Simon S.I.O. (Sounds It Out) Overview

Who Needs Simon S.I.O.?

Aligned with Brain-based Research

Simon S.I.O. is a software program that delivers individualized phonics instruction and corrective feedback to your beginning readers. It was developed by Dr. Ted Hasselbring of Vanderbilt University who is known for his work with Read 180. In Simon, students move systematically and at their own pace as they learn letter sounds and word families. In addition, students practice spelling words, discriminating between like words and reading newly learned words within controlled texts. Utilizing Simon’s Progress Reports, teachers can quickly check students’ progress on screen or print the reports out to include in student portfolios.

Students who fail to attain foundational phonics skills face inevitable academic hardships as they move beyond the early grades where they shift from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’

Dr. Sally Shaywitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia (2003) wrote, "The real power of Simon is for students who have an underlying understanding of the alphabetic principle and need a lot of time to rehearse.”

Dr. Ted Hasselbring,
Vanderbilt University

“In reading, students first learn the alphabetic principle and use this to decode words, often very laboriously. Through repeated trials, the student will develop a ‘neural model’ of the word and no longer relies on the use of the alphabetic principle. The more times the student reads the word correctly the stronger the neural pathway becomes and fluency increases. Simon uses a very systematic approach to developing these ‘neural models.’ Context is essential to bring meaning to these words, and Simon helps with context in two ways: (1) they get visual support for the words and (2) when they read the words within connected text they get context for the meaning of the word."