Reading: Easier Said than Done

By Monte W. Stone

For many kids, cracking the reading code comes naturally. But for others, reading is a puzzle from the start. What exactly goes into the process of learning how to read? And how does knowing that process help teachers and parents ensure success for young struggling readers?

Personally, I can’t recall learning to read. I sang my alphabet and gradually put letters together to make sounds and words. It just seemed natural and I never gave it much thought. When I had children of my own, we also sang the alphabet song and poured over the classic children’s books by Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter and Eric Carle. We sounded out words on billboards and played rhyming games. It wasn’t until my son was in the third grade and struggling to read that I realized reading does not come naturally to some children. I knew then it was time that I gave it some thought!

There are many misconceptions surrounding reading education. Try the True or False quiz below to see what you know.

Many American children don’t read well.
Reading difficulties are much more prevalent in certain ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Trouble sounding out words is the cause of many reading problems.
General knowledge about print (called print awareness) is not important before a child enters school.
Even with the right intervention, readers who have a slow start usually don’t improve.
Teachers should choose one methodology for reading education and stick with it.
Parents and caregivers play an integral role in reading education for children.

Answers:

True. Statistics show that as many as 15 to 20% of students have difficulties in reading.
False. Reading problems cross all lines: gender, ethnic, socioeconomic…
True. The prominent issue with reading difficulties lies in the area of phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize the individual sounds that make up words).
False. Print awareness can help children with their reading education well before elementary school.
False. Thankfully, this is not true. Children who are starting off slowly in reading can succeed with intervention.
False. A blending of methodologies is the best approach in reading education.
True. The role of parents and caregivers as early educators is critical to a child’s reading success.

“Top 10 Things You Should Know About Reading,” Diane Henry Leipzig, 2001 www.readingrockets.org.

Reading Readiness Checklist

A Preschool age child can:
  • discriminate rhyming words
  • produce rhyming words
  • divide sentences into words
  • divide words into syllables
  • divide words into phonemes
  • identify a phoneme by its position in a     word (beginning, middle, end)
  • delete roots, syllables, and phonemes
    example: “Say cowboy. Now say it again,
    but don’t say boy.”
  • substitute a phoneme to form a new word
    example: Say “f” – “u” – “n”
    “What word is that?”; now say it again
    but change the “f” to “s.”

A Child who is age 6 can:
  • identify sounds and letters (sound/symbol     relationship)
  • blend sounds together
  • begin to decode words
  • decode nonsense words
  • segment words into syllables
  • write words
  • write sentences

Courtesy of The Schenck School

What is reading?
The answer is more elaborate than one would think. Nancy Hennessy, M.Ed., an experienced teacher and consultant in both regular and special education states, “Reading is an exceptionally complex act…it is the capability to isolate sounds, to identify sounds, to put sounds together in order to read words…to recognize visual patterns, the letters that represent the sounds…to recognize chunks within words such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots…to recognize syllable patterns. At the same time, we need to bring our understanding of meaning, our vocabulary.” Clearly this is no ordinary task!

So, what skills are needed to be a good reader? Solid reading skills start with phoneme awareness, or the awareness that words are made up of individual sounds. Individual sounds are not heard in oral language which makes this skill more difficult. When one hears the word “dot,” he hears one sound. The word is actually made up of three distinct phonemes or sounds: /d/ /o/ /t/. This awareness does not come naturally to all students of reading.

Many mistakenly believe reading is an innate skill. James Wendorf, executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) states, “Reading is not natural…oral language is natural.” For tens of thousands of years, humans have communicated through oral language starting with a baby’s first cries. The written language, however, is man-made and has only been around for a few thousand years. To make matters more difficult, the English language is based on the alphabetic principle where letters represent the sounds in spoken words. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but there are 44 phonemes (sounds) that can be represented by the letters. In other words, learning to read written English is not as easy as one letter equals one sound.

All parents ask, “When will my child learn to read?” There are many benchmarks to navigate through a child’s developing reading skills (See sidebar). Research shows that early intervention to address reading problems is paramount. For decades, educators have noted the positive effects of reading to and with children from an early age. As well as fostering a love for reading, parents and caregivers who read with and to their children are more likely to notice the warning signs of reading difficulties and seek help. Studies also show that in homes where there is higher print exposure (the amount of time a person spends being aware of the written word) from an early age children will generally have higher success in reading and vocabulary. There are many ways parents can give their child print awareness (See sidebar).

Print awareness is a child’s understanding that there is meaning in written language. There are many ways to ensure that children gain print awareness.
  • Show kids how books are organized.
  • Read to them.
  • Draw attention to words and letters.
  • Label objects around the classroom.
  • Help them understand the relationship
    between spoken and written language.
  • Play with the letters of the alphabet.
  • Teach book awareness and correct book
handling.
  • Provide practice for what they have     learned.
  • Provide repeated activities for children to     hear and read good books.

Adapted from Reading Rockets

What is a reading disability?
A child’s reading ability is usually evaluated, formally and/or informally, when he enters school. It is also at this time that a reading disability may be discovered. Most educators agree that when there is a discrepancy between intellect and reading performance, a child may have a reading disability. The most common term associated with reading disabilities is dyslexia, which is characterized by difficulties with the alphabetic code and is considered neurologically based. The word dyslexia actually means “difficulty with words.” Individuals with dyslexia can learn how to read; they simply learn in a different way.

