Ask The Reading Specialist… Laura Rice
What and When 4 Kids is proud to announce a new column!
Laura Rice, M.Ed has is a New York State Certified Reading Specialist with over 19 years of experience in both public and private school settings. Laura has been a classroom teacher as well as a learning specialist and enjoys working with individuals or small groups. While Laura works with students of all ages, she has particular expertise in the area of emergent literacy and with students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD. The Learning Resource Center opened in 2008 and is located in Mount Kisco, NY.
Do you remember learning to read? Was is an easy process or did you struggle? Most people don’t remember how they learned to read and now that you have a child, you are watching him go through the process wondering how it all comes together. I thought I’d start off the Ask the Reading Specialist column with Reading 101: The Reading Process.
There are five basic components of reading including phonemic awareness, letter/sound correspondence, sight word development, comprehension and fluency. Each one plays an important role in learning to read and weaknesses in any one component can affect overall reading success.
Phonemic Awareness sounds like a daunting and complicated term, but it really just pertains to the ability to play with sounds in words. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. The word “cat” is made up of 3 phonemes – /c/ /a/ /t/. Phonemic awareness has nothing to do with naming the letters yet-it’s strictly auditory. A child who has good phonemic awareness will be able to separate a word into its component sounds as in the cat example from above or when given discreet sounds, be able to blend them to form a word. When the teacher says, “blend these sounds together – /d/ /o/ /g/”. The child will respond with “dog!”. Another important skill within phonemic awareness is manipulating phonemes to delete or substitute sounds within words. Try this-Say “cat”. Now change the /c/ to /b/.. What do you get? Bat. Phonemic awareness is critically important in learning to read because if the child can’t blend or segment phonemes auditorily, the child will have even more difficulty adding letters that have to be translated into sounds and then blended together to read the word.
Now that leads us to the next component of reading which is learning the letter and sound correspondences. The English alphabet is quite confusing to our young learners because the name of the letter does not always help us learn the corresponding sound. Take “W” for example. Say the name of the letter “W”. It should say /d/, right? “B” says /b/ so “W” should say /d/ but instead it says /w/. Now say the name of the letter “Y”. What should that say? Yup, it should say /w/. So I really feel for my students who struggle with these correspondences. We make up many tricks and hand motions to help them remember the correct sounds. As children learn the letter/sound correspondences, they begin to apply what you probably know as phonics skills, blending the sounds in to words, and then they are reading words!
Next we’ll talk about sight word development because learning the letters and sounds doesn’t assure your ability to read. The English language has a plethora of words that don’t follow the phonetic rules so we start teaching the most common words as sight words which are words you just have to memorize. Examples of sight words include words like “the”, “of”, and “come”. English also has many letter combinations such as “ea” that have multiple sounds depending on the word they are in. Think about these words – “bread”, “leaf” and “steak”. In those words the “ea” says the short e, long e and long a sound respectively. What’s a young reader to do?
Comprehension of course is probably the most important goal of reading. Comprehension encompasses understanding the text you are reading but also knowing when you don’t. Good readers stop intermittently and check to see if they know what’s going on, especially if something doesn’t make sense. Proficient readers visualize the scene in their mind as if it is a movie. Often they will re-read a section to clarify its meaning. Stumbling blocks to comprehension can be complicated sentence structure, vocabulary, figurative language and idioms. A very concrete student may misunderstand the term “Go fly a kite” to mean that the character should literally go fly a kite. Background knowledge of the topic, knowledge of story structure and understanding the structure of English can enhance comprehension because the reader is more able to identify an unknown word or predict story events.
The last but NOT least important component of reading is fluency. Reading fluency pertains to reading a passage smoothly and with the proper intonation and expression. The rate one reads varies with the difficulty of the text but on average an adult is able to read approximately 160 words per minute orally. A student who reads slowly, makes frequent errors or has little expression in his voice lacks fluency. This lack of fluency is bound to affect his comprehension especially as the complexity of reading material increases.
