Don't restrict students to decodable readers. It's a little like trying to feed an elephant one blade of grass at a time. Reading decodable books has an important place in structured literacy programs for dyslexic students, but recently some in the reading...
Helping Kids to Practice Reading Aloud [Premium]
Reading aloud can improve reading fluency, but for many students reading aloud at school causes stress and embarrassment. So what to do? SMALL GROUP or 1:1 READING At school, students may be able to get important practice in small groups or paired group reading or 1:1 with a teacher or teacher’s aide. There are also newly available free resources from Google Reading Tutor or Microsoft Reading Progress that record students reading, analyze speed and mistakes, and chart students’ progress over time. The picture above is an example of a report generated by Microsoft’s Reading Progress program. A formal software program is not needed for every day practice however; some students may be motivated by such a program, while others may not. For […]
Sneaky Free Ways To Get Kids Reading [Premium]
We all know the drill – we want kids to read so that reading gets easier so it’s more fun to read, but it’s too hard to read now, so they don’t read, there’s no practice, and reading comes to a standstill. So how can we get them to read? HELP THEM FIND THE RIGHT BOOK AT THE RIGHT LEVEL In order for students to enjoy reading, a book should be at the right level for their interest, but also right level for their current reading level. FINDING THE LEXILE LEVEL THEN SELECT THE ‘JUST RIGHT’ BOOKS IN YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY It’s estimated that almost 1/2 of public school children have been assigned a Lexile Level based on their most recent […]
[PREMIUM] Reading and Spelling: When Sights and Sounds Don’t Match
TRICKY WORDS: WHEN SIGHTS AND SOUNDS DON’T MATCH Spotlight: Inflectional Suffixes Because many dyslexic students don’t have a visual imprint of words, there are common spelling or pronunciation errors that occur when word endings seem to vary. In most cases, being explicitly taught the different patterns can reduce a great deal of distress later. The technical term “inflectional suffixes” refers to word endings that change a word to make it grammatically correct, but don’t fundamentally change the meaning or the class of words that they are. For example, in the following sentences, the suffixes are shown in red: The dog barks. The dog barked. The endings may reflect whether a noun is singular or plural (e.g. dog or dogs) or whether the action is happening […]
[PREMIUM] Step-By-Step Beginning Reading Program
Q: I’m a homeschooling mom of 3. There is dyslexia in our family. I’d like to be able to start an inexpensive no-frills reading program with my oldest child who is 9. Are there programs that work that don’t require extensive training? A: Yes. There are effective and inexpensive programs that a parent can work through with a child without a lot of additional training. Premium Subscribers, you must be logged into your Premium account to read the answer below. Any questions? email us here. When many people first hear the words Orton-Gillingham or even multisensory structure language intervention, it seems like a lot of big words that mean specialized training, but there are many programs designed for parents or other partners to teach dyslexic […]