Recently, a tutor of a struggling reader sent us this question: “Do you have any advice on things to say to calm my student down? Sometimes my student gets in a loop of thinking. He cries and says he hates this tutoring, he can do harder stuff than this, his anger and sadness causes him to be in a place where he cannot learn. I plan to have a variety of activities and books available to have an option when one activity isn’t working. Two sessions ago I stopped the session, because my student could not calm down. We made an agreement that day to stop using the books he didn’t like. I continued the session yesterday, but I’m not sure how much he learned. I didn’t want him to think I’m going to give up.”

Possible Answers

How to calm a struggling reader requires the tutor to know what is currently causing or aggravating the problem; this allows the tutor to tailor interventions, such as the strategies below, to the struggling reader’s needs. Although the strategies below are directed to the tutor, teachers and parents might also benefit from understanding them:

1. Use Proper Materials. Especially during the first few months of tutoring, make sure that the material is easy for him. Make sure that after this period, when you increase the difficulty of the materials he’s about to read, you give him materials at his proper reading instructional level; before instruction, he should be able to quickly recognize 95% or more of the words in what he’s about to read and understand 70% or more of the material. When he’s about to read independently, you’re sure he can recognize 99% of the words and understand 90% of the material.
2. Remove Threats by Stressing Fun. Remove the threats inherent in tutoring. Do this by building lots of fun into tutoring. Fun means the struggling reader likes it and looks forward to it. This may require playing Monopoly for the first few sessions or, if he likes basketball, just “shooting hoops.” When you do this, you’re not wasting time; instead, you’re building a positive relationship—one in which he feels safe, comfortable, and respected—and anticipates good things. As time passes and he’s obviously feeling comfortable, gradually add reading instruction that’s designed to foster success and the anticipation of success. You might begin by reading aloud to him, but reading only materials in which he’s interested, such as Pokémon comics. You might also motivate him by having him choose what to read, from materials that will interest him and that are at his proper instructional and independent levels. Translation: start where he is, start where he’s comfortable.
3. Explore Relaxation Training. If the struggling reader is getting help from a qualified mental health specialist, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist, or Licensed Clinical Social Worker, thoroughly discuss with this person and with the child’s parents the possibility of teaching the child simple relaxation strategies, such as diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation,  or visual imagery.  Relaxation training refers to a promising set of simple practices that lower anxiety, and, as a side benefit, have helped some children strengthen their reading, improve their attention and their behavior. To learn more about relaxation training, visit our website (www.reading2008.com) and download the free article, Self‑induced relaxation: A practical strategy to improve self‑concepts, reduce anxiety and prevent behavioral problems.
4. Systematically Strengthen the Struggling Reader’s Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy is the child’s belief that he can succeed on a task. To this definition, I generally add, if he makes a moderate effort. Self-efficacy is critical to motivation. After all, if a child thinks he’ll fail, no matter his effort, he’s unlikely to try, he’s likely to resist. He’ll think: Why fail? Why prove to everone I’m dumb? Why embarrass myself? If his self-efficacy for reading is weak—as it is with many struggling readers—you have to help him strengthen it. To do so, you need to stress the four sources of self-efficacy: (a) mastery experiences, (b) vicarious experiences, (c) verbal persuasion, and (d) physiological and emotional arousal. Tutors, teachers, and parents can learn more about how to use these sources in Increasing struggling learners’ motivation: What tutors can do and say (under resources at www.reading2008.com) and Improving self-efficacy and motivation: What to do, what to say.
5. Weave Aerobic Exercise and Music into Your Tutoring Sessions. To improve the struggling reader’s mood, you may want to start your sessions with music that will help him feel positive about the upcoming lesson:

Music seems to offer a novel system of communication rooted in emotions rather than in meaning…. Music reliably conveys certain sentiments…. We may never know why music exists…. But even amid uncertainty about music’s origins, we can still use songs to pump ourselves up or calm ourselves down, ease pain and anxiety, bond with others or simply move people to tears. (Schrock, 2009)

You might also provide short sessions of aerobic exercise throughout the tutoring session. Why? Because aerobic exercise can improve both a child’s mood and his cognitive functioning. So, you might encourage him to exercise three minutes here, two there:

