Mastering Reading Skills through Deliberate Practice and Flow Theory with Dr. Hermundur Sigmundsson

In this enlightening episode, Dr. Hermundur Sigmundsson delves into an innovative approach to improve reading skill development in children, based on his groundbreaking work in Iceland.His perspective, referred to as 'READ', incorporates the phonics approach to reading achievement, which emphasizes the importance of teaching children how to decipher the reading code. Additionally, 'READ' merges key concepts from theories of learning and skill development, such as 'deliberate practice' and 'flow'. Dr. Sigmundsson discusses how 'deliberate practice', a concept developed by Ericsson, involves baseline measurements that provide a foundation for follow-up and intentional practice. Coupled with the concept of 'flow', coined by Csikszentmihalyi, where challenges are always in relation to the skills, this ensures every child can experience a state of 'flow', feeling a sense of mastery and competence. He further explores how the training hour allows children to strengthen the neural network used for specific skills being trained, with letter-sound knowledge being practiced until the child has cracked the reading code. Dr. Sigmundsson shares promising results from the first-year trial in Vestmannaeyjar school in Iceland, where all the children were able to read simple words, 96% were able to read sentences, and 88% could read text. This episode invites an engaging discussion around Ericsson’s and Csikszentmihalyi’s influential theories and their application in reading skill development.Reading skill development, Phonics approach, Learning theories, Deliberate practice, Flow, Mastery, Neural network, Letter-sound knowledge, Reading code, Ericsson, Csikszentmihalyi.Sigmundsson, H.; Thórsdóttir, H.S.; Njálsdóttir, H.R.; Hjaltalín, S.T. Reading: From the Simple to the Complex. Brain Sci. 2022,12,1670. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12121670