While this article seems rather long, I have really just scratched the surface of teaching children to read. I look forward to your questions and in future editions I will focus on ways to make reading fun for everyone and strategies to help struggling readers.
Email your questions to asklaura@whatandwhen4kids.com
Check out Laura’s site: www.learningresourcectr.com
Article #2
Reading To, With and By Your Children
Reading with your child is one of the most important activities you can do with your child – EVER. When I speak to parents about the types of books their children should be reading, I think of three different categories-
1. Books that should be “read to”children which consist of the classic children’s books with complex story structure, rich vocabulary and multisyllabic words that give even adults a challenge to pronounce at times.
2. Books that should be “read with” children which contain the books that are at their instructional level which means they can read some of the words but are making too many errors to have full comprehension when left to their own devices.
3. Books that should be “read by” children which are the books that are EASY for them to read. You can test this simply by doing the “Five Finger Test”. Open the book and have your child start reading. Each time he makes a mistake hold out a finger to keep count. If you reach five errors within 50 words, the book is too hard.
In the upcoming “Ask the Reading Specialist” columns I will address each of these categories separately and explore how they play an equally important role in literacy development.
Part 1: “Read to” Your Child Everyday
Remember when you were a kid? It wasn’t so long ago. Did you have a bedtime ritual that entailed activities such as taking a bath, brushing your teeth, saying goodnight to everyone and always trying to stay up a bit longer by asking your mom or dad to read to you just one more book? That time with your mom or dad was precious. It was a time where you got all the attention and good snuggle time with the one you loved. Since having a child yourself, I bet you’ve thought much more about your own childhood and what you will do differently. Well, some things shouldn’t change and that certainly applies to reading to your child.
Reading to your child seems like a logical thing to do but do you know the enormous benefits you both reap from this simple activity? Here are the top 10 reasons to read to your child:
1. Increase parent/child bond
2. Soothe and relax your child (and possibly you too!)
3. Encourage a love for books and stories
4. Learn how a book works
5. Expand background knowledge and vocabulary
6. Build comprehension skills (literal and inferential)
7. Encourage expressive language skills
8. Improve memory and sequencing skills
9. Increase attention and concentration skills
10. Introduce different genres of literature (fairy tales, nursery rhymes, fantasy, nonfiction…)
Let’s explore some of the benefits that are not self-explanatory and how they relate to reading.
Learn how a book works
It may not seem complicated to you now, but there are certain skills you need to know about reading a book before you can even attempt to read it.
- Learn how to open a book -the binding sits on the left and the writing should be “right side up”. If a child has not been exposed to books and is handed a book upside down and backwards, she will open it backwards.
- Learn that the story is in the text-If asked where the story is, an inexperienced “reader” will point to the picture. Be sure to point to the text as your read.
- Text is read from left to right and return to the next line on the page.
- The text on the left page is read before the text on the right page.
Modeling good reading behaviors is an essential part of helping someone learn to read and it starts the moment you pick up the book.
Expand background knowledge
Background knowledge is everything you know about a topic. You improve your background knowledge through your daily living and exploring your world. When listening to a story about a farm, a child learns to expect to hear about horses, pigs and chickens rather than pandas, camels and elephants.
Encourage expressive language skills
You might wonder how your child’s expressive language skills can improve if they are listening to a story. The correct modeling of sentence structure in books is quite important. And remember all those questions you are asking as you read? Well, he has to answer you, doesn’t he? During these interactions, you can take his initial response and model proper syntax (grammar) or expand his answer into a complete sentence.
Example:
Reader -”How does the boy feel?”
Child – “He be sad.”
Reader – “So, you think the boy is sad?”
Child – “Yes, the boy is sad.”
Improved attention, memory and sequencing skills
As you get into longer stories with your child, you will not be able to read the whole story in one sitting. Before you begin the days reading, you can ask him to remind you what happened during your last reading session. Go over important events and fill in where there are gaps.
In summary, there are enormous benefits to reading with your child. Not only is it educational but its fun too. So make time for that extra book at night. You can even pretend to disapprove and “give in” to your child’s request. It’s kind of like sneaking vegetables in the pasta. They don’t have to know it’s good for them!
