Word Reading

Practicing reading and literacy exposure is key to developing skill mastery. Practice will help your client to retain new information, build automaticity, transfer practiced problem-solving skills to new and more complex problems and continue with their learning.

Additional Suggestions Include:

• It may be helpful to have your client read along with books/text on a computer using a “read” program such as a text-to-speech programs or software or audiobooks.
  • A list of assistive technology that can be used to help support children with learning disorders in reading can be found at Understood.org:https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/assistive-technology/finding-an-assistive-technology/software-programs-for-kids-with-reading-issues

• Model fluent reading. Teach your client to self-identify reading errors and provide her/him with corrective feedback.
  • Your client may benefit from repeated reading, assisted reading, passage previewing and practicing words in isolation to improve her/his reading fluency.
  • In repeated reading, the student reads a short passage several times until they can read it at an appropriate fluency level (or reading rate).
  • In assisted reading, the student reads aloud while a helping reader (e.g., adult) follows along silently. If the student makes an error, the helping reader corrects it.
    • Steps for implementing the assistive reading strategy can be found at: http://www.interventioncentral.org/academic-interventions/reading-fluency/reading-practice

• For younger clients encourage using any clues from pictures or surrounding text, using other information provided and thinking about what word might make sense within the context of the passage.
  • Encourage the keyword approach (i.e., recognizing smaller words within a larger word) to reading. 
  • It is appropriate to slow down and initially make mistakes when figuring out new words.

• Teach high-frequency words. For some children, remembering a sight word is easier if they connect it to a picture. Here is one way to do this:
  • Write a practice word on two sides of an index card. On one side, you or your child can draw a picture right into the word (like drawing eyes inside the double o in the word look.)
  • Introduce the practice words using the illustrated side of the cards. When your child begins to read these words quickly and easily, switch to the “print only” side of the card.

• Continue to work on building your client’s understanding of phoneme-grapheme correspondence (i.e., sound-letter correspondences).

• Teach your client the “14 phonics rules” for reading and spelling: https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/reading-issues/14-phonics-rules-for-reading-and-spelling

• Emphasize patterns in word families and spelling patterns (e.g., television; telescope)

• Teach morphology (the internal structure of words) by indicating prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
  • Help Zandra build words by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words to develop morphemic knowledge or help her recognize prefixes and suffixes.
  • For example, the word “unkindness” includes the root word kind, the prefix un and the suffix ness.
    • For more information on prefixes and suffixes, see this handout: Prefixes and Suffixes

• Encourage your client to recognize onsets and rhymes in words. An onset is the part of the syllable that precedes the vowel of the syllable.
  • For example, in the word “spoil,” sp is the onset and oil is the rhyme. 

• Try audiobooks as an alternative to reading or a supplement to reading.
  • When possible, your client should follow along in a hardcopy of the book while listening to the audio version to provide exposure and experience with written text and increase fluency and word recognition skills. 
  • If available, an electronic text reader may also be helpful.

• Allow your client adequate time for reading activities at school. They will need more time than many of their peers.

• Paired or shared reading exposure also provides the benefit of “seeing” the word while “hearing” it simultaneously.

• Emphasize writing and reading activities simultaneously. The visualization needed for writing and spelling can help to reinforce a sight vocabulary for reading.

• When your client makes errors on individual words, it will be important to record the reading error. These errors can be used to create flash cards for drill. 
  • Two cards should be created: one with the original word and the second with the word that was read instead. 
  • These two word cards can then be used for contrast practice to help them discern and learn the difference between the two. 
  • Display both cards on the table and then take turns pointing at one or the other for the student to practice accurate reading. 
  • When using this approach, it will be critical to correct any errors immediately during practice, and have the student say the correct word once or twice afterwards so that they do not mis-learn the new word and compound their difficulties.

• Consider enrolling the client in reading programs that may be offered through the Calgary Public Library.

For Younger Clients

To Practise Sight Words, Consider The Following Activities:

■ Identify the names of familiar products that appear in advertisements, food labels, etc.
■ Reread predictable books for multiple exposures to high-frequency words.
■ Make a picture dictionary with the client.
■ “Make and break” words with magnetic letters on your fridge.
■ Label objects in the client’s room.
■ Post and read daily schedules for your family members.
■ Use yarn or string to form sight words.
■ Use colored chalk to write sight words on the sidewalk.
■ Use cooked spaghetti to form words.
■ Form words out of alphabet cereal.
■ Use bread or cookie dough to shape words and bake them.
■ Use beans, pasta, or rice to form words. Glue them to construction paper.

Handouts

• The following handout may be beneficial for a younger client trying to learn new words: Word Study Strategy