1. PowerPoint to accompany
Teaching Students with Reading
Difficulties and Disabilities:
A Guide for Educators
(2004, Ministry of Education)

2. On-Line Document
 This
document is on-line.
• It is located at the following website.
– http://www.learning.gov.sk.ca/
» Click Learning Publications.
» Click Special Education and Intensive Support.

3. Purpose




To assist educators in teaching students
who are experiencing significant reading
difficulties.
To assist educators in teaching students
who have a disability in reading and writing
expression.
To understand the framework for
assessment and program planning.
To gain a repertoire of strategies to help
students develop reading skills.

4. Early Identification of
Reading Ability is Critical
Focus on moving towards a PREVENTATIVE
model of intervention rather than a
REMEDIAL model of intervention.
“The ultimate goal of reading instruction is to
help children acquire the knowledge and
skills necessary to comprehend printed
material at a level that is consistent with their
general language comprehension skills.”
Torgesen (2000)

5. If students are not competent readers,
they are at risk for academic,
behavioral, social, and emotional
difficulties.
Some of these students may be
identified as learning disabled.

6. Official National Definition
of Learning Disability
 At
least average cognitive ability
 Impairments in:
–
–
–
–
–
–
 Range
Language processing
Phonological processing
Visual spatial processing
Processing speed
Memory and attention
Executive function
in severity

7. Official National Definition of
Learning Disability
 Interferes with the acquisition
• Oral language
• Reading
• Written language
• Mathematics
• Organization skills
• Social skills
 Lifelong
 Genetic/Neurobiological
of:

8. Official National Definition of
Learning Disability
IMPACT ON STUDENT

Unexpected academic underachievement or
achievement which is maintained only by
unusually high levels of effort and support.

Not due primarily to hearing and or vision
problems, socioeconomic factors, cultural or
linguistic differences, lack of motivation or
ineffective teaching.

9. Learning Disabilities
Reading
Disability
Written
Handwriting
Math
Nonverbal
Expression
Disability
Disability
Learning
Disorder
Disability
Reading
Writing
Spelling
Motor
Math
Difficulties
Difficulties
Difficulties
Difficulties
Difficulties
VisualSpatial
& Social
Difficulties

10. Difficulties Associated with a
Learning Disability
Social Skills
Study and
Organizational
Skills
Receptive
and
Expressive
Language
Auditory/
Phonological
Processing
Learning
Disability
Visual
Processing
VisualMotor
Processing
Metacognitive
Memory
Attention

11. Characteristics of
Struggling Readers
• Over reliance on guessing strategies
• May have low language skills
• Limited phonemic awareness
• Limited understanding of phonics
• Memory problems
• Read slowly and hesitantly, or not at all
• Limited understanding about the text they read
• Often become frustrated and avoid reading
Moats (1998)

12. What Makes a Reader Proficient?






Development of phonemic awareness
Understanding of letter-sound correspondence
Fluency based on automatic recognition of lettersound relationships
Automatic recognition of sight words
Rich vocabulary
Because of a solid foundation in reading skills,
proficient readers have more cognitive resources to
focus on comprehension.
Moats (1998)

13. A FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSMENT
AND PROGRAM PLANNING FOR
STUDENTS WHO EXPERIENCE
SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTIES IN
READING

14. Framework for Assessment and
Program Planning
PURPOSE

Classroom based assessment will help to
determine how teachers will teach students
with reading difficulties or learning disabilities.

Students with reading difficulties or learning
disabilities require explicit and intensive
instruction that is on-going, monitored, and
evaluated.

15. Framework for Assessment and
Program Planning

Step 1:
Classroom Assessment and
Intervention

Step 2:
Establishing the team and the
Referral Process

Step 3:
Formal Assessment Program
Planning

16. Framework for Assessment and
Program Planning
Step 1. Classroom Assessment and Intervention
The Classroom Teacher
in collaboration with parents/caregivers, resource teacher,
administrator
•Collect/Review Information.
•If insufficient information, move to Step 2.
•Develop Classroom Intervention Plan.
Student experiences success with
Classroom Intervention Plan.
•Continue with interventions
•Monitor, Evaluate
See Step 2
Student continues to experience
difficulty.