When the students in Titusville or in Naperville go for a mile run in gym, they are more prepared to learn in their other classes: their senses are heightened; their focus and mood are improved; they’re less fidgety and tense; and they feel more motivated and invigorated…. In addition to priming our state of mind, exercise influences learning directly, at the cellular level, improving the brain’s potential to log in and process new information. (Ratey & Hagerman, 2008, p. 35)

Jonathon noticed the changes that were emerging. He would go for a run or ride a bike during stormy times, trying to find some way out of the mood that seemed to take him over. These rhythmic physical activities helped him to calm his body, to get grounded in his awareness, and to bring himself back into balance. (Siegel, 2010, p. 98)

We learn more effectively when we are physically active. (Siegel, 2010, p. 84)

Critical Questions

Clearly, I’ve listed only a few ways to improve the struggling reader’s readiness for learning, including his confidence, motivation, and behavior. Other ways include counseling, music therapy (see http://www.reading2008.com/blog/?s=pellitteri), and applied behavior analysis. Generally, it’s best to match the intervention to the current causes of the difficulty, which can take considerable time and expertise. In the meantime, build your lessons around these five questions:

1. Does the struggling reader think the lesson will be fun?
2. Does he think the materials and the activities will be interesting or important?
3. Does he think he will succeed if he makes a moderate effort?
4. Does he think his success will help him achieve goals that are important to him, that will get him what he wants?
5. What can you say and do to strengthen his self-efficacy, his confidence that he will succeed?

Also, examine other parts of his day. Ask:

1. Throughout the day, are his teachers giving him materials and activities at his proper instructional and independent levels, including homework?
2. Throughout the day, is he getting sufficient social and emotional support, so that he feels psychologically and physically secure?
3. Is he getting enough sleep? Is it quality sleep?
4. Is his diet likely to support learning?
5. Throughout the day, is he getting enough exercise?

Please feel free to comment on our suggestions and perhaps add your own.

Resources

Margolis, H. (2005). Increasing struggling learners’ motivation: What tutors can do and say. Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(2), 223-240.

Margolis, H., & McCabe, P. P. (2006). Improving self-efficacy and motivation: What to do, what to say. Intervention in School and Clinic, 41(4), 218-227.

Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. NY: Little, Brown & Company.

Schrock, K. (2009).  Why music moves us. Scientific American Mind. Retrieved 10/29/2009, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-music-moves-us.

Siegel, D. J. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. NY: Bantam.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond  www.reading2008.com

Patrick McCabe, Ph.D.

Coordinator, Doctoral Program in Literacy

St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY

There is a strong correlation between the size of a child’s vocabulary and his reading ability.

In fact, one of the best predictors of success in reading is the quantity of words children know. While there is a correlation between words known and reading ability, and good reading comprehension requires a good vocabulary, a good vocabulary does not insure good reading comprehension. In other words, just teaching your child vocabulary words does not mean that she will automatically comprehend what she reads. Reading comprehension requires more. It requires the ability to relate ideas presented, not just knowledge of what individual words mean.

However, the value of an expansive vocabulary at any age cannot be ignored or underestimated.  Personal impressions in social and business situations are often based on vocabulary knowledge. The following are ideas that parents can use to develop their child’s vocabulary.

Plan Ahead. Plan to include new vocabulary words that you can easily introduce into conversations with your child. Some topics discussed are predictable and recur on a regular basis, from day to day or week to week. Other discussions are less predictable.

For topics that you discuss on a regular basis (your child visiting his friends, dinner preparation), think of different words for stating your message. If you’re about to discuss reasons people shouldn’tt be late for appointments, consider using “tardy” instead of “late.”

Let’s say you’re going to speak to your child about a family automobile trip to a nearby town she’s visited often. Think of new words to describe what you know she’ll see. You might use “edifice” to describe a large building, “pasture” a “field,” “facade” the front of a building.

Use Repetition and Replacement. Repeatedly hearing the same new words is essential for vocabulary growth. A new word, once learned, should not be allowed to be forgotten like an old toy. As a parent, you should model its use whenever possible so that your child knows the word is part of the family’s language. For example, instead of saying “automobile,” often  say “vehicle.” The more you use “vehicle,” the greater the likelihood your child will learn it and use it.

