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This page provides information for
parents about the basics of reading instruction. The page explains
why children and teens may have difficulty learning to read. The
page also offers positive solutions for helping children and teens become
good readers or even how to get a child started learning to read.
Major Topics:
Poor
Reading Affects Many Children
A recent survey showed that 44% of the 4th Grade children nation wide
are not able to read at or above the basic, or partial mastery, level on
the 1994 National Assessment of Education Progress test. The extent
of the problem ranged from 27% in Maine to 62% in Louisiana. In California
59% of the students are reading BELOW the minimum established proficiency
level for reading.
Children with poor reading skills often:
- Receive poor grades
- Are easily frustrated
- Have difficulty completing assignments
- Have low self-esteem
- Have behavior problems
- Have more physical illnesses due to stress
- Don't like school
- Grow up to be shy in front of groups
- Fail to develop to their full potential
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Reading
Is The Key To Learning
The ability to read is essential to being able to learn any subject
taught in school. In our high tech society, proficiency in reading is a
must to compete favorably in today’s job market. The information age is
upon us. You can expect greater demands to be made upon reading ability.
As parents, it’s up to us to make sure that our children can read,
write, spell and pronounce words correctly.
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Learning
To Read Should Be As Easy As Learning To Talk
Just watch how a preschooler will pretend to read a story you have just
read for them. They are learning by imitation. Actually that is how
children learn many things. Take speech for an example. Young children
learn to talk by imitating the sounds made by their parents. They then
learn how the sounds go together to make words.
When you helped your child learn to talk you both had fun. You probably
made up games to stimulate them to talk. They interacted with you and that
made the learning process enjoyable. You both smiled and laughed when they
learned to say new words or phrases.
Reading and writing are simply talking on paper. Why shouldn’t
learning to read be just as much fun as learning to talk? Here are some
tips for encouraging your child to enjoy reading:
- Read to your child. No matter what age your child happens to be, he
will benefit from listening to you read aloud.
- Discuss the books you read to your child.
- Be a good reading "model" by letting your child see you
read.
- Introduce your child to books that discuss his hobby, interests, or
new experiences.
- Buy books as presents for your child and he’ll learn to value
books.
- Make sure your child has a library card.
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10
Years Of Brain Imaging Research Shows The Brain Reads Sound By Sound
A dyslexia research team at Yale University's Center for Learning and
Attention lead by Dr. Sally Shaywitz has found a window on the brain
through a new imaging technique called functional MRI. These medical
scientists have identified parts of the brain used in reading. By
observing the flow of oxygen-rich blood to working brain cells, they have
found that people who know how to sound out words can rapidly process what
they see. This information has shed new light on dyslexia and how to help
dyslexics.
When readers are asked to imagine "cat" without the "kah"
sound, they readily summon "at." The MRI photographs show their
brains lighting up like pinball machines. When the brain gets it, the
light bulbs really do go on. However, the brains of people who can't sound
out words often look different on MRI pictures. There is less blood flow
to the language centers of the brain and, in some cases, not much activity
evident at all. Scientist's are not sure why this is or what it means. But
simply put, without the ability to sound out words, the brain is stumped.
Basically this research seems to be saying that the brain learns to
read the same way it learns to talk, one sound at a time. When babies
first learn to talk they may slowly say one sound at a time. Once they get
the hang of it, they speed up. Our brain becomes adept at processing and
our experience is that of hearing words but actually our brain is
processing sounds (phonemes) and putting them together so we hear words.
When we read the same process is in operation. Our brain is processing one
sound at a time but we perceive it as a whole word. In good readers, the
process is so fast it appears that they are reading whole words but in
fact they are converting the letters on the written page into to sounds.
The brain then recognizes groups of sounds as words.
Reading is not automatic but must be learned. The reader must develop a
conscious awareness that the letters on the page represent the sounds of
the spoken word. To read the word "cat," the reader must parse,
or segment, the word into its underlying phonological elements. Once the
word is in its phonological form, it can be identified and understood. In
dyslexia, an inefficient phonological module produces representations that
are less clear and, hence, more difficult to bring to awareness. (Scientific
American, November 1996, page 100)
According to Dr. Shaywitz, "Over the past two decades, a coherent
model of dyslexia has emerged that is based on phonological processing.
The phonological model is consistent both with the clinical symptoms of
dyslexia and with what neuroscientists know about brain organization and
function. Investigators from many laboratories, including my colleagues
and I at the Yale Center, have had the opportunity through 10 years of
cognitive, and more recently, neurobiological studies."
Dyslexics (or poor readers) are very frustrated by the fact that they
can understand what they hear but not what they read. Dyslexics have
average or above average intelligence. Once they can properly decode words
they can understand the concept. Decoding skills are the key to learning
from written material.
Years of educational research has shown that the use of intensive
phonics is the only way to teach dyslexics and learning disabled
individuals how to read. The new brain research shows why intensive
phonics is also the best way for everyone to learn to read.
[Click
here for more information on this brain research study.]
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Why
Johnny Can't Read
The main reasons for reading problems
are:
- Ineffective reading instruction
- Auditory perception difficulties
- Visual perception difficulties
- Language processing difficulties
Over 180 research studies to date have proven that phonics is the BEST
WAY to teach reading to all students. They also have shown that phonics is
the ONLY WAY to teach reading to students with learning disabilities.
Unfortunately, 80% of our nations schools do not use an intensified
phonics approach for reading instruction. They either use the whole word
(see & say) approach or a cursory use of phonics along with the whole
word method.
While most people can learn to read using the whole word approach, it
is not the best way to learn. It teaches through memorization of word
pictures and guessing. Unlike Chinese or Japanese which are picture
languages, the English language is a phonetic language. With the exception
of the United States which dropped phonics in the 1930's, all other
countries that have a phonetic language, teach reading through phonics.
There are only 44 sounds while there are about 1 million words in
English. These facts readily explain why having to memorize 44 sounds as
opposed to memorizing hundreds of thousands of words is the most efficient
way to learn to read.
A few children have auditory discrimination problems. This may have
been the result of having chronic ear infections when they were young.
Others may be born with this learning disability. Correction involves
educational exercises to train the brain in discrimination and to over
teach the formation of the sounds used in speaking and reading. The
pregame phase of the Phonics Game is a very effective tool for improving
sound discrimination abilities needed for reading.
Another small group of children have visual perception problems. They
may actually reverse letters or words. They have difficulty matching the
word image on the page with a previously stored image in their brain.
Exercises that train the brain to "see" more accurately may help
but instruction with phonics is the best approach to overcome this
problem.
Language development problems can contribute to poor reading and
listening comprehension along with difficulty in verbal and written
expression. Learning appropriate word attack skills through phonics along
with special help in receptive and/or expressive language skills improves
this type of learning disability.
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