A happy student holding up 2 flashcards that say "I" and "Can"

Giving students the foundational skills they need to be successful readers.

"

Bringing imagery to consciousness will profoundly improve literacy skills.

"

~ Nanci Bell

  • Seeing Stars

    The Seeing Stars® program develops symbol imagery - the ability to visualize sounds and letters in words - as a basis for orthographic awareness, phonemic awareness, word attack, word recognition, spelling, and contextual reading fluency.

    Learn more about Seeing Stars 

  • The Seeing Stars program is

    endorsed by the Council of Administrators of Special Education.

Check out the latest research and see Real Results from schools using the program.

Read the blog

  • Seeing Stars Kit
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Gander Publishing

Seeing Stars® Kit

$539.95
$539.95
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This comprehensive Seeing Stars kit provides the teaching materials you need to implement Seeing Stars instruction in one-to-one, small-group, or classroom settings.

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Seeing Stars FAQ

Problem

Buzz has learned phonics and can sound out words, but his phonetic processing is slow. His word attack skills are significantly better, but his word recognition and reading fluency have not improved at the same rate. His spelling is also weak.

Cause

A cause of weakness in establishing sight words and contextual fluency is difficulty with visualizing the letters in words. This is called weak symbol imagery. Symbol imagery is the ability to create mental representations for sounds and letters within words. A significant number of students—even those who have well-developed phonemic awareness—have difficulty with recognizing the visual patterns of letters. While they may be able to sound out (decode) some words, they struggle with many. They may often have difficulty with spelling and reading fluency. They might be diagnosed with dyslexia.

Symptoms

Individuals of all ages may experience the symptoms of an undiagnosed symbol imagery dysfunction.

This causes weakness in:

  • Memorizing sight words
  • Rapid word attack
  • Orthographic awareness
  • Reading comprehension
  • Contextual reading fluency
  • Spelling 
  • Word recognition

Solution

The Seeing Stars®: Symbol Imagery for Phonological and Orthographic Processing in Reading and Spelling program develops symbol imagery—the ability to create mental imagery for sounds and letters within words—as a basis for reading and spelling. The development of symbol imagery improves word recognition, spelling, and reading fluency skills.

The Seeing Stars Difference

Unlike traditional phonemic awareness/phonics programs or approaches that teach extensive decoding rules and strategies, Seeing Stars develops a sensory-cognitive process that underlies reading skills. The development of symbol imagery improves word recognition and reading fluency.

Who is a seeing stars student?

Students of all ages and learning abilities can benefit, including students with dyslexia, struggling readers, English Learners, and emerging readers.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Seeing Stars supplements a Tier 1 core reading program for emerging readers. Seeing Stars is also used remedially in Tier 2 and 3 interventions.

English Language Learners

Seeing Stars supports foundational skills in English in an explicit and systematic manner, using the imagery-language connection as the basis. Seeing Stars lessons are scaffolded and differentiated for increasing complexity, from sound/symbol development through complex multisyllabic words.