Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

If a struggling reader’s motivation is blocking her reading progress, her motivation must be systematically and knowledgeably evaluated, which tests cannot do. Evaluating motivation and its components shouldn’t be sidestepped, but often is. As Robert Sternberg, a leading expert on intelligence and motivation, so aptly noted, “Motivation is perhaps the indispensable element needed for school success. Without it, the student never even tries to learn.”

Reading diagnosticians who fail to go beyond tests to fully evaluate the dynamics of a struggling reader’s motivational problem will not get the information needed to identify what’s fueling it and what the school can do to overcome it and markedly accelerate her progress. The motivational problem of a struggling reader is often caused by a steady diet of materials that frustrate her, bore her, make no sense to her, are unrelated to her goals, or a combination of these. Without evaluating and strengthening the poor or flagging motivation of the struggling reader, efforts to improve her reading will fail.

HM