

Phyllis E. Fischer, the developer of Concept Phonics™ and author/designer of many
other Oxton House publications, grew up in and around Minnesota’s Twin Cities. With
her grandmother, mother, and two aunts as teachers before her, she moved naturally
into the field of education. She began her professional career almost four decades
ago as a third grade teacher in Hopkins, Minnesota. After earning a B.S. in Education
and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota,
she taught at the university level for more than 30 years, in Connecticut, Australia,
and Maine. She is now Professor Emerita of Learning Disabilities
at the University
of Maine at Farmington, where for years she supervised a clinic for children with
learning disabilities.
Dr. Fischer also serves as a school consultant for students with special academic
needs, is on the Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of Maine,
presents workshops on teaching reading, spelling and numeracy, and maintains a small
private practice to evaluate students for possible learning disabilities and
to teach
reading and arithmetic.


The inspiration for creating her many educational materials emerged from blending her teaching experience with her doctoral research. In Phyllis Fischer’s own words:
The driving motivation behind the development of Concept Phonics™ was speed. Struggling
readers need to become automatic decoders just as fast as possible. Combining the
psychology research on concept-
© 2006-
Made by Serif

“Dr. Fischer is one of those unusual individuals in our field who has command of the scientific research literature in reading, language, and learning disabilities, and who knows intimately the rationale and processes for teaching any student to read.
She consulted with us for several years on the NICHD Early Interven-
Louisa Moats, Ed.D., Director
NICHD Early Interventions Project
When Phyllis Fischer is not teaching, writing, or consulting, one might find her
busy gardening, reading a good book, or knitting a sweater to keep warm during Maine’s
long winter months. She lives in Farmington with her husband and their cat, Ceili.

“Dr. Phyllis Fischer [has] a wealth of knowledge about early reading acquisition and years of successful experience in teaching.... She has developed theoretically sound, clinically proven materials to train children in an intelligently sequenced and orderly fashion in the skills basic to the reading process.”
Prof. Isabelle Y. Liberman
University of Connecticut