Discuss Words. New words are best learned when they’re connected to known words. Have a family discussion (during dinner perhaps) about words with the same word part.  For example, “astronaut” can easily be related to “astronomy,” “astrology,” “astronomical,” astronomer,” and even  the “Houston Astros” baseball team. They all have “astro” in common. “Aquifer” can be related to “aquarium,” “aqueduct” and “aquatic.” Word discussion is also important because it encourages children’s interest in the history or etymology of words. Your child will start to make connection between words that have common parts. Soon, on his own, he may see and learn the common parts of words, such as “bio” (life) and “logy” (study of the field of) in biology. He might use this knowledge to figure out the meaning of “biology” on his own.

Give Positive Feedback. Complimenting your child for using a new word is essential for the continued growth of vocabulary. Your feedback should focus on your child’s success, not on pleasing you. Thus, it’s better for you to say “You should be proud of yourself for using ‘establish’” than to say “I’m proud of you for using ‘establish.’” When I taught elementary school, I complimented my students profusely when they used “recently taught vocabulary.” Before I knew it, they were incorporating recently taught vocabulary words into class discussions. And much to my pleasure, I often heard them use those words in the lunchroom.

Encourage Reading. One of the most successful ways for children to increase their vocabulary is to read, read, read. The more your child reads, the more likely she’ll see new words.  When she asks you about the meaning of a new word, encourage her to figure out the meaning herself.  Say, “What do you think it means?” Don’t automatically send her to the dictionary. In some situations, the dictionary can help. However, finding a word in a dictionary does not always help children understand how it’s used in a story. By trying to figure out the meaning of a word—without a dictionary—you encourage your child to think. As a result, she’ll remember the word better.

As you nurture your child’s vocabulary, you should also augment your vocabulary. Why? Because vocabulary development is never complete. Development can, should, and needs to continue throughout life! And as you show your child that you’re working to learn new words, you give him a wonderful gift: an excellent model for lifelong learning.

Edited by Howard Margolis, Ed.D., www.reading2008.com

Katie Stover, Doctoral Candidate

Karen Wood, Professor

University of North Carolina Charlotte

Academic difficulties are only one of the many challenges that struggling readers face daily. According to Dunston and Gambrell (2009), “In addition to changes in reading motivation … some students begin to lose self-confidence, become anxious about school and engage in activities that inhibit rather than facilitate literacy learning.”  In other words, lack of success in reading can create emotional social and emotional problems.

Students who struggle with reading can easily feel angry, frustrated, and alienated from their peers and teachers. Many struggling readers become withdrawn, unmotivated, and resistant to reading. Although they may appear shy or quiet in school, their withdrawal is often a way of coping with an environment they find uncomfortable and, in some cases, threatening.

Daily experiences often undermine their motivation, their interest in reading, and any thoughts they might have had about becoming competent readers. One example is grouping for instruction. Though not a preferred practice, teachers often sort students into groups of advanced, average, and struggling readers, and provide them with different types of instruction and materials. Struggling readers are often compared with their peers—negatively—and are well aware of the differences in instruction and materials. This awareness often ignites feeling of inferiority and inadequacy. Furthermore, because teachers have the power and authority, struggling readers may fear asking for help or speaking in class. Feelings of embarrassment and helplessness often leave them unmotivated and uninvolved in school.

The emotions felt by middle school students who struggle to read are partially determined by their experiences with peers, teachers, and parents. Teachers and parents who focus on the positive rather than the negative can energize and motivate struggling readers. Which response do you think is more likely to motivate struggling readers?

1. “Jim, you really tried. You reread the paragraphs you didn’t understand. And you got 80% of the questions right. Great. Now let’s see how we might get even more questions right.”
2. “Jim, you got 20% of the questions wrong. If you tried harder and paid better attention, you might have gotten 100% right. Progress requires effort, not laziness.”

Teachers and parents can also help struggling readers by creating a social environment that fosters success and communicates to struggling readers that they are valued as much as anyone else. Thus, teachers and parents must not blame struggling readers for their resistance or apathy to reading. Instead, teachers and parents must look beneath the surface to identify and address the sources of resistance or apathy. Typical sources are memories of failure, fear of failing, fear of embarrassment, belittling peers, babyish materials, and impossibly difficult materials. By minimizing or eliminating these sources, teachers and parents can help struggling readers develop a more positive attitude toward literacy, or a more positive literacy identity.