17. Framework for Assessment and
Program Planning
Step 2. Referral Process
Establish a Team
•Review information.
•If sufficient information, develop an Expanded Classroom
Intervention Plan.
•If insufficient information, arrange for formal assessment.
Student experiences success with
Expanded Intervention Plan.
•Continue with interventions
•Monitor, Evaluate
Student continues to experience
difficulty.
See Step 3

18. Framework for Assessment and
Program Planning
Step 3. Formal Assessment/Program Planning
The team
•Reviews assessment results and
develops a Personal Program Plan (PPP).
•Implements, Evaluates, and Monitors.
Student experiences success with
PPP.
•Continue with interventions
(PPP).
•Monitor, Evaluate.
Student continues to experience
difficulty.
•Team reviews and adjusts
program.

19. Understanding
Reading Instruction
Strategies to
Use in the Classroom

20. What We Know About
Reading Instruction


Systematic and explicit approaches to
instruction are consistently more effective
than approaches that depend on student
discovery and inference.
The need for explicit instruction extends
beyond phonics. We need to teach
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
strategies this way, too.

21. Critical Elements in Reading
Instruction
Phonological
o
nsi
e
reh
p
om
C
n
Rea
ding
Flue
ncy
Awareness
Ph
Aw one
are mic
ne
ss
Oral
Language
Vocabulary
s
nic
o
Ph
Development
These elements are taught through an integrated, balanced approach,
and not in isolation.

22. Oral Language



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Oral language is the foundation for reading and
written language.
The sounds of oral language are mapped onto
letters, which are used to represent spoken words.
Since the ultimate goal of reading is
comprehension, students must understand the
meaning of the words they are expected to read.
Receptive language refers to the oral language
that we hear and understand.
Expressive language refers to the language that
we use to express ourselves in words.

23. Oral Language:
Intervention Strategies
 Listening
to a Paragraph, Dramatizing
– Read a paragraph.
– Tell students to listen carefully.
– Have students act it out.

24. Oral Language:
Intervention Strategies
 Teach
new vocabulary using a multisensory approach (graphic organizers,
pictures, movies, demonstrations,
modeling).
 Gradually increase multi-step
directions.
 Involve students in simulations.
 Use role plays and drama.

25. Receptive Language Strategies

When providing information, use visuals such as
pictures, charts, time lines, graphic organizers, webs,
calendars, demonstrations, examples.

Keep instructions concise & emphasize key
information.

Pre-teach new vocabulary.

Link new content to prior knowledge.

26. Expressive Language Strategies

When child makes a grammatical error,
restate information using correct structures.

Use higher order thinking questions (explain,
describe, evaluate, compare).

Engage in story telling.

Make scrapbooks of events, favorite things,
or collections (discuss with child).

27. Phonological Awareness
 is
a general understanding that
spoken words are made up of
sounds.
 is
based on processing the sounds of
spoken language.

28. How Phonological Awareness
Relates to Reading

Children become aware that sentences are made up
of words and words are made up of different parts.

Many children develop phonological and phonemic
awareness through listening to stories, rhyming, and
other word games.

Children struggling to learn how to read need direct,
explicit instruction to develop phonological and
phonemic awareness.

29. Examples of Phonological
Awareness

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
This sentence has 5 words:
The cat ran after me.
These words rhyme:
cat - bat.
These words don’t rhyme: ran - bed.
This word has 2 syllables: af-ter.
These words start with the same sound:
me - milk.

30. Phonemic Awareness

The specific understanding that spoken words
are made up of individual phonemes.

It is part of phonological awareness.

Phonemes are the individual sounds in
spoken words. They are the smallest units of
meaningful speech.

31. Examples of how Phonemic
Awareness Relates to Reading

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Blending phonemes into words.
Segmenting words into phonemes.
Deleting a phoneme from a word.
Say “sat” without the /s/.
Adding a phoneme to a word.
Add /m/ to the beginning of “at.”
Manipulating phonemes in words.
Say “bat.” Now change the /b/ to /k/.

