The Wisnia-Kapp Reading Program is a multisensory, structured language approach to teaching phonics that has been used successfully with learners in Kindergarten through adulthood. It is being used in regular primary classrooms as the phonics component of literacy instruction and as an individual or small group remedial approach for reading disabled students. It is in this latter context that Dearborn Academy has found the program particularly effective. As a result of the creative work being done with this student body, the school has been identified as the primary training site for the use of the Wisnia-Kapp Reading Program.

The program uses images imbedded in the letters and storytelling as interesting and entertaining support for recall. It uses direct, explicit instruction in phonological awareness, sound and symbol retrieval, segmentation skills and syllable pattern types.

During 1996, a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of the WKRP Sound Segmentation Training Program was conducted in a Boston city school. The phonics based WKRP system was compared to a standard whole language reading program which did not include systematic instruction in phonics. The results were striking and showed the positive effects of the WKRP SST program on overall reading acquisition in a group of young children.

Systematic pre- and post-testing amoung Dearborn Academy elementary, middle and high school students having severe language based reading difficulties have shown impressive gains in student sound recognition and ability to decode and comprehend reading material.

WKRP is used successfully in grades K-12. Teachers can use this one program for regular education, ESL, and for children with language based reading difficulties.