Reading Disabilities Sousa Chapter 5

Learning to Read Reading is probably the most difficult task for the young brain to do. 50% of children make the adjustment to reading with relative ease. 20% to 30% will find it to be the most difficult task they will ever undertake in their young lives. Late-talking toddlers score lower than their peers in vocabulary, grammar, verbal memory, and reading comprehension, but early intervention at age 2 can help their language skill development.

Learning to Read (cont.) Put very simply, reading involves two basic operations: decoding and comprehension. Phonological Awareness- the recognition that oral language can be divided into smaller components, such as sentences into words, words into syllables, and ultimately, into individual phonemes. Phonemic Awareness-is a subdivision of phonological awareness and refers to the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds and that these sounds can be manipulated to create new words. Simply learning letter-sound relationships during phonics instruction does not necessarily lead to phonemic awareness.

The Neural Systems Involved In Reading Successful decoding and comprehension in reading require the coordination of three neural networks: Visual processing Phoneme recognition Word interpretation

Difficulties In Learning To Read Social & Cultural Causes of Reading Problems Home language differs substantially from the language used in reading instruction Training for reading teachers should help them understand how they can use some of the linguistic attributes of the child to help children pronounce, decode, and understand English.

Difficulties In Learning To Read: Physical Causes of Reading Problems NOT all struggling readers have dyslexia. Linguistic Causes: Phonological deficits. Differences in auditory and visual processing speeds. Structural differences in the brain. Working memory deficits. Genetics and gender. Lesions in the word form area. Word-blindness.

Difficulties In Learning To Read: Physical Causes (cont.) Nonlinguistic Causes: Perception of sequential sounds. Sound-frequency discrimination. Detection of target sounds in noise. Visual magnocellular-deficit hypothesis. Motor coordination and the cerebellum.

Physical Causes of Reading Problems: Analyzing these differences leads to a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of reading disorders and possible treatment.

Is Dyslexia Present in Readers of Other Languages? Dyslexia appears in all languages Findings imply that dyslexia may not have a universal origin in all humans, but that the biological abnormality of impaired reading is dependent on culture.

Brain Imaging Studies & Dyslexia MRI studies that have compared the brain structure of individuals with dyslexia to typical readers have found - Those who had dyslexia WITH spoken- language problems have atypical brain structures that hamper speech and are likely to have difficulties in learning to read as well.

Studies Of Brain Function: Not a vision problem-A reader with dyslexia has problems in assigning what he says or hears in his head to the letters he sees on paper. (Remedial strategies should focus on reestablishing correct phonemic connections with intense practice). A reader with dyslexia uses different brain pathways than a typical reader- visual memory area instead of word processing regions. Memory systems begin to fail, this overreliance results in slow and laborious reading. The different brain scan patterns between good readers and readers with dyslexia are so consistent that they may one day allow for early diagnosis, perhaps even before a child begins to read.

Detecting Reading Problems Critical observation of a child’s progress in learning to speak, and eventually in learning to read, remains our most effective tool for spotting potential problems.

Spoken Language Difficulties Delay in speaking. Difficulties with pronunciation. Difficulty in learning the letters of the alphabet. Recalling incorrect phonemes. Insensitivity to rhyme. Genetics. 25%-50% of the children born to a parent with dyslexia will also carry the trait.

Early Indicators of Reading Problems: Even though children have a genetic predisposition for dyslexia, differences in the home and school environment can determine how successful these children will be at reading. Research studies have found that letter fluency is a useful measure in kindergarten, while response to instruction can be a valuable measure in second grade. Researchers, clinicians, and educators who study dyslexia and who work with poor readers look for certain clues that will show whether a child’s reading ability is progressing normally.

What Teachers Should Know About Teaching Reading How the brain learns to read The relationship between spoken language & reading Direct instruction in phonics Direct instruction in the alphabetic principle How to diagnose spelling & reading skills How to build vocabulary How to develop fluency & comprehension How to use a variety of reading intervention strategies

What Beginning Readers Need To Learn Phonological Awareness: Rhyming, alliteration, deleting & substituting sounds, sound patterns Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting words into individual sounds, manipulating phonemes Alphabetic principle: Correlating letter-sound patterns with specific text Orthographic awareness: Understanding spelling rules & writing conventions Comprehension monitoring strategies: Identifying the main idea, making inferences, using study skills that assist reading

What Educators Need To Consider Some effective reading intervention programs are: Reading Recovery - (lowest-achieving readers in 1st grade, weeks long) 30 min. ind. instr. phonics, phonemic aw., letter-sound rel., comp. Success for ALL--Reading First - (K-3, Core reading program) 90 min. groupings same skills assessed every 8 wks., teacher works with one lev., less kids referred to sped., 1/2 yr. gain on control group, 64th per to 50th. The READ 180 Program - (4th-12th low-achieving readers, comp. program from Scholastic, Inc.) Direct, explicit, and systematic instruction in word analysis, phonics, spelling, reading comp., and writing. Showed sig. improvements in reading scores & overall school performance, as well as development of more positive attitudes & behaviors. Strategies to Consider – end of chapter