading exercises. These exercises have been gradually developed by Dr. Debby Chesnie-Cooper over the past thirty years in her professional practice teaching reading to learning-disabled children and adults at the Chesnie-Cooper clinic.

However, this answer is not quite accurate, since no one does all the different exercises. The exercises suit a wide variety of different needs, and every student only does the particular ones that he or she needs. A better answer might be to say that dEcode® is a special systematic method of teaching. The exercises are important, but it is the way they are individually chosen, structured and delivered that makes them really work. It is this unique dEcode® method that permits students to enjoy satisfying, progressive success.

But success in what, exactly? What it is that dEcode® teaches?

In technical terms, dEcode® teaches automatized auditory encoding — the reflex association of individual visual graphemes to individual auditory phonemes.

In non-technical terms, you might describe that as “pre-phonetics,” because it is the part of reading that comes before traditional phonetics. Before you can “sound out” a word, you have to have a fast automatic association between letters and sounds. Some learners pick this up so quickly they don't need to be shown twice, which is why they don't need dEcode®. But anyone who doesn't pick up decoding automatically needs to be taught. In particular, students with problems such as Central Auditory Processing Deficit (CAPD), visual dyslexia and ADD will experience huge difficulties that traditional teaching simply cannot overcome because it just doesn't teach in enough detail.

The good news is that teaching decoding is routine and effective with dEcode® One of our students described it as “brain gym” — a set of satisfying exercises that focus on strengthening “weak muscles” around skills in sound discrimination or short-term memory. These skills are the foundation of literacy, and once they are in place the student is ready to embark on a lifetime of reading success.

So the final answer to the question of what is dEcode® is, is probably the simplest yet: dEcode® is the beginning of reading. It is the place to start.