Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Shortly after meeting me, parents often ask, “What program and services does my child need to overcome his reading disabilities?” They’re surprised when I say, “I don’t know enough about your child and his problems. Tell me more. Exactly what problems does he have?  With what components of reading does he struggle? What can’t he do?” My response often surprises and disappoints them. Here’s my explanation.

A Reading Evaluation Needs to Pinpoint the Problem: The Five Areas of Reading

To be effective, programs that aim to improve the reading of children with reading disabilities need to focus on the child’s specific difficulties. Identifying those difficulties requires an evaluation from a reading specialist.

Broadly speaking, difficulties in reading, especially beginning reading, fall into five areas. Michael Coyne and his colleagues list and define these:

• Phonological awareness: “The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words.” For example, “Liam, tell me the word I’m saying: buh…all.” (In pronouncing buh, the uh should be minimized.)
• Phonics: “Understanding the relationship between the letters of written language and the individual sounds of spoken language letters and using these relationships to read and spell words.” Unlike phonological awareness, this involves written words. For example, “Liam, here’s a new word. It’s not a real word. Sound it out; say it.”
• Fluency: “The effortless, automatic ability to read quickly and accurately in connected text.” For example: Liam read the passage in 60 seconds and correctly pronounced 123 words. Fluency is not a problem as 123 words is average for his grade.”
• Vocabulary: “The ability to understand and use words to acquire and convey meaning.” For example, “So Liam, why do you think the author used the word shaky to describe the airplane?”
• Comprehension: “The complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to construct meaning.” In other words, understanding the author’s meaning. For example, Liam understands the material if he can accurately summarize it and logically discuss its implications.

Before offering instruction most likely to strengthen the reading abilities of children with reading disabilities, a reading specialist needs to screen the child in these areas and then more fully assess the child in areas of suspected weakness. The specialist needs to determine if the child struggles in these areas, and, if so, at what level can he comfortably and efficiently benefit from instruction.

Evaluations Need to Assess the Child’s Responses to Specific Instructional Procedures and Methods: Diagnostic Teaching

Testing helps to identify the child’s level of functioning and what he needs to learn. It offers little to guide instruction. To identify the instructional strategies and methods likely to improve the child’s reading, a reading specialist needs to observe the child getting his usual instruction and conduct diagnostic teaching.

In diagnostic teaching, the reading specialist teaches the child and measures his response to instruction. The specialist will sometimes compare different pacing, different rewards, and different methods. She may find that he learned new words more quickly and enjoyed himself more with Method-A than Method-B. If so, instruction should initially emphasize Method-A.

Evaluations Should Assess the Effectiveness of the Different Instructional Strategies and Methods the School Used: Monitoring

Testing and diagnostic teaching are often inadequate to pinpoint the child’s problems and the instructional strategies and methods that will likely improve his reading. Thus, schools need to frequently monitor the child’s progress. If this information is available, the reading specialist should analyze it.

Note that at the end of the last section we used and italicized the word initially. If Method-A worked better than B, why did we do this?  Because Method-A may not continue to produce good results. Thus, it’s critical for schools to keep monitoring the progress of children with reading disabilities and adjusting instruction whenever children run into difficulty. That’s a major reason for monitoring. Of course, schools should monitor adjustments so it’s clear they’ve resolved rather than added to the difficulties.

Answering the Question

Once I have the information discussed in this post, I can begin to answer the question. Without this information, I’m guessing, and guesses are often wrong.

For more information about the components of reading and monitoring, see chapters 3, 4, and 7 in Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds. To learn what to ask for in a reading evaluation, see chapter 5. For a free copy of  Monitoring Your Child’s IEP: A Focus on Reading (co-authored by Sheila Alber-Morgan, Associate Professor, Ohio State University), join our mailing list on www.reading2008.com.

References

Coyne, M. D., Zipoli Jr., R. P., & Ruby, M. F. (2006). Beginning reading instruction for students at risk for reading disabilities: What, how, and when. Intervention in School & Clinic, 41(3), 161-168.

Margolis, H., & Alber-Morgan, S. (2007). Monitoring your child’s IEP: A focus on reading. Insights on Learning Disabilities, 4(2), 1-26 (www.reading2008.com).

Margolis, H., & Brannigan, G. G. (2009). Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds. Voorhees, NJ: Reading2008 & Beyond (www.reading2008.com).

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