1. Helping Struggling Readers
Presented by Donna Whyte
thesmartiezone.com
Author – The Reading Aptitude Continuum
Copyright D. Whyte

2. Phonemic Awareness & Phonics Vocabulary, Fluency & Comprehension
Reading to Children
Reading with Children
Reading by Children
Phonemic Awareness & Phonics
Vocabulary, Fluency & Comprehension
Copyright D. Whyte

3. Reading Components and the “Big Five”
Means
DECODING
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
End
COMPREHENSION
Vocabulary
Text Comprehension
Fluency
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4. National Reading Panel Recommendations Phonemic Awareness Instruction is most effective when: ~Instruction is focused on one or two PA skills NOT a multi-skilled approach ~ Children are taught in small groups ~ Instruction is based upon needs assessment ~ Quick and Fun ~ Application is the goal – how does this help us to become readers and writers?

5. Steps of Phonemic Awareness Skills
Phoneme Manipulation (1-2)
Phoneme Segmentation (K-1)
Phoneme Blending (K-1)
Sound Isolation First~Last (K-1)
Onset~Rime Blending /Segmenting (Pre K-K)
Blending/Segmenting Compound Words (Pre K-K)
Words within a Sentence (Pre K-K)
Rhyme (Pre K-K)

13. What’s so Difficult?
There are 26 letters in the English language, but approximately 40 phonemes, or sound units, in the English language.
Sounds are represented in 250 different spellings (/f/ as in ph, f, gh, ff).

14. Reading Skills and Strategies
Phase 1
Alphabet
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Decoding/Word Recognition
Use of Contextual Clues
Word Analysis
Sentence Structure
Story Structure
Phase 2
Experience
Forming Inferences
Questioning
Developing Meaning
Assessing Reading (Self-Check)
Creating of Sensory Images
Synthesizing Information
Evaluating Key Concepts
Forming Opinions
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15. Recreate Reading Experiences that Create Literacy
Comfortable
Interaction
Learn Strategies
Fun
Ask Questions
Compare/Contrast
Choice
Questioning Kids
What do you notice?
Can anyone tell me anything about this ______?
Has anything on the chart, in the picture, in the writing made you think of something in your life?
What part did you spot?
What do you think?
Do you see something __________?
(Different, Familiar, Weird, etc.)
What do you recognize?
Can you tell me what you see?
Can you show me something on the chart?
What do you know about this _________?
Does anyone have any ideas about ________?
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16. When we say a student can’t read, that might mean he or she…
• has no or little sight word vocabulary
• has few/no strategies for recognizing unknown single or multi syllable words
• won’t read
• reads one word at a time
• reads very slowly – too much effort on individual words
• reads very fast with little/no understanding
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17. When we say a student can’t read, that might mean he or she…
• does not reread for understanding
does not visualize the text
• cannot sequence text
• does not use prediction
• does not make inferences
• cannot summarize text
• has trouble recalling information from text
• stops reading at first sign of difficulty
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18. Copyright D. Whyte

19. Fluency Reread Echo Read Choral Read Partner Read Reader’s Theater
Language Development
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20. Comprehension Interactive Read Aloud Retell Add a New Ending
Compare/Contrast
Agree/Disagree
Act it Out
State Your Case
Draw a Picture

22. Detail ~ Chart (Who, What, Where & When)
Sequence ~ Signal Words (Time Frame)
Second, Earlier, Next, Noon,
In the Morning, After School
Word Referents ~ Singular & Plural
you, its, him, that, your, my
we, they, ours, theirs, them
Context Clues ~ What makes sense?
Predicting Outcome ~ What do you think
happened next?
Main Idea ~ Classification
Inference ~ “Read between the lines”
Character Traits ~ What do you know by what
the character says and does?
Cause & Effect ~ Recognition of the relationship
between events and what
happens after
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35. Copyright D. Whyte

36. Language Development Oral Language
Receptive ~ Listening & Understanding
Expressive ~ Speaking
Print Language
Reading
Writing

37. How do Children Acquire Vocabulary?
Verbal interaction
Reading
They are TAUGHT

38. How “Word Wise” Are You?
Word Know well Can relate Have seen Do not know
can explain to a situation or heard it at all

43. Direct instruction that promotes vocabulary learning
Engaging in word mapping
Explaining the definition
Teaching key words before reading
Seeing/Hearing the word
Word in multiple texts
Strategies for independent word learning
Learning word-part, word-root information
Working with synonym word lists
using motivation for word learning

44. Academic Vocabulary Each word on the list…
is portable; it is likely to appear across subjects at that grade level and beyond,
is vital to comprehension of academic text,
helps students express their academic understanding,
is essential for participation in academic discussions and writing, and
is not typically used by students without explicit instruction

46. Stretch Your Vocabulary
Word
Synonym
Antonym
As it Appears
Picture Clue

49. _________________________________ _________________________________
Word ____________
Syllabicate it
__________________
Draw It
Synonym
Antonym
_________________________________
Word ____________
Syllabicate it
__________________
Draw It
Synonym
Antonym
_________________________________
Word ____________
Syllabicate it
__________________
Draw It
Synonym
Antonym
_________________________________

58. e e

61. List of Related Citations
Donna J. Whyte
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., and Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford.
Cain, K. & Oakhill, J. (2007). Children's Comprehension Problems in Oral and Written Language: A Cognitive Perspective (Challenges in Language and Literacy). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Ehri, L.C., Nunes, S.R., Willows, D.M., Schuster, B.V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2011). “Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: evidence from the national reading panel’s meta-analysis.” Reading Research Quarterly, 36 (3),
Lovett, M., Lacerenza, L., & Borden, S. (2012). “Putting struggling readers on the PHAST Track: A program to integrate phonological and strategy-based remedial reading instruction and maximize outcomes.” Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33 (5),
Whyte, D. (2016) The Reading Aptitude Continuum. TheSmartiePress.
Copyright D. Whyte