These researchers have shown evidence that children go through different cognitive phases in learning to read and that the sequence of these phases are similar across children, at least in the English-speaking countries studied. Some progress at a slower pace, of course, and some at a faster pace. She explains the process the child went through to learn to read and write, the struggle the child had with communicating written language, and how his curiosity played a role in his language acquisition and learning to read. She suggests teachers should not use these stages as a checklist, but should instead, be aware of the of child's verbal and non-verbal displays of themselves as readers and to watch them progress through the stages. Thus, individual children will most likely exhibit characteristics from different aspects of the three levels, and the stages are there as a guideline to help teachers support them at these individual stages.
Research supports the use of developmental continua.
Hence, the continuum is becoming more widespread. Many of Hill's assessment sheets, interviews, portfolio ideas, and teacher data collection suggestions coincide with the First Steps philosophy. Since all children are unique, it is understood that children may exhibit a range of indicators from various phases at any one time. Reading involves messages express in language. Reading also involves knowing about the conventions used to print language - direction rules, space formats, and punctuation signals for new sentences, new speakers, surprise or emphases, and question.