As a parent of a struggling reader, you may want to meet with your child’s teachers to discuss how they might help him or her by taking these actions:

1. Be conscious and aware of his feelings and emotions and how they might affect his actions.
2. Make sure she is emotionally ready for any assignment or task and that with moderate effort success is likely.
3. Develop classroom activities that include rather than isolate him and on which he’s likely to succeed. Consider collaborative assignments where students of all abilities are grouped together.
4. Ensure that the learning environment emphasizes materials and instructional activities that will likely to produce success, every day, in every class.
5. Create a supportive academic setting in which she realizes that trying new things, or “taking risks,” is valued and that she will  not be penalized or ridiculed—overtly or subtly—by her peers for any difficulties she has.
6. Give him a choice and a voice in his assignments.
7. Listen and speak to him so he learns to think of himself as a respected member of the class.

It’s important for parents to know that schools can do a great deal to motivate struggling readers who have become dismayed about reading and whose motivation to read is threadbare. By following the suggestions in this post, teachers (and at home, parents) can create and maintain a caring and trusting environment where struggling readers are motivated to become active learners whose emotional struggles and fear of reading no longer dominate their adolescent years.

References

Dunston, P., & Gambrell, L. (2009) Motivating adolescent learners to read. In K. D. Wood & W. E. Blanton, editors, Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: Research into Practice. NY: Guilford. (p. 269-286), p. 270.

Edited by Howard Margolis, Ed.D. Co-author of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com).

Help Launch The National “Read To Kids” Campaign: Vote On the Web

In the U.S. today, a stark disparity exists between the reading abilities of low-income and higher-income children. Only 50% of low-income 4th graders read at or above the basic level according to the Department of Education’s 2007 Nation’s Report Card. The implications of the growing literacy gap extend beyond the walls of our homes and our classrooms. According to Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of Child Development and Behavior at the National Institute of Health, “surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records indicate that at least half have reading difficulties, and in some states the size of prisons a decade in the future is predicted by fourth grade reading failure rates.”

According to the National Commission on Reading report, Becoming a Nation of Readers, “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”  However, The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found that only 36% of kindergarten students of a low socioeconomic status were being read to every day by their parents.  In total, low-income children hear only half to one-third as many spoken words as children in more affluent households.

By reading aloud with low-income children, we can help bridge the literacy gap. To accomplish this, we need a national campaign that emphasizes the importance of parents, teachers and community volunteers reading aloud to children at least 20 minutes a day from birth through high school. Similar to the national physical activity campaign that encourages kids to get their 60 minutes of physical activity every day, we need a similar campaign aimed at encouraging kids to get their 20 minutes of reading aloud every day.

By reading aloud with children, we can improve their interest in and attitudes toward reading and improve children’s fundamental literacy skills, including reading comprehension, vocabulary, reading ability, listening comprehension, attention span and ability to articulate thoughts. Being read to by an adult also helps build a child’s self-esteem and confidence.

A national “Read to Kids” campaign could engage national and local literacy organizations, schools, teachers, parents, authors, publishers and nearly every sector of business and society that understands that our nation’s future depends on our children’s literacy skills.

EVERYBODY WINS! USA Inc Jan 26 @ 03:55PM PST

www.reading2008.com

Once on the site, click Paired Reading . You’ll also see valuable resources about Writing, Spelling, and Thinking. You can download most of these resources.

Visiting the site and studying the materials will give you information that may help you make better decisions for children who struggle with reading.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond  www.reading2008.com

I often respond with three suggestions:

• Don’t try to teach him anything new if it’s likely to cause friction, or fighting, or excessive anxiety.
• Read to him daily. Make sure it’s something he likes, and then, if he wants, and only if he wants, have him read it silently or read a sentence or more back to you. Don’t pressure him to read aloud. If he has trouble with a word, tell it to him.
• Try Toppings’ Paired Reading. Once you know how to use it, it’s simple to use and generally children find it satisfying. They usually like it. Moreover, it’s often effective. It’s supported by some good research.

