Linda Gerard Assistant Principal Learning Assistance

Northern Sydney Region2012

PresentationResearch into reading

Reading model

Practical ideas

Strategies

The BrainEvery brain is unique – like a fingerprint

At birth, the human brain weighs 25% of adult weight

Thus, experiences at critical junctures can greatly influence connections

More importantly, an impoverished environment limits growth

ResearchThere is an overwhelming academic consensus that the years

from birth to age 5 is the time when a child’s brain is undergoing the most growth and development.

Cognitive development is the product of two interacting influences, brain growth and experience, both of which exert their greatest impact during the first five years of life.

Reading to a child during this critical time, specifically during the preschool years of ages 3 - 5, builds a number of skills that are key to literacy, including phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and concepts about print conventions.

Given the course of brain development, it is not surprising that most young children who are exposed to certain early language and literacy experiences usually prove to be good readers later.

From: American Early Childhood Literacy Gap

Reading aloudReading aloud to young children is critical

Research has continually shown that when adults read to children, discussing story content, asking open-ended questions about story events, explaining the meaning of words, and pointing out features of print, they promote:

increased language development

comprehension of story

content, knowledge of story structure, and a better

understanding of language– all of which lead to literacy

success

HoweverNearly half the population struggles without the literacy

skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work.

There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers, follow a recipe, make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.

If reading came naturally for all students, teaching would be a much easier job. Children would learn to read as readily as they learn to speak. Teachers would only need to give students the chance to practise their skills

But many children don't learn to read just from being exposed to books. Reading must be taught. For these children, reading must be taught explicitly and systematically, one small step at a time

We were never born/hardwired to read – reading is an invention of man

Unlike language, reading has no specific genes to set up its circuitry or to dictate its development

As we are taught/learn to read, the brain forges new pathways or connections

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganise/rewire/ form new connections in its neural pathways based on new experiences

For connections to be made, the brain needs hundreds of exposures to letters, letter patterns and words

For students with a reading disability (dyslexia), the brain needs thousands of exposures so that the brain can be restructures to automise print

From, Professor Rosemary Tannock, Learning and Attention Difficulties: implications

of neuroplasticity, The Sebel, Parramatta, Sept 25th 2009

Why do some children have difficulty learning to read?Neuroplasticity of the brain

decoding words and understanding the alphabetic code

understanding vocabulary

rechecking meaning and analysing information as it is being read and after it has been read

gaining meaning from, responding to and making inferences from words and images in a variety of contexts

linking known knowledge with the knowledge in texts

categorising, building, changing, redefining and sharing knowledge

transferring knowledge to new contexts and subjects

understanding authors viewpoints, purpose and intended audience

critically analysing messages and information in a variety of literacy modes (visual literacy, multimodal texts) for a variety of purposes.

Reading is a complex process and involves

Report: The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, Teaching Reading (2005)This report concluded that students learn best when an integrated

approach is adopted with teachers explicitly teaching:

Phonemic awareness – the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in oral language

Phonics – the relationship between letters and sounds Fluency – the ability to read quickly and naturally, recognise words

automatically and group words Vocabulary knowledge – new words and what they mean Text comprehension – understanding what is being read, developing higher-

order thinking skills .

Snow (1998) also identified the following as important: control over strategies for monitoring comprehension and repairing

misunderstanding continued interest and motivation to read for a variety of purposes.

Early instruction and intervention – best outcomes when Explicit instruction for decoding, word analysis and context

cueing

Lots of opportunities to practise skills and strategies with high levels of success ensured

Corrective feedback and encouragement

Texts matched to student at appropriate level of difficulty

Spelling and writing included as integral part of literacy program

Adults or peers used to facilitate additional practice

Close liaison established with parents/caregivers to ensure continuity of support at home

From: Westwood, P. Learning and Learning Difficulties, 2004

The Reading Model Good readers integrate the four sources of information effortlessly,

monitoring and adjusting their reading as they go

The four sources of information are:

Semantic information (meaning) does this make sense? does this fit with what has gone before?

  Grammatical information does this sound right? would we say it like that?

  Graphological information (visual) does it look right?

Phonological information (sounds) do the sounds I want to say match the letters on the page?

Good readers Read quickly, effortlessly and with automaticity

Employ all cues: semantics, grammatical/syntax, graphological, phonological & contextual

They read with tone & expression, pause appropriately and emphasise appropriate words

Read chunks of print and don’t have to attend to each sound or each word

As a result, they are able to attend to comprehension and enjoy the text

Able to activate strategies as necessary when meaning breaks down

Draw on their background knowledge

Risk takers, confident enough to engage in difficult tasks and enjoy the challenge – confident in their ability

Weak or dependant readers Weak readers labour to decode or identify words

Rely on a limited set of cues

Read word by word in a very stilted fashion with little intonation, pitch and fluency

Often do not realise when meaning has been disrupted - do not demand or expect sensible, coherent comprehension to be the end product

Poor strategy knowledge and usage

Have deficits at phonological level, perhaps underlying receptive and/or expressive language disorder or delay

Often have limited vocabulary

Poor comprehension as mental capacity taken up with working at word level

Learning to Read Jacobs explains that students learn and practise beginning reading

skills through about the third grade, building their knowledge about

language and letter-sound relationships and developing fluency in

their reading.