32. Phonemic awareness abilities in
kindergarten (or in that age range)
appear to be the best single predictor
of successful reading acquisition.
(A Position Statement from the Board of Directors of the International
Reading Association, 1998)

33. Phonemic Awareness Skills:
Intervention Strategies
Make Riddles
Ask students riddles that require them to
manipulate sounds in their heads:
What rhymes with pig and starts with /d/? (dig)
What rhymes with at and starts with /f/? (fat)
What rhymes with dog and starts with /f/? (fog)

34. Phonics

“Phonics is a way of teaching reading that
conveys an understanding that there are
correspondences between phonemes (the
sounds of spoken language) and
graphemes (the letters and spellings that
represent those sounds in written
language).”
Reithaug (2002)

The 26 letters of the English alphabet
represent 44 phonemes.

35. How Phonics Relates to Reading

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Phonics is the means to accurate and automatic
decoding.
It is an essential feature of an effective reading
program.
Phonics instruction needs to be linked to literature
rather than as a stand-alone element of a reading
program.
Proficient readers read every word, see all of the
letters, and process this information very quickly,
based on their knowledge of phonics.
Reithaug, (2002)

36. Phonics: Instructional Strategies
Teach high frequency words – these are words
that are often confused.
e.g. were/where; was/saw; from/for.
Teach patterns using onsets and rimes, also
known as “word families.”
e.g. -ack; -ice; -ock, etc.
Teach chunking longer words into more
manageable chunks.
Teach prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
Keep instruction in context.
Beers (2003)

37. Vocabulary Development




Part of the semantic cueing system (word
meaning).
Cannot be taken for granted that students
understand all the words they read.
Oral vocabulary supports the understanding
of reading vocabulary.
Reading vocabulary involves more than
understanding individual words. It also
depends on the sentence a word is in (its
spelling, content, and pragmatics).

38. How Vocabulary Development
Relates to Reading

Once a student has decoded a written word,
it is available to the student in speech form.
If the word is in the student’s vocabulary, it
will be understood. If not, the student will
not understand the word even though the
student can read (decode) it.

The aim of reading is comprehension. A
person must understand the vocabulary
words he/she is reading in order to
understand the text.

39. Vocabulary Development:
Instructional Strategies
 Read
to students.
 Use material above students’ reading
level.
 Elaborate on new vocabulary to create
a deeper understanding of words.
 Create scenarios/simulations that allow
students to practice using new
vocabulary.

40. Comprehension
The goal of reading is to comprehend.
Proficient readers:
• use a variety of strategies,
• use strategies before, during and after
reading,
• use different strategies for different texts at
different places along the reading
development continuum,
• interact with the text in order to construct
meaning.

41. How Comprehension
Relates to Reading

Relate the content of the text to personal
experience and activate prior knowledge:
–
–
–
–
–
–
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predict,
develop questions before & during reading,
clarify,
summarize,
visualize,
monitor understanding,
connect ideas to construct meaning,
inference.

42. An Example of a Reading
Comprehension Strategy
THE PREP STRATEGY
 Preview
the reading
 Read key paragraphs
 Express ideas in writing
 Prepare study cards
Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker (2000)

43. Reading Fluency

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Reading fluency is the ability to read text
quickly and accurately with appropriate
expression.
Fluent readers do not have to sound out
each word.
Automaticity allows readers to focus on
comprehension.
Proficient readers are fluent readers.
(But fluent readers may not be proficient.)

44. Fluency:
Instructional Strategies
 Review
high frequency words.
 Repeated Readings:
- Have students reread passages that
are at an independent reading level.
- Reread passage until predetermined
goal is achieved.
- Record reading time and number of
correct words.

45. References
For a complete list of references related to
this presentation, please consult the following
document.
Saskatchewan Learning (2004).
Teaching students with reading
difficulties and disabilities: A guide
educators.
for