They acquire the ability to sound out almost any word by themselves. A child also develops the ability to form a mental image of the word. Carden readers do not contain pictures. The teacher works with children individually and in small groups, asking questions and making sure that each child is creating an accurate inner picture of what is being read. The text-only readers also give the children an opportunity to create their own illustrations for the stories.
Children also learn that there is a rhythmic grouping of words in a sentence.
Miss Carden emphasized that this rhythmic phrasing of sentences is essential to reading comprehension. In the Carden method, grammar is used as a tool of comprehension. The children learn to analyze sentences. Also, as part of the Carden method, children learn to summarize sentences, paragraphs, and chapters and to give a title to groups of sentences. They thus learn to comprehend the meaning of the text and to express it in their own way.