Reading to Learn Around fourth grade, students must begin to use these developing

reading skills to learn – to make meaning, solve problems, and

understand something new.

They need to comprehend what they read through a three-stage

meaning-making process : Prereading, Guided Reading &

Postreading.

Differences K- 2 and 3 -6

Difficulties with reading, writing and spelling are often part of the bigger picture of language disability

"...children who have trouble with oral language generally will go on to have difficulty with written language..."

Dr. Paula Tallal, Co-Director, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers

Review of literature shows that up to 75% of children with early language delays continue to show reading problems at age 8 years

Law,J; Boyle, J; Harris, F; Harkness, A; & Nye, C (1998)

Language learning difficulties

Language Expressive Language: Talking -Use of vocabulary, sentences, longer

utterances to convey a message

Receptive Language: - Understanding of vocabulary, grammar,

sentences, instructions, explanations, stories

Pragmatic language: Social skills – the unwritten rules of communication eg eye contact, taking turns, topic maintenance , asking to join a game appropriately etc

Family history of reading difficultiesDelayed speech and language development –slow

vocabulary development, poor expressive language, weak syntax

Persistent problems with sound processing, inconsistent

Speech productionProblems mastering production of new wordsEvident naming, word retrieval difficultiesDifficulty learning letter soundsPoor invented spellingDifficulty with other rote sequences (eg. days of week,

birthday)Slow progress despite well monitored, code based

instruction.

At risk markers

Dyslexia is a language based deficit/disorder that can be linked to neurological origin

Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities

Dyslexia is a learning problem that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling

Characteristics: difficulties with phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed

Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor coordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia

A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexia can be gained by examining the individuals response to well-founded intervention

Source: National Report from Dyslexia Working Party, Jan 2010 and Rose Report , UK, 2009

What is dyslexia

Impact on student learningImpedes development of age appropriate

reading, writing and spelling skills

Without support, limits access to age appropriate curriculum across the Key Learning Areas

Students with dyslexia are often slow to respond to evidence-based interventions

Students with dyslexia are at greater risk of exiting school without achieving literacy skills sufficient to meeting the increasingly complex demands of everyday life

How to help your childrenYoung people lead busy lives and school curricula become

increasingly crowded.

This may not affect keen readers, who will always make the time for books, but it does deter reluctant or uncommitted readers

How we can overcome these barriers? Develop a reading culture at home and/or at school.

Be open to new formats such as graphic novels

Explore the opportunities presented by new media such as lively websites, blogs and book trailers, extending the life of a book beyond its covers

Keeping Young Australians Reading, Centre for Youth Literacy, Nov 2009

Reading with childrenSharing a book for just 10 minutes a day, an hour or so a week, can instil in a child a lifelong love of reading.

Children should be encouraged to explore and experiment with a wide variety of texts, including:

PostersMagazinesComicsPicture booksE books and gamesDictionariesAtlases\manualsPoemsPlays Novels/NovellasNewspapersTravel books timetablesSchedules Visual textsRoad signsFood packagingScreen games

Methods Read aloud to your child

Child reads aloud to you/sibling

Take turns reading with your child (paragraph/page each) Read together, in unison (Neurological Impress Method)

Child reads onto a tape

Child reads along with book on tape/CD/ MP3 Player/computer/E book

Silent reading

Vary the use of activities to keep it interesting for everyone involved

Reread ‘loved’ stories

Lots of discussion about vocabulary

If concerned about your child’s progress, make an appointment with the classroom teacher

Three levels of text Independent text – can be familiar texts; easy to read/read for

pleasure; can pick up and put down; look at the TV whilst we read it; most home readers from school; Premier’s Reading Challenge; DEAR time in class; to increase fluency

Instructional texts – these are generally texts that are used during guided reading lessons to teach children to read, with support from teacher/parent volunteer; need more concentration; need to activate strategies when understanding breaks down; may be more unknown vocabulary/technical words

 Frustration level texts – too difficult to read alone; may be read

to; follow along with CD; read along with voice activation on CD ROM

Introducing a new bookThis should be fun and exciting so

keep it short, simple and moving

Before ReadingTalk about the author/previous books read

Predict what the story may be about from title/cover/pictures

Draw attention to difficult or unusual words in book – discuss meaning

Discuss places, things relevant to story.