A Description of Paired Reading

Here’s how Rathvon (2008) described Paired Reading:

Paired Reading is a simple, effective strategy that requires little training for parents and uses the student’s regular classroom materials. During tutoring sessions, the parent and child begin reading aloud together and continue until the child makes an error. The parent supplies the correct word, the child repeats the word and rereads the sentence, and simultaneous (“duet”) reading continues. When the child feels ready to read alone, he or she gives a prearranged signal [e.g., a thumb up], and the parent stops reading while the child continues. Paired Reading improves word identification, fluency, and comprehension for low-performing elementary grade readers, including students with ADHD, and is rated highly by parents and children alike…. For best results, Paired Reading sessions should be conducted at least four times a week, whether at home or at school. (p. 193, italics added)

Training

The reason for italicizing the phrase little training is that a little training can be very helpful: seeing Paired Reading in practice is worth tens of thousands of words. Thus, if your child struggles to recognize words and you think Paired Reading might help, we strongly urge you to request training and support from your child’s school. Because its easy, relatively quick, and inexpensive to train parents and teachers to use Paired Reading, because the children read material from their class or local library, which usually precludes the need for new materials, and because the procedure can help children and raise the school’s test scores, many schools will readily provide training and assistance.

If, however, your child’s school will not, and your child is eligible for special education, send a written request for training, assistance (e.g., books), and an IEP meeting to your child’s IEP Team. At the meeting, make sure that your request for training and assistance is listed and explained in the parents’ concerns section of your child’s IEP. Keep in mind that if your child’s school denies your written request for parent training, which can be a related service under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), it must, within a specific number of days, send you a written, detailed explanation. Its written response:

Must include …. (1) A description of the action proposed or refused by the [school]; (2) An explanation of why the [school] proposes or refuses to take the action; (3) A description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the [school] used as a basis for the proposed or refused action; (4) A statement that the parents of a child with a disability have protection under the procedural safeguards of this part … (5) Sources for parents to contact to obtain assistance in understanding the provisions of this part; (6) A description of other options that the IEP Team considered and the reasons why those options were rejected; and (7) A description of other factors that are relevant to the [school]’s proposal or refusal. (IDEA Regulations from §300.503 of the Federal Register of August 14, 2004)

The Steps

In discussing Paired Reading, Lipson and Wixson (2003) listed the steps:

The child and parent read together at the same time from a book that the child has selected. When the child feels ready, he or she reads alone…. The activity is … done for approximately 15 minutes every day.

1. Child selects a book to be read.
2. Child and adult read together until the child, using a prearranged signal (e.g., a nudge), indicates that he or she is ready to read alone.
3. The child reads independently until an error is made or a word is encountered that is not read correctly in 5 seconds.
4. The adult immediately rejoins the child in reading together.
5. Reading together continues until the child gives the signal again and the procedure is repeated or the session ends.

Parents are encouraged to praise children for appropriate signaling, self-correct­ing, fluent reading, decoding difficult words independently, and for thinking about the story while reading. (pp. 530-531)

Our Advice

If you think your child will find reading with you or another member of your family rewarding or satisfying, get the training and try Paired Reading. If it works, continue it and learn more about it, such as how to discuss what was read and how and when to reward your child if, after a while, his motivation and attention wanders. If you think he might do better with tutoring from a college student, make sure the student gets the training. If it looks as if Paired Reading is causing your child to become highly anxious or creating tension in the family, end the reading. Look for other ways to help your child; many are discussed in chapters 6 and 13 of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds.

Resources

Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K.K. (2003). Assessment and Instruction of Reading and Writing Difficulty: An Interactive Approach (3^rd ed.).Boston: Allyn& Bacon.

Margolis, H., & Brannigan, G. G. (2009). Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds. Voorhees, NJ: Reading2008 & Beyond (www.reading2008.com).

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective School Interventions (2^nd ed.). Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Student Outcomes. NY: The Guilford Press.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com

In a previous post we argued that it’s “A Tough Time For Children And Adults With Disabilities.” Politicians are cutting critical services, using budget shortfalls as the excuse, when in many cases the underlying motivation is encased in political philosophy, opportunism, and the belief that people with disabilities and their families won’t or can’t effectively challenge the cuts. We recommended several action steps.

