Supporting Low Level Readers in the

Common Core Classroom

Kristin Guest (MS 126)

Why should SLPs support reading? According to ASHA’s Roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists with respect to reading and writing in children and adolescents [Position Statement]“speech-language pathologists (SLPs) play a critical and direct role in the development of literacy for children and adolescents with communication disorders,...SLPs' knowledge of normal and disordered language acquisition ... prepare(s) them to assume a variety of roles related to the development of reading and writing.”

• fostering language acquisition and emergent literacy

• identifying children at risk for reading and writing problems

• assessing reading and writing

• providing intervention and documenting outcomes for reading and writing

• assuming other roles

Reading comprehension is made up of many parts! A student could be struggling due to deficits in any or all of the components that equal successful reading comprehension.

• background knowledge

• phonological awareness

• decoding

• fluency

• vocabulary

Step 1 for supporting students, is identifying where they are breaking down.

• background knowledge

• phonological awareness

• decoding

• fluency

• vocabulary

Background Knowledgethe knowledge students have, learned both formally in the classroom as well as informally through life experiences.

Background Knowledgethe knowledge students have, learned both formally in the classroom as well as informally through life experiences.

Preteaching / Prereading Activities

Brainstorming, Word Webs, “Activating Schema”

Background Knowledgethe knowledge students have, learned both formally in the classroom as well as informally through life experiences.

Preteaching / Prereading Activities

Brainstorming, Word Webs, “Activating Schema”

Active Reading/ Comprehension Monitoring

Making Connections, Comments, Generating Questions

Background Knowledgethe knowledge students have, learned both formally in the classroom as well as informally through life experiences.

Preteaching / Prereading Activities

Brainstorming, Word Webs, “Activating Schema”

Active Reading/ Comprehension Monitoring

Making Connections, Comments, Generating Questions

Post Reading Activities

Connect to pre-reading activities, What was learned?

Background Knowledge

Phonological Awareness & Decoding

Phonological AwarenessAbility to hear sounds that make up words in spoken language.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.2.CIsolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

Phonological AwarenessAbility to hear sounds that make up words in spoken language.

• Blending isolated sounds into words

• R-U-N → RUN

• Isolating sounds in words

• Identify the first, middle, last sound in RUN

• Manipulating sounds to make new words

• FUN → RUN

• Identifying words that rhyme

Decoding → “Sounding Out” Ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.B

Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

Decoding → “Sounding Out” Ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words.

Convert spoken sounds to written

/ʃ/ → Sh

Knowing common word patterns

Adding silent “e” to make a vowel “long.”

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.BKnow spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

Decoding → “Sight Words”English also has a large number of words, especially more basic words, that must be memorized as “sight words.”

Consider the following words, why do we spell them this way?

• One, two, who, laugh

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.FRecognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Phonological Awareness StrategiesInstead of spelling a word for a student when asked:

• Ask them to break it down and write each sound.• Splash → s-p-l-a-sh • Teach morphemes → -s, -er, -ing

Phonological Awareness StrategiesFor multisyllable words

• Begin by having student break the word into syllables, then spell each syllable.

• Teach common prefixes/ suffixes → -tion, re-, mis-, -ageIncorporate phonological awareness into vocabulary instruction

• Identify number of syllables → ex-per-i-ment

Decoding StrategiesTeach spelling patterns.

• Dropping silent ‘e’ when adding -ing.

Teach word families.

• younger kids (make, snake, lake)

• older kids (ability, disability, capability, etc)

Teach common prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Roman roots.

• pre-, -tion, -able

• science (hydro, ped, phile, phob, etc)

Decoding StrategiesSight words lists that are meaningfully chosen:

• Grade appropriate and student appropriate- 1 per week? 3 per week? 5 per week?

• High frequency- Words that student will have many opportunities to see and use.

• Meaningful- Words that are especially relevant to the material.

Parents, other adults in the room and even peers can be used to support.

Multimodal support in acquiring sight words

• Circling/ highlighting when seen in print.

• Word walls

• Acting out

Decoding Supports• Allow students extra time to read passage several times.

• Level texts

• Adjust difficulty of the same article- newsela.com, readworks.org,

• Shorten texts

• Replace difficult vocabulary (Control+F and replace)

• Use texts that are less dense but are rich in ideas.

• Use graphic novels for older struggling decoders.

Decoding SupportsAllow student to draw definitions

Assign an adult to read passages/ use audiobooks/ text readers

Allow student to cut and paste text evidence.

• Keep text evidence lists as a class

Allow student to verbally answer questions.

• Use of recorders/ Text to speech apps.

Provide class notes printed out before hand

• Provide post its, or allow commenting in the margin (even if it’s pictures) to keep student engaged.

Decoding Supports- WritingAllow student to draw definitions

Provide words lists during writing assignments

Word lists with pictures

For essays, provide sentence starters, word lists

Citing Evidence According to the text, “...”In the passage it states “...”For example, the article says “...”

Decoding Strategies

Decoding StrategiesInside Out and Back Again

• 8th grade level

• Less dense but rich

• Uses poems to describe the experience of an immigrant family from Vietnam.

