Reading


 * __Reading__**


 * __Definitions__** (Hudson)
 * Reading: understanding written language by decoding (pronouncing the words) and comprehending (grasping the meaning of the words)
 * Dyslexia: a significant difficulty in reading


 * __Common Characteristics of Students with Reading Difficulties__**
 * See Language section for difficulties rooted in language
 * Inability to accurately and fluently decode single words
 * Confusion of similar words (e.g., reading “when” as “then”)
 * Difficulty using phonics
 * Phonics: a method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters (Dictionary)
 * Due to difficulties with the skills of blending and analyzing the sounds in words, which leads to problems learning letter-sound correspondences (Hudson)
 * Problems reading multi-syllable words (e.g., reading “encountering” as “encounting”)
 * Slow reading rate and/or difficulty adjusting speed to the nature of the reading task
 * Difficulty with comprehension and retention of material that is read but not with material presented orally (Wren)
 * Typical errors made (from [|www.righttrackreading.com]):
 * “Whole word” errors: occur when student is trying to recognize the overall visual appearance of the word, often the words look similar to words already learned as “sight” words (e.g., reading “every” as “very”)
 * “Word guessing” errors: occur when student looks at the first letter and then guesses a word (e.g., reading “shell” as “shark” because there is an illustration of a shark on the page)
 * Tracking errors: occur when student attempts to sound out the word, but does not properly track left-to-right (e.g., reading “was” as “saw”)
 * Consonant cluster errors: occur when the student inserts blended cluster sounds (like s-st, st-str, d-dr, c-cl, c-cr, t-tr, etc.) into words even when it is not present (e.g., reading “steak” as “streak” or “taper” as “trapper”)
 * Attention to detail errors: occur when student does not pay close attention to detail, resulting in missing bits and parts of the word (e.g., reading “farther” as “father”)
 * Letter confusion: occur with visually similar letters, like b and d (e.g., reading “big” as “dig”)
 * Slow development of “sight vocabulary” necessary for fluent reading because of limited exposure to text and the lack of strategies to reliably identify words in text (Hudson)


 * __Classroom Accommodations, Modifications, and Suggestions__**
 * See Language section for suggestions to help with language difficulties that impact reading
 * Provide additional time to complete reading assignments
 * Peer tutoring—allow students to read in pairs so that they can help each other and learn from each other
 * Listening-while-reading: more competent tutor reads aloud while less competent reader follows along, then reads it aloud on his own
 * Phase Drill Error Correction: when the student makes an error on a word, model the word correctly immediately, then have the child reread the phrase where the error occurred three times ([|www.vdps.net])
 * Comprehension strategies (From [|www.vdps.net]):
 * KWLS strategy—organizes information into 4 categories
 * 1) Know—what they already know about the topic
 * 2) Want to know—what they want or need to learn from reading
 * 3) Learned—what they learned from reading
 * 4) Still need to learn—what additional information they need
 * Self-monitoring strategies can help student recognize and resolve comprehension errors (e.g., click or clunk method—say “click” if understand word, sentence, or point; say “clunk” if don’t understand; learns to recognize “clunks” and use strategies to address them, like a dictionary or glossary)
 * Repeated reading: read short passage several times until can be read with ease, without errors
 * Sight-word flow list: helps student build automatic sight word recognition
 * Teacher writes 3-5 words that student fails to recognize in a reading on a flow list form, student studies and is tested on the words, and daily practice/testing is given until student reads each word correctly five days in a row
 * Keep a word bank: student writes each word on a card, that he can use as flash cards or to form sentences to help learn and recall these words
 * Provide explicit instruction in phonics—explicitly teach the student the relationship between sounds and letters, and how to blend the sounds together to pronounce words
 * Teach strategies to decode unfamiliar words (from [|www.vdps.net]);
 * “Peel off” the prefix and/or suffix
 * Identify familiar chunks of words and sound out each chunk
 * Say each letter of the word aloud
 * Use context by covering the unknown word and using words around it
 * Use analogies or key words
 * Individualize textbook instruction by selecting various passages from textbook and construct study guides and tests for those passages—student reads the passages and completes the study guides prior to formally beginning instruction
 * Allow student to use a tape recorder so she can hear directions, stories, and lessons
 * Simplify written directions, highlight or underline the significant parts
 * Present a small amount of work to the student so he is not overwhelmed
 * Allow student to watch movies or other clips instead of reading about a subject
 * Allow student to listen to books on tape
 * Provide line markers to aid reading
 * Provide additional practice activities
 * Develop reading guides to help student focus on relevant content
 * Block out extraneous stimuli on the page that can be distracting (like pictures)
 * Provide student a peer that excels in reading to help the student with reading assignments

Accommodating Students with Dyslexia in All Classroom Settings. Retrieved from [] *Actual Reading Errors Made by Struggling Readers, What these Errors May Indicate, How to Evaluate Reading Errors to Identify Deficiencies, and Target Instruction to Build Necessary Skills. Retrieved from [] *Hudson, Roxanne. Students with Reading Problems: Their Characteristics and Needs. Retrieved from [|http://www.fcrr.org] Classroom Accommodations for Reading Difficulties. Retrieved from [] Wren, Carol (1985). Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities. //College Students with Learning Disabilities//.
 * __References__**
 * Great source for parents*