(PCI-RP1)    Jill Haney

Target Group:  Nonreaders; Age 5 to Adult

  The PCI Reading Program is a curriculum created specifically to teach students with developmental disabilities, autism, and significant learning disabilities to read. Level One teaches 140 basic sight words from the Dolch and Fry lists and “real-world” words through a comprehensive system of repetition, “hands-on” practice, controlled-vocabulary reading, and high-interest activities. Students progress from reading individual words to 8-12 word sentences. Level One includes 28 books, ranging in length from 8 to 12 pages. By the end of Level One, nonreaders will have progressed to approximately a 1.0 reading level.

  PCI Reading Program Level One is designed as a one-on-one program and takes at least one full school year to complete. Students do not need to know the alphabet to begin Level One. The only prerequisites for the program are that students must be able to:
  Level One also includes a supplemental binder called Building Reading Skills. Each unit has a variety of lesson plans that build the skills one step at a time. In addition, some lessons include reproducible manipula-tives that can be cut out for students to use. The first unit also provides several reproducible activity sheets to help develop students’ visual-discrimination skills. Units include:








 Lesson plans in this binder can be used to give students the foundational reading skills they will need to be successful readers. By focusing on five of the most basic pre-reading skills, the binder allows teachers to individualize instruction based on a student’s needs. Quotes from the research used to develop the units are provided throughout the lesson plans, and student objectives are provided for each lesson.
  • 3 Word Building Lessons Books
  • Trace and Read Workbook (5)
  • Guided Word Practice Books (2)
  • Activity Sheets Binder
  • Building Reading Skills Binder
  • 28 Full-Color Books
  • Game Board for “The Word Game”
  • 140 Word Cards
  • 100 Full-Color Picture Cards
  • Card Storage Box
  • “Match on the Mat” Board
  • 105 Text Cards
  • 105 full-color Scene Cards
  • Plastic Card Tray and Plastic Viewer
  • Teacher’s Guide
PCI Reading Program - Level One
Follow simple, one-sentence directions
Respond to a teacher request either verbally or by pointing
Visually discriminate between words
Building Visual Skils
Building Attention
Building Memory
Building Concepts of Print
The Five Step Lesson Cycle:
Learn the Word/Step 1A: Word Building Lesson -
Students identify, repeat, and read the new word
and previously learned words.
Trace the Word/Step 1B: Trace and Read Workbook -
Students trace the new word and then read it in a phrase or sentence
Hands-On Practice/Step 1C: Guided Word Practice -
Students engage in hands-on reading practice with
the new word and previously learned words.
Independent Practice/Step 1D: Activity Sheets -
Students practice identifying and reading the new
word on the targeted activity sheets.
   The five-step lesson cycle is based on visual discrimination and is designed to teach students to automatically recognize and correctly pronounce one word at a time.  The Five-Step Lesson Cycle follows these steps:
Learn Four More Words/Step 2 -
All four activities (Word Building Lesson, Trace and
Read Workbook, Guided Word Practice, and Activity 
Sheets) are repeated for four additional words.
Reveiw The Words/Step 3: The Word Game -
Students review the five words in an interactive 
activity called The Word Game in which students
 can prepare for the posttest.
Assess Progress/Step 4: Posttest -
allow the teacher to assess both short- and long-term retention of the newly learned words and previously 
learned words.
Read A Book!/Step 5: The Books - 
A new book is available after every five words are
mastered, for a total of 28 books in Level One.
Supplementary Activities:
Building Phonemic Awareness
PCI-RP1 Complete Kit Includes:
Empirical Education Research Summary
PCI Reading Program Levels Chart