LD EduTalk

info@LdEduTalk.org

The Miracle of ReadingIs Reading an Unnatural Act?

Nancy Cushen White, Ed.D., BCET, CALT

nancycushenwhite@gmail.com

May 15, 2014

“Cultural activities such as reading and arithmetic,

even though they are relatively recent inventions, call

on specific brain areas that are exquisitely attuned to

their function and are identical from one person to the

next and from one culture to another.” (with minor

variations)

“Similar brain circuits are activated in readers of

Japanese, Hebrew, English, and Italian, … (Bolger,

Perfetti, & Schneider, 2005). This result is something

of an enigma if we consider that “nothing in evolution

ever prepared our species to learn to read.” 2

Reading IS an Unnatural Act

Need for Neuronal RecyclingStanislaus Dehaene, 2011

5% will learn to read on their own.

20-30% will learn to read relatively easily once exposed to formal instruction. Most methods will be effective.

30-50% will find learning to read to be difficult without direct systematic explicit instruction.

30-50% will find learning to read to be the most difficult challenge they will ever face.

-Reid

Lyon—NICHD—1998

3

Reading scientists estimate that 95% of all

children can be taught to read at a level

constrained only by their reasoning and listening

comprehension abilities (Fletcher & Lyon, 1998).

Critical components of effective reading

instruction:

Direct teaching of language structure with an

emphasis on decoding fluently and accurately.

Ample practice with skill application in meaningful

contexts is a component of effective teaching.4

Specific areas in the brains of people with

dyslexia are less activated—underactivated—

during attempts to read.

These differences in activation patterns are

universal across cultures and languages.

5

6

Pragmatics

Semantics Grammar

Phonology

Phenomenal Learning

Oral Language—Speaking and Listening

7

Over-reliance on context and guessing

Limited phoneme awareness

Slow naming speedlack of fluency in word

recognition

Inability to accurately identify printed words out

of context

8

NATIONAL READING PANEL [2000]

Specific Instructional Components Essential for Effective Reading Instruction

Phonemic Awareness *Orthographic AwarenessExplicit Phonics *Morphological Awareness

Encoding-Spelling

Decoding-Word Identification

Syllables

Fluency

Vocabulary

Comprehension*additions recommended by Dr. Virginia Berninger

9

AUDITORY PROCESSINGPhonological Processing

Phonological AwarenessPhonemic Awareness

AUDITORY PROCESSING

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING

Phonological Memory Phonological Awareness Naming Speed

Phonemic Awareness

Phoneme Blending Phoneme Segmentation Phoneme Manipulation

10 NCW 2000

Student’s ability to break up and read

longer, unfamiliar words accurately.

Knowledge of language structure:

spelling patterns [orthography]

syllable generalizations [phonics]

morphology [meaning].

Benefits of explicit, systematic instruction that

involved teacher modeling and extensive

guided practice leading to independent

application—functional use. 11

Stripped of irrelevant features (e.g., font, case, and size), the letter string

is broken down in elementary components (e.g., single letters with

digraphs-bigramsgraphemes; syllables; and morphemes) that will be

used by the rest of the brain to compute sound and meaning.

interrupting

inter rupt ing

in ter rup ting

i n t er r u p t i ng

12

Average predictability of words in 4th through 8th grade

text is 29.5%. Low frequency words are the least

guessable (Torgesen, 2004).

Context enables the reader to predict accurately one out of

four words OVERALL (Gough & Hillinger, 1980).

A higher level of predictability was shown for function

words (40%) because they are high frequency and contain

fewer letters (Torgesen, 2004).

The content words that convey most of the meaning in

passages are predictable only 10% of the time

(Gough, 1983). Content words are often low frequency

words that vary in length and are most likely to be

unfamiliar.

13

The Role of Context

in Word Recognition

Research has shown that the ability to apply

knowledge of letter-sound correspondences

to identify words is fundamental to

independent word recognition.

Good readers rely on the letters in a word-

NOT context or pictures.

14

The reader should be encouraged to pause

and study unknown words instead of to skip

or to guess an unfamiliar word

(Adams, 1990).

It’s very difficult to comprehend text when

you are unable to identify (read—pronounce)

words accurately.

15

Word Level Reading SkillsMaggie Snowling, 2005

Predictors of

Word Identification

and Spelling

Phoneme Awareness is

a critical factor in the

prediction of word-level

reading skills.

Letter Knowledge

Consequences of Poor

Phoneme Awareness and

Limited Letter Knowledge

Decoding Problems

Lacking strategy for

decoding new or

unfamiliar words

Spelling Weaknesses

16

Consequences of Poor Phonology Adams, 1990

17X17

Reading ComprehensionMaggie Snowling, 2005

Predictors of

Reading

Comprehension

Vocabulary

Knowledge

Grammatical

Sensitivity

Syntactical

Awareness

Efficient Decoding-

Word Identification

Skills

Consequences of

Poor Grammar

and Vocabulary

Language Comprehension

Problems

Inability to read with prosody

(chunk words into meaningful

phrases)

Problems recognizing and/or

pronouncing words with unfamiliar(i.e., low frequency) orthographic

patterns OR grapheme-phoneme

associations

May Be Able to Identify Words

Accurately (but not know meaning)

18

Consequences of Poor Vocabulary &

Grammar(Adams, 1990)

19

X

19

Unique oral-motor movement for

pronunciation of each phoneme

Unique sequence of arm movements for

formation of each letter of the alphabet for

writing

20

Although many people believe that writing is

primarily a motor process, our research

supports a different point of view.

The intactness of fine motor skills alone does

not account for handwriting problems as much

as the ability to code an identified language

symbol (a letter) in memory.

“The „Write Stuff‟ for Preventing and Treating Writing

Disabilities” By Virginia Berninger, University of

Washington-Seattle—IDA Perspectives (1999) 21

Once children have been introduced to letter formation,

they must learn to retrieve and produce letters

automatically.

Handwriting automaticity is a strong predictor of the

quality of composition in normally developing and disabled

writers.

If letter production is automatic, memory space is freed up

for higher level composing processes, such as deciding

what to write about, what to say, and how to say it.

The intactness of fine motor skills alone DOES NOT

ACCOUNT FOR HANDWRITING PROBLEMS AS MUCH AS

THE ABILITY TO CODE AN IDENTIFIED LANGUAGE

SYMBOL (A LETTER) IN MEMORY. 22

23

Resources

www.interdys.orgInternational Dyslexia Association (IDA)—Promoting literacy through research, education, and advocacy; dedicated to helping individuals with dyslexia, their families and the communities that support them.

www.imslec.orgInternational Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC)—Establishes criteria, evaluates, and accredits quality training courses for the professional preparation of multisensory structured language education specialists (clinicians and teacher(s).

www.altaread.orgAcademic Language Therapy Association (ALTA)—Certifies individuals trained in the remediation of written language skills; a national professional member organization.

www.allianceaccreditation.orgAlliance for Accreditation and Certification (Alliance)—Promotes standards for quality professional preparation; a united association of organizations concerned with the accreditation of Multisensory Structured Language Education (MSLE) training courses and the certification of graduates of these courses.

www.ncld.orgNCLD connects parents and others with essential resources, provides educators with evidence-based tools and engages advocates in public policy initiatives.

www.wrightslaw.comWrightslaw provides parents, educators, advocates, and attorneys with accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law, and advocacy for children with disabilities. 24