There are three main areas of difficulty for children who struggle with a language learning difference: deficiencies in decoding words, comprehension and fluency. The first area stems from problems with the alphabetic principle. These struggles include a lack of phonemic awareness and an inability to decode words because of the lack of knowledge with the sound/letter relationship. Phonemes are the smallest units of speech and are the necessary building blocks for words. Children who struggle in this area have difficulty sounding out words. This most common of reading problems often leads to difficulties in comprehension and fluency.

Other reading difficulties that cause concern include a deficit in reading comprehension or struggles with fluency and automaticity. For good reading comprehension, a child must find meaning from text by applying personal knowledge and vocabulary. A struggling reader may not have these tools to bring to the table. He also may lack the ability to know when he comprehends and when he is missing the main point. Fluency issues also need to be considered when evaluating the struggling reader. When reading is labored and slow, meaning can be lost. Lack of fluency can also lead to a loss of motivation due to the frustration the child feels when he has to work so hard.

Many factors can cause a reading difficulty. A processing deficiency, a language barrier, inappropriate curriculum or ineffective teaching, as well as a disability that has a neurological base can all contribute to reading struggles. Gay Su Pinnell, of Reading Recovery Council of North America, states “…young readers having difficulty are mostly of average intelligence, and they have problems resulting from multiple and differing causes. With appropriate intervention, almost all can learn to read, provided instruction is intensive and begins early. It is therefore important that reading interventions be multi-dimensional to meet the diverse needs of learners” (www.education.com).

How is the child affected?
Reading is a gateway skill. This means the ability to read gives the student access to all other learning. If a child struggles with reading, then math, science and social studies will also be a challenge. There comes a point, usually in third grade, that students move away from learning to read toward reading to learn. They must have basic reading skills in place in order to succeed in school. Many children who struggle with early reading learn to dislike reading. In turn, they will read less than their peers which results in a weaker vocabulary and base of knowledge. Unfortunately, many students become despondent and their dislike of reading becomes a dislike for school in general.

Failing to learn to read before third or fourth grade may lead to life-long problems not just in reading but in learning other skills as well. Conversely, early success in acquiring reading skills usually leads to later successes in reading as the learner grows. Many educational researchers refer to this syndrome as the Matthew Effect where the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” In the case of children with a language learning difference, those rich in skill continue to excel and those with poor skills continue to fall farther behind.

Children who are behind in reading and don’t get the proper intervention not only feel ostracized in the classroom, but on the playground as well. Many children who don’t read well think it is their fault, that they are stupid and that they are unable to succeed. This attitude fosters low self-esteem which causes the child to pull back further and cease trying. It can be self-defeating to come to school day after day and lack the reading skills needed to succeed.

What is happening in the classroom?
Children come into schools with diverse educational and social backgrounds. Developmental differences, neurological disorders, processing deficiencies, transient home lives, differing preschool curricula and language barriers can all cause discrepancies in reading levels throughout the classroom. This makes assessing reading skills within the first two weeks of school crucial. Intervention for students who are having difficulties is best when applied as early as possible and is carefully and strategically designed. A balance between phonics-based and meaning-based instruction is also beneficial.
Many Georgia public schools use the Early Intervention Program (EIP) to identify and accommodate students who show signs of reading difficulties. If a child scores below 800 on the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT), they are considered a Level 1 student and are targeted for reading interventions. If there are no test scores to use as an indicator, the classroom teacher can observe and use a standard checklist to record any problems. Once it is indicated that a child is in need of intervention, the Lexia Comprehensive Reading Test (CRT) is administered. This computer-administered program is used to assess phonological weakness, sight word recognition, nonsense word reading, as well as reading comprehension.

While some teachers are able to build reading skills within the context of the regular classroom, there are situations where a reading specialist is needed. The student meets with the specialist outside of the classroom. Sometimes the specialist works with small groups of children in a concentrated setting. Assessment is ongoing so that as children improve and reach grade level they can return to the regular classroom for reading instruction.

Private schools use similar assessment techniques. Many private schools also have reading specialists as well as tutoring programs for students who struggle with reading. While reading programs can vary widely in different schools, the attention to reading skills is consistent.

Are there proven methods of instruction?
There are many research-proven methodologies for teaching children with reading difficulties. Most methodologies agree that reading instruction needs to be

Explicitly language-based
Structured
Sequential
Multi-sensory
Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic
Systematic and Cumulative
Cognitive

The three main programs that fit this description are the Orton-Gillingham Approach, the Wilson Reading System (WRS) and Lindamood-Bell. These programs can be found in select private schools, at learning centers and through private tutors. More information can be obtained through the following Web sites: www.orton-gillingham.com, www.wilsonlanguage.com and www.lindamoodbellcom.

Learning to read is the most important and foundational skill a young student will need. In an age of instant information available through text, reading is a life-long necessity to compete and succeed in society. Fortunately, educational research has revealed excellent methods for teaching the struggling reader. With intervention, all students can have the tools to read. Parents are the best advocates because they know their child better than anyone else. If something seems “off” it very well may be. They should trust their instincts and ask the important questions of teachers, counselors, other parents and even educational advocates, and then act on the answers. By working together, educators and parents can ensure that students acquire the skills that will provide them with a lifetime of successful reading.