Teaching Reading to Children with Learning Disabilities
Teaching Reading to Children with Learning Disabilities
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Introduction
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities is very challenging. Reading instruction is designed to teach two elements of reading: mechanics and comprehension. While the foundation for reading begins at birth, the focus of instruction from preschool through third grade is reading mechanics. Reading comprehension is the focus from the third grade into early adulthood. It cannot be assumed that a child with learning disabilities will master the mechanics of reading by third grade. Therefore, it is critical that appropriate reading instruction is available throughout a child’s school career. Reading mechanics and comprehension comprise various skill levels that are typically taught in a progressive fashion. Skill levels involved in reading mechanics include pre-reading, decoding and fluency. Pre-reading skills build upon an individual’s growing range of experiences that develop awareness and appreciation of printed words.
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Action
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities requires action. For a child with learning disabilities, the process of learning to read can break down with reading mechanics or comprehension, and at any of the specific skill levels. It is also important to note that children with learning disabilities do not always acquire skills in the normal developmental sequence. If a child does not develop adequate phonemic awareness during the pre-reading period, effective decoding may not be possible. Effective decoding influences the development of fluent reading and comprehension skills. Also, children with learning disabilities often come to the reading task with oral language comprehension problems. When assessing and planning for instruction, consideration of these oral language comprehension problems may facilitate acquisition of reading comprehension.
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Solution
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities involves patience. Teachers should be able to appropriately and systematically modify or combine methods, and utilize different methods, in order to meet a child’s changing needs. Selecting the appropriate program to apply to the student is not a simple matter and requires a careful assessment of where the student is in the developmental process. It is not uncommon to observe a child with all the pre-reading skills, numerous comprehension skills, and simple decoding skills acquired during the student’s progression through mechanical reading instruction. Because there may be a lack of understanding of the sophisticated decoding skills needed, reading with fluency suffers. Students with learning disabilities should be provided with sound strategic approaches that empower them as readers, rather than be allowed to learn and internalize incorrect practices. At LearningRx, we have proven methods that help children with learning difficulties become better readers. Check out a local LearningRx center near you or go to www.learningrx.com.
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Introduction
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities is very challenging. Reading instruction is designed to teach two elements of reading: mechanics and comprehension. While the foundation for reading begins at birth, the focus of instruction from preschool through third grade is reading mechanics. Reading comprehension is the focus from the third grade into early adulthood. It cannot be assumed that a child with learning disabilities will master the mechanics of reading by third grade. Therefore, it is critical that appropriate reading instruction is available throughout a child’s school career. Reading mechanics and comprehension comprise various skill levels that are typically taught in a progressive fashion. Skill levels involved in reading mechanics include pre-reading, decoding and fluency. Pre-reading skills build upon an individual’s growing range of experiences that develop awareness and appreciation of printed words.
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Action
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities requires action. For a child with learning disabilities, the process of learning to read can break down with reading mechanics or comprehension, and at any of the specific skill levels. It is also important to note that children with learning disabilities do not always acquire skills in the normal developmental sequence. If a child does not develop adequate phonemic awareness during the pre-reading period, effective decoding may not be possible. Effective decoding influences the development of fluent reading and comprehension skills. Also, children with learning disabilities often come to the reading task with oral language comprehension problems. When assessing and planning for instruction, consideration of these oral language comprehension problems may facilitate acquisition of reading comprehension.
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities: Solution
Teaching reading to children with learning disabilities involves patience. Teachers should be able to appropriately and systematically modify or combine methods, and utilize different methods, in order to meet a child’s changing needs. Selecting the appropriate program to apply to the student is not a simple matter and requires a careful assessment of where the student is in the developmental process. It is not uncommon to observe a child with all the pre-reading skills, numerous comprehension skills, and simple decoding skills acquired during the student’s progression through mechanical reading instruction. Because there may be a lack of understanding of the sophisticated decoding skills needed, reading with fluency suffers. Students with learning disabilities should be provided with sound strategic approaches that empower them as readers, rather than be allowed to learn and internalize incorrect practices. At LearningRx, we have proven methods that help children with learning difficulties become better readers. Check out a local LearningRx center near you or go to www.learningrx.com.