Action Steps

We suggested that people who care about children, youth, and adults with disabilities, any kind, should:

• Ignore bumper sticker phrases like “reduce taxes,” “higher standards,” “throw the bums out.” These are usually shorthand phrases for inflaming anger or bigotry and gaining political power, not phrases for strengthening knowledge or insight and improving lives.
• Read about and study policies that will help your children and then become politically active in supporting them. Keep holding politicians accountable: keep asking them questions, keep examining their votes, keep examining the bills they offer, keep calling them, keep withholding support for those whose actions don’t immediately help your child and other children, keep supporting those whose actions do, join and actively support organizations that support your views. Consider running for office so you can institute and support policies that help children.
• Learn, learn, learn. And share your learning. Keep writing to newspapers and magazines and blogs. Call radio shows. Let them know what you think and why: provide compelling facts and logic, not bitterness and bluster.
• Help schools to get the resources they need to help your child and all children; then keep holding the schools accountable for their actions. If they have the resources, they should have the accountability. Do the same for state agencies that are supposed to serve adults with disabilities (http://www.reading2008.com/blog/a-tough-time-for-children-and-adults-with-disabilities-what-to-do.htm).

In NJ, It’s Time to Act

If you live in NJ and you have a child with developmental disabilities, read this Action Alert and then follow the steps recommended. Act: If you don’t, your child and family may suffer. If you don’t live in NJ, save the column as it may well apply to your situation.

NJ’s Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD)

Changes How it Will Provide New Day Service Placements

By S. Paul Prior, Esq. and Herbert D. Hinkle, Esq.

In a move that will likely have significant impact on individuals with developmental disabilities scheduled to graduate in June 2010, the Division of Developmental Disabilities (“DDD”) announced today that it is changing how it will provide new day program placements. Unless families act quickly, their children may be without any services when educational entitlements end. Under federal law, a person with a disability found eligible for special education and related services is entitled to a free and appropriate public education until age 21. In New Jersey, educational services extend to the June following the student’s 21st birthday.

Despite the fact DDD describes day services as the “backbone of the system that serves individuals with developmental disabilities,” the agency “In response to recent developments in the state’s fiscal situation” will now provide day services, including self-directed day services, only on an “emergency” basis. Pursuant to DDD’s rules, the criteria for an emergency placement in a day program are:

1. The individual has been placed in a Division funded residential placement and does not have a current day program;

2. The individual would become homeless without a day placement; or

3. The individual requires supervision which is not available during the day and is at risk of imminent peril.

This is a developing issue and parents should check our website often (www.hinkle1.com) for updates as information becomes available.

In the meantime, parents must act quickly to do the following:

1. Make sure your child’s name is on the day program waiting list. This request should be directed to your case manager in writing. If you have made this request previously, do not assume DDD has a record of it, additional verification may be needed.

2. Gather information now about what will likely occur if your child does not have day services available. Will your child regress? Will behaviors re-emerge or become worse? Will there be a serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of the child or other family members living with him or her? Your child’s school, doctors, and therapists may be good sources for this information.

Most importantly, do not wait until June to request day services. Over the years, particularly when state resources are limited, we have helped families develop arguments, strategies and provided strong advocacy, maximizing the potential that services will continue with little or no gaps.

The attorneys at Hinkle, Fingles and Prior are available to speak at your school, agency or parent groups on this important topic. (www.hinkle1.com)

Howard Margolis @ Reading2008&Beyond (www.reading2008.com/blog)

Guest Post

by

Melissa Orkin, M.A.

Clinical Fellow

Center for Reading and Language Research, Tufts University

As a Clinical Fellow at the Center for Reading and Language Research (CRLR) at Tufts University, I regularly speak with parents who are frustrated with the development of their child’s reading skills. Many of the families have children who have been diagnosed with reading disabilities yet others have found that although their children can adequately sound out words, they are struggling with fluency and comprehension.

Our approach to reading instruction at the CRLR is based on all we know about how inter-connected processes in the brain contribute to reading development. Over the last two decades, significant advances in brain imaging have provided a clearer picture about the neural network that contribute to an individual’s “reading circuit” (Tan, Spinks, Eden Perfetti, & Siok, 2005; Sandak, Mencl, Frost, & Pugh, 2004). This picture reveals that in order to fluently read and comprehend text it is necessary to activate many aspects of a child’s visual and linguistic knowledge. In other words everything the child knows about oral language contributes to the development of written language (Wolf, Gottwald & Orkin, 2009).

