LumiraWhat is a decodable book?
A decodable book is written so that nearly every word can be sounded out using letter-sound patterns the reader has already been taught. Instead of guessing from pictures or context, the child decodes. It builds accuracy and confidence because success is designed in rather than hoped for. Lumira's 76 decodable readers are free to use and organised by phonics pattern.
What is structured literacy?
Structured literacy is explicit, systematic, cumulative teaching of how spoken sounds map to written letters. Skills are taught in a deliberate order, each new skill builds on secure earlier ones, and nothing is left for the child to infer. It is the approach with the strongest evidence base for children with dyslexia — and it works well for all beginning readers, which is why it underpins the Science of Reading movement.
My child guesses at words instead of sounding them out. What should I do?
Guessing is usually a learned strategy from texts that were too hard, where guessing was the only option available. Three things help: switch to decodable text at a level where the child can sound out nearly every word; cover the pictures while reading; and prompt with the sounds rather than the meaning ("what does that letter say?" rather than "what would make sense there?"). As decoding gets more reliable, the guessing habit fades on its own.
At what age can dyslexia be identified?
Reliable formal identification usually happens around ages 6 to 8, once there has been enough reading instruction to measure a response to it. Risk signs appear much earlier — difficulty with rhyme, trouble hearing individual sounds in words, slow letter-name learning, a family history. You do not need a diagnosis to start structured phonics practice, and starting earlier is better than waiting for an assessment date.
How much reading practice does a struggling reader need?
Short and frequent beats long and occasional. Ten to twenty minutes on most days will move a struggling reader further than an hour once a week, because decoding is a skill built by repeated retrieval rather than by exposure time. Consistency matters more than session length, and a tired child late in the evening learns very little.
What is the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is entirely oral: hearing and manipulating the individual sounds in spoken words, with no letters involved. Phonics connects those sounds to written letters. Phonemic awareness comes first and remains a strong predictor of later reading — which is why the first Lumira level is oral only, with no letter tiles or books at all.
Are heart words the same as sight words?
Not quite. Traditional sight-word teaching asks children to memorise whole words by shape. Heart-word teaching decodes the regular parts of the word normally and asks the child to learn only the irregular part "by heart" — in said, the s and d behave; only the ai is odd. Much less memory load, and it reinforces decoding instead of competing with it.
Does Lumira cost anything?
Lumira is free to use. The decodable readers, phonics lessons and shared reading sessions are all available at no cost, and the project is supported by optional donations.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Lumira runs in a web browser on a laptop, tablet or phone, and everyone in a shared reading session can be on a different kind of device. You will need a microphone for the live reading features.
Can I read with a child who is in another country?
Yes — that is what Lumira was built for. Share the session link and you both see the same page with the same word highlighted in real time, with voice included, so you do not need a separate video call running alongside. See how it works.