From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Parents, teachers, administrators, and politicians often demand the best reading method. Nothing less will do. So, of the hundreds of reading methods, which is best?
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Are Lexiles flawed? Limited, but not flawed. The problem is not Lexiles, but how some schools use them.
What Are Lexiles?
Lexiles are scores produced by a readability formula that analyzes text (e.g., passages, articles, books) for the length of sentences and the frequency with which words generally occur. Longer sentences, with rarer words, words readers rarely see, are considered more difficult to understand than shorter sentences with words readers often see.
Limitations
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
To motivate children to read, schools need well-stocked libraries with great librarians who never stop motivating children to read. They need a wealth of books, videos, computers, internet subscriptions, and electronic media for struggling readers and advanced ones. They need budgets to keep the libraries open and thriving, motivating children, all year. “All year” includes summers.
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Pronouncing words is important, but insufficient for success in reading. To read successfully requires the reader to understand the words he sees and how they relate to one another. Here are eight reasons your child may have trouble understanding or comprehending what he reads.
He has difficulty recognizing words. If your child struggles to recognize too many words, he’ll have little attention or mental energy left to consider the meaning of what he’s reading. Usually, children who struggle to quickly recognize more than 5% of words get frustrated with what they’re reading and pay little or no attention to the meaning of their reading materials.
In 1965, N. Dale Bryant, one of the great pioneers in helping children overcome dyslexia, explained why children with reading disabilities should read materials that are easy, not hard for them. Below are two quotes from Bryant that explain why a target of 80% word recognition accuracy, found in many goals and objectives, will impede the progress of struggling readers; why quickly and accurately recognizing only 80% of words will frustrate them; why quickly and accurately recognizing 95-98% of words in paragraphs is a common and much-needed standard for matching readers to instructional level materials, the level of materials that teachers should typically use when teaching word recognition; why quickly and accurately recognizing 99% of words in paragraphs is a common and much-needed standard for matching readers to independent level materials, materials children read by themselves, without any help; and why 90% or less word recognition accuracy is a common standard for frustration level materials, the level to avoid. Let me repeat: the level to avoid. Here are the quotes:
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Often, children with reading disabilities spend so much time and mental energy trying to decode words that they pay little attention to the meaning of what they’re reading. This is a strong indication that for them the material is too difficult. If teachers regularly give children with reading disabilities such frustrating materials, these children may learn that reading has only two purposes: to sound out words and to hurry and finish. Reading is not about meaning, understanding, or enjoyment.
From Reading and Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan & Dr. Howard Margolis
How to Reach Your Young Child Through 4 Sense Keys
A Guest Post by Nancy Cloyd
President, Literacy for Tykes
http://LiteracyForTykes.blogspot.com
Who is your child? You can know your child better than anyone else. You have a special place in his heart. He wants your attention. Can you reach him?
There are Sense Keys you can use to open up his response: Sight, Sound, Touch, and Doing. After his basic needs of food and rest are met, He discovers everything through these senses.
From Reading and Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan & Dr. Howard Margolis
Reading Fluency: Part II – Helping Daniel
A Guest Post by
Lorraine Griffith, M.A.Ed
West Buncombe Elementary School, Asheville NC
Help Launch The National “Read To Kids” Campaign: Vote On the Web
In the U.S. today, a stark disparity exists between the reading abilities of low-income and higher-income children. Only 50% of low-income 4th graders read at or above the basic level according to the Department of Education’s 2007 Nation’s Report Card. The implications of the growing literacy gap extend beyond the walls of our homes and our classrooms. According to Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of Child Development and Behavior at the National Institute of Health, “surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records indicate that at least half have reading difficulties, and in some states the size of prisons a decade in the future is predicted by fourth grade reading failure rates.”
As a follow-up to our first post on Paired Reading, Dr. Topping suggested that interested professionals, education majors, and parents visit his university website to get free resources about Paired Reading: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/eswce/research/projects/trwresources/
Once on the site, click Paired Reading . You’ll also see valuable resources about Writing, Spelling, and Thinking. You can download most of these resources.
Visiting the site and studying the materials will give you information that may help you make better decisions for children who struggle with reading.
Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond www.reading2008.com