Consider the processes involved in analyzing a single word like “duck.” Within milliseconds of being presented with the word, readers are required to activate visual memory in order to recognize letters; phonological knowledge to connect the letters with their corresponding sounds; vocabulary to determine the most likely meaning of the word; and grammatical understanding to ascertain the function of the word in the sentence.

As our understanding of the reading brain has deepened, we have employed this knowledge to inform our approach to reading instruction and remediation. Over ten years ago, the CRLR created the RAVE-O (Reading, Automaticity, Vocabulary, Engagement & Orthography) program, an innovative reading curriculum whose purpose is to teach the young reading brain how to build up and connect multiple sources of visual, cognitive, and linguistic information and rapidly retrieve them during reading (Wolf & Katzir-Cohen, 2001). By combining some of the best existing teaching practices with newly-designed strategies, the program systematically addresses the following component skills necessary for fluent reading and comprehension:

Phonological awareness. This refers to an individual’s knowledge of the sound structure of spoken words. Proficiency in phonological awareness, or the ability to segment and blend sounds, is necessary to “sound out” most words during reading. Each lesson in RAVE-O begins with a phonological review of the sounds in targeted words to ensure a strong sound/symbol understanding.

Orthographic Knowledge. . This consists of an understanding of how specific sounds map onto letters. In RAVE-O we not only emphasize the sounds of individual letters but also pay special attention to letter patterns, particularly the onsets “d” and rhymes patterns “uck” in words.  By attending to “chunks” of words rather than individual sounds a reader can more quickly recognize and read a word.

Semantic Knowledge. This refers to both the size of an individual’s vocabulary and also the strength and depth of his/her word knowledge. Locker, Simpson & Yates (2003) found that the more knowledgeable children are about a word, its multiple meanings, and various pragmatic and syntactic contexts of use, the more rapidly the word is processed during reading. One prominent feature of the RAVE-O program is its emphasis on the multiple meanings of words in various contexts. Consider the multiple meanings of the word “duck”. When functioning as a noun, it represents a web-footed, swimming bird; as a verb, it means to avoid. In fact, a great many of the most common children’s words are equally polysemous and may pose comprehension challenges if not fully understood.

Syntactic Knowledge. This refers to both the understanding of how words are used within different grammatical or syntactic contexts. It is essential for the child’s fluency and comprehension. RAVE-O instructors regularly lead children in discussions about the role of words in text. These conversations are particularly helpful in discerning between verbs, nouns and adjectives and as a result foster deeper comprehension among struggling readers.

Morphological Awareness. This refers to the conventions that govern word formation, and the ways in which roots and affixes create new word meanings. For example, adding the suffix morpheme “s” to the root “duck” creates a plural noun, while adding “ed” results in the past verb form “ducked”. Morphological awareness is important in reading because it clarifies the role the word plays in sentence structure which helps determine its meaning, and as a result aids in comprehension. In RAVE-O students are explicitly taught the importance of morphemes through the introduction of specific suffixes or “ender benders” which help children quickly recognize common endings and further understand their impact on a word’s meaning.

In short, RAVE-O’s basic premise is that the more the child knows about a word, the faster the word is decoded, retrieved, and comprehended. As parents and educators strive to provide students with instruction that is effective in fostering the development of fluent comprehension, it is important to consider a student’s performance in all the componential skills listed above. This information will not only provide a more complete reading profile but should also inform an educator’s approach to remediation. At the end of all our efforts, we want to help children learn to read fluently enough so that they have time not only to comprehend the text, but also to think their own thoughts.

To learn more about the Center for Reading and Language Research and RAVE-O visit http://ase.tufts.edu/crlr

References

Locker, L., Simpson, G. & Yates, M. (2003). Semantic neighborhood effects on the recognition of ambiguous words. Memory & Cognition, 31(4), 505-515.

Sandak, R., Mencl, W.E., Frost, S.J., & Pugh, K.R. (2004) The neurological basis of skilled and impaired reading: Recent findings and new directions. Scientific Studies of Reading, 8(3), 273-292.

Tan, L.H., Spinks, J.A., Eden, G.F., Perfetti, C.C., and Siok, W.T. (2005). Reading depends on writing in Chinese. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (24) 8781-8785.