During Reading If the student makes an error or encounters an unknown word, activate the Pause,

Prompt and Praise method

Step 1: Pause to give the student a chance to solve the problem. Step 2: If the mistake does not make sense, let the student read to the end of the sentence

and ask them, “did that make sense?” Prompt them with a clue about meaning.  If the mistake did not sound right (they mispronounced the word), prompt with

a clue about how we should say the word/look at the chunks/sound combinations and discuss.

If the mistake makes sense and sounds right, prompt with a clue about how the word looks. Encourage the student to guess a word that makes sense and check to see if the guess matches the sounds in the word and the look of the word.

If the student pauses too long or says nothing, prompt them to read on to the end of the sentence, think about a word that would make sense, and then check that it matches the letters.

Students can also be prompted to re-read to see if they can self-correct; to look for little words, prefixes, suffixes in the larger word; or to stretch out the word.

  After two prompts, tell the student the word. The student then rereads the sentence

correctly.

Step 3: Praise when the student reads correctly or self-corrects; gets a word correct after

prompting; makes a good attempt at an unknown word; read with expression etc.

Prompting: The Listener’s RoleA listeners intervention should not be:

Premature

Destructive to the reader’ s search for meaning and accuracy

Destructive to the reader’s ability to store and recall

Habitual prompting by providing words builds up the reader’s expectation that difficulties will be resolved by the listener

The aim of intervening is to assist the child to make their own decisions and to choose the correct strategy to employ (eg reread, read on, chunk, think of what will make sense and check letters)

After Reading (choose 1)

Talk to your child about the story  Ask them how they would feel if they were in that situation.

Ask the student to retell the story in their own words or identify the main idea as succinctly as possible.

Ask the student literal, inferential and creative questions about the text.

Literal questions are those straight from the text Inferential questions relate to information that is inferred in the text, or information that needs connecting over

a number of pages Creative/Evaluative/Critical questions are those which activate the student’s knowledge of the world and

empower them to use higher order thinking skills

Discuss predictions. Were they correct/incorrect in their original predictions? Why/Why not?

Discuss why the author may have written the text.

Discuss whether they agree with the author’s point of view – use the text to back up answers.

Discuss characters.

Link story back to personal experience.

Discuss how home and hill start with ‘h’, or how bubble and trouble rhyme.

Ask your child to open the book at a certain page and find the word that means _____.

Tell your child the beginning of a sentence and ask them to scan the text, locate the sentence and complete it.

Identify the 4 main events in the story. Tell your child (or write the down) these events in a jumbled order and ask them to sequence them correctly.

Importance of EncouragementEncouragement can be used to:Let children know they are doing the correct thing (eg reading

for pleasure)Reinforce use of appropriate reading strategiesGive credit for correcting errors (with or without assistance)Reward effortMotivate children to keep tryingGive realistic feedback

There are two types of encouragement:1. Descriptive (eg good, you realised that didn’t make sense and

re-read the sentence)2. General (well done, great!)

Always work form the positive rather than the negative.

Levels of comprehensionLiteral: basic facts understood; right Here in the

text

Inferential: reader draws together information from number of pages – information Hidden ; goes beyond what is written right there and makes meaning or draws conclusions

Evaluative: o Critical: (Head) reader assesses what they are

reading for accuracy, clarity, bias or exaggerationo Creative: (Head) the reader takes information or

ideas from what has been read and develops new ideas, original thinking

Summary: Encourage your children to Predict

Activate their background/prior knowledge

Monitor their understanding and activate strategies to work out

unknown words:1. Think about what would both fit the letters and make sense

2. Read on and look for key words/ideas to help 3. Re-read to check/confirm/look for clues4. Ask themselves, “did that make sense?”5. Look at chunks, little words, prefixes and suffixes

Self-correct when meaning lost

Look at the pictures for clues

Recall main ideas when finished reading

Expand their vocabulary; clarify the meaning of new words

Read widely and regularly

Selecting a book: Five Finger Method (quick guide only)

Select text.As your child reads, note each error (fold finger).Calculate:

0 – 1 fingers book is too easy2 - 3 fingers book is suitable4 – 5 fingers book is too difficult.

An error is an uncorrected word omitted, inserted, substituted, a word refused for 5 seconds or made up text. Words which are self-corrected are not errors.

 

100 word test for older studentsMark off 100 words

Count errors

Calculate:0- 5 errors: Independent text5 – 10 errors: Instructional level text10+ errors: Frustration

WebsitesNational year of Reading Website www.love2read.org.au

Reading Rockets http://www.readingrockets.org

Florida Centre for Reading Researchhttp://www.fcrr.org

Speech, Language and Communicationhttp://www.talkingpoint.org.uk

Interactive readers & gameswww.starfall.com