Decoding StrategiesGraphic Novels-

Jane, the Fox and Me (Grades 5 and up)

Decoding StrategiesGraphic Novels-

Comic Squad: Recess (Ages 7-10)

Decoding StrategiesGraphic Novels-

Fangbone (Grades 2-4)

Decoding StrategiesPaired Novel and Graphic Novel

FluencyAbility to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression in order to understand.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

FluencyAbility to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression in order to understand. When reading is automatic and smooth, the student is able

to concentrate on the meaning of the words. Adding intonation helps students to understand and retain

information read. Expected WPM By Grade

Fluency Strategies• Explicitly teach text clues for fluency- periods, quotation marks, question

marks

• Model fluent reading and then ask students to try it.

• Giving students a chance to read aloud.

• Allow students to read the same text several times.

• Allow students to record themselves reading and then rate their own fluency.

• Work in periodic checks on words per minute and chart progress.

• Adults, peer to peer, in the room can assist, during conferences, tests, etc.

Vocabulary Deep knowledge of content words in a passage is necessary to successful comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

Vocabulary & Reading ComprehensionHow many new words can students tolerate in a passage?

90% of content words must be familiar in order for students to understand a text.

Reading comprehension improves as percentage of known vocabulary words increases.

(Freebody & Anderson 1983), (Schmitt, Xiang & Grabe 2011)

Vocabulary In this slide, there are

10 content words. Research shows that there should not be more than one new word in this slide for

students to understand.

Vocabulary

Which words in this slide would you guess

6th and 7th graders will struggle with?

Vocabulary

Which words in this slide would you guess

6th and 7th graders will struggle with?

Vocabulary

Which words in this slide would you guess

6th and 7th graders will struggle with?

Vocabulary Out of 25 students surveyed:

4% understood 10/10

28% understood 9/10

32% understood 8/10

8% understood 7/10

20% understood 6/10

8% understood 5/10

Vocabulary So if we need at least 90% of words to be familiar, then of students surveyed:

32% would understand the content of this slide.

Vocabulary What populations tend to be most affected by vocabulary deficits?

• Students from low income backgrounds

• Students with English Language Learner Status

• Students with reading and learning disabilities• Students who do not read outside of school

(Hart & Risley, 1995), (Sedita 2005)

Vocabulary StrategiesWhat not to use: Dictionaries

• Definitions are not student friendly

• Does not encourage deep understanding of the word

• Not practical

“Having students follow this practice is one of the least effective strategies. In fact, there is a great deal of research showing that children cannot use conventional definitions to learn words” (Scott & Nagy, 1997)

Vocabulary StrategiesSupport Teachers to:

• Choose appropriate vocabulary words (Tier 2)

• Work vocabulary activities into their lessons.

• Word webs

• Fishbowl discussions

Choose vocabulary across disciplines, integrated into the curriculum.

• Provides many opportunities to work with new words.

Vocabulary StrategiesTier One: Basic words that rarely require instructional focus (door, house, book).

Tier Two: Words that appear with high frequency, across a variety of domains, and are crucial when using mature, academic language (coincidence, reluctant,

analysis).

Tier Three: Frequency of these words is quite low and often limited to specific fields of study (isotope, Reconstruction, Buddhism).

Vocabulary StrategiesUse student friendly or student created definitions for class vocabulary (could

also include pictures for those with decoding difficulty).

Vocabulary monitoring- Teach students to be aware of words they know, words

they “kinda know,” and words that are totally new.

Vocabulary - StrategiesTeach strategies to learn word meanings on their own.

Word analysis

Recognize the meaning of prefixes, suffixes, roots.

ped- foot

pre- before

Substitution Method New Word: Clue words My Definition

Step 1: Identify new wordStep 2: Underline clue words/ prefixes/suffixes/ root wordsStep 3: Make a guess and plug it into the sentenceStep 4: Does it make sense? No? → Try again Yes? Check definition!

Reading ComprehensionAbility to understand information read in a text in order to recall, analyze, synthesize, etc. A student who has understood a passage, should be able to:

• Answer concrete questions (Who, what, where, when, how, why)

• Use their own words to describe what they learned in the passage.

• Repeating word for word a sentence from the text is an indication that the student is having difficulty (did not understand, did not attend, does not know how to summarize/ find main idea, etc).

Reading Comprehension StrategyComprehension MonitoringDid I understand this sentence/ paragraph/ page (depending on student level)? ● No? Why not?

○ Did I read too fast? ■ Read again, paying attention to periods, quotation marks, etc.

○ Were there words I didn’t understand?■ Use context clues/ prefix/suffix to determine new word

○ Did I read too slow because there were many words that I had to sound out? ■ Read again, now that you know how to say the words.

● Yes○ Annotate main idea → Who? What?

References: ResearchAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2001). Roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists with respect to reading and writing in children and adolescents [Position Statement]. Available from www.asha.org/policy.

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

Freebody, P., and R. C. Anderson. 1983. Effects on Text Comprehension of Different Proportions and Locations of Difficult Vocabulary. Journal of Reading Behavior 15: 19-39.

Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co

References: ResearchNagy, W. E. 1988. Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Urbana, Ill.; Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED298471.pdf)

Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011) The Percentage of Words in a Text and Reading Comprehension, Modern Language Journal 95 (1) 26-43.

Sedita, J. (2005) Effective Vocabulary Instruction, Insights on Learning Disabilities, 2(1) 33-45.

References: Websiteshttp://www.azed.gov/english-language-learners/files/2014/02/effective-vocabulary-instruction-article.pdf

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/vocabulary-instruction-teaching-tips-rebecca-alber

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/ReadingCoach/ReadingCoach006.shtml

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_KidsCantWait.html

www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/phonics