Wolf, M., Gottwald, S., & Orkin, M (2009). Serious word play: how multiple linguistic emphases in RAVE-O instruction improve multiple reading skills. Perspectives in Language and Literacy.

Wolf, M. & Katzir-Cohen, T. (2001).  Reading fluency and its intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading, 211-239.

Author

Melissa Orkin, M.A. is a doctoral student in the Applied Child Development Department at Tufts University working with Dr. Maryanne Wolf. Currently she is a graduate research assistant and clinical fellow at the Center for Reading and Language Research. Melissa received a B.A. from Arizona State University and an M.A. in Applied Child Development from Tufts University. She has worked as a Reading Specialist in the classroom and as an Educational Clinician in private practices throughout the Boston area. Her research interests focus on how emotions affect motivation and learning. More specifically, she is investigating the ways in which the beliefs and goals of children with reading disabilities relate to their ability to handle academic challenges.

Editor

Howard Margolis, Ed.D.

http://www.reading2008.com/blog

A Guest Post by

Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D.

Professor, Kent State University

A recent survey of “What’s Hot and What’s Not” in Reading found that reading fluency is no longer a hot topic and that it should not be hot.  As a person who has written widely about reading fluency and have done a fair amount of research into fluency, I found this a bit disturbing.  From my work in the Kent State University Reading Clinic, I know that many children who experience significant difficulty in reading have problems in fluency.  When appropriate fluency instruction is provided, overall reading achievement improves, sometimes dramatically.

The problem with fluency comes from its association with reading fast. One way to assess reading fluency is by measuring speed of reading.  And since reading speed is associated with fluency and overall reading proficiency, the logic seems to be that one way to improve reading fluency and overall reading proficiency is to teach children to read fast.   This, I believe is a serious corruption of the notion of fluency. And if fluency is nothing more than reading fast, then I would agree that it should not be a hot topic in reading.

Fluency is important to the extent that it is association with reading comprehension.  Most everyone reading this post is a fluent reader. How did you become fluent? I would think that it wasn’t by instruction in speed reading, but through lots of meaningful practice. We become fluent at anything through lots of practice – wide and deep practice.

By wide practice, I refer to the kind of reading most of us do, reading one thing after another. This is clearly an important kind of practice.

Deep reading involves reading a passage more than once. Many of our struggling readers read a text once and they don’t read it well. Rather than move on to the next piece, I believe that sometimes we need to ask them to read it several times until they can read it well, or fluently. Otherwise, if we never give students a chance to read texts well, we are allowing them to practice mediocre reading.  And if that is the case, we shouldn’t be surprised if we end up with mediocre results.

Deep or repeated reading works. Research shows that when students read a text more than once and then move on to a new passage, improvement shows up on the new passage. But the question becomes how to get students to read a text more than once. In many fluency programs on the market now, the reason for repeated reading is to read fast.  I think this is fake fluency.

When I think of the need for practicing a text, I think of the idea of performance. If I knew I were to perform a poem, script, or song for an audience, I would want to engage in practice. And the practice is not aimed at reading fast, but at conveying meaning through a meaningful and expressive interpretation of the passage.

In our reading clinic, and working with teachers around the country, we have used repeated reading of readers theater scripts, poetry, song lyrics, dialogues, monologues, letters, jokes, and other texts to improve reading fluency and make meaning.  Our results with our struggling readers have been very impressive. We have seen struggling readers turn themselves into confident readers who read for meaning and enjoyment. This, to me, is the true approach to reading fluency – authentic practice guided and supported by caring and informed teachers.

Author: Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D.

Timothy Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. He has written over 150 articles and has authored, co-authored or edited over 15 books or curriculum programs on reading education. He is co-author of the award winning fluency program called Fluency First, published by the Wright Group. His scholarly interests include reading fluency and word study, reading in the elementary and middle grades, and readers who struggle. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. As well as publishing numerous best selling books with Teacher Created Materials and Shell Education.

Editor: Howard Margolis, Ed.D.

© Timothy Rasinski

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/launch_a_national_read_to_kids_campaign.

To learn more about the Campaign, read the description below. Thanks.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/launch_a_national_read_to_kids_campaign