Reading To, With and By Your Children
Reading with your child is one of the most important activities you can do with your child – EVER. When I speak to parents about the types of books their children should be reading, I think of three different categories-
1. Books that should be “read to”children which consist of the classic children’s books with complex story structure, rich vocabulary and multisyllabic words that give even adults a challenge to pronounce at times.
2. Books that should be “read with” children which contain the books that are at their instructional level which means they can read some of the words but are making too many errors to have full comprehension when left to their own devices.
3. Books that should be “read by” children which are the books that are EASY for them to read. You can test this simply by doing the “Five Finger Test”. Open the book and have your child start reading. Each time he makes a mistake hold out a finger to keep count. If you reach five errors within 50 words, the book is too hard.
In the upcoming “Ask the Reading Specialist” columns I will address each of these categories separately and explore how they play an equally important role in literacy development.
Part 1: “Read to” Your Child Everyday
Remember when you were a kid? It wasn’t so long ago. Did you have a bedtime ritual that entailed activities such as taking a bath, brushing your teeth, saying goodnight to everyone and always trying to stay up a bit longer by asking your mom or dad to read to you just one more book? That time with your mom or dad was precious. It was a time where you got all the attention and good snuggle time with the one you loved. Since having a child yourself, I bet you’ve thought much more about your own childhood and what you will do differently. Well, some things shouldn’t change and that certainly applies to reading to your child.
Reading to your child seems like a logical thing to do but do you know the enormous benefits you both reap from this simple activity? Here are the top 10 reasons to read to your child:
1. Increase parent/child bond
2. Soothe and relax your child (and possibly you too!)
3. Encourage a love for books and stories
4. Learn how a book works
5. Expand background knowledge and vocabulary
6. Build comprehension skills (literal and inferential)
7. Encourage expressive language skills
8. Improve memory and sequencing skills
9. Increase attention and concentration skills
10. Introduce different genres of literature (fairy tales, nursery rhymes, fantasy, nonfiction…)
Let’s explore some of the benefits that are not self-explanatory and how they relate to reading.
Learn how a book works
It may not seem complicated to you now, but there are certain skills you need to know about reading a book before you can even attempt to read it.
- Learn how to open a book -the binding sits on the left and the writing should be “right side up”. If a child has not been exposed to books and is handed a book upside down and backwards, she will open it backwards.
- Learn that the story is in the text-If asked where the story is, an inexperienced “reader” will point to the picture. Be sure to point to the text as your read.
- Text is read from left to right and return to the next line on the page.
- The text on the left page is read before the text on the right page.
Modeling good reading behaviors is an essential part of helping someone learn to read and it starts the moment you pick up the book.
Expand background knowledge
Background knowledge is everything you know about a topic. You improve your background knowledge through your daily living and exploring your world. When listening to a story about a farm, a child learns to expect to hear about horses, pigs and chickens rather than pandas, camels and elephants.
Encourage expressive language skills
You might wonder how your child’s expressive language skills can improve if they are listening to a story. The correct modeling of sentence structure in books is quite important. And remember all those questions you are asking as you read? Well, he has to answer you, doesn’t he? During these interactions, you can take his initial response and model proper syntax (grammar) or expand his answer into a complete sentence.
Example:
Reader -”How does the boy feel?”
Child – “He be sad.”
Reader – “So, you think the boy is sad?”
Child – “Yes, the boy is sad.”
Improved attention, memory and sequencing skills
As you get into longer stories with your child, you will not be able to read the whole story in one sitting. Before you begin the days reading, you can ask him to remind you what happened during your last reading session. Go over important events and fill in where there are gaps.
In summary, there are enormous benefits to reading with your child. Not only is it educational but its fun too. So make time for that extra book at night. You can even pretend to disapprove and “give in” to your child’s request. It’s kind of like sneaking vegetables in the pasta. They don’t have to know it’s good for them!
Reading To, With and By Your Children – Part II
By Laura A. Rice, M.Ed
Reading with your child is one of the most important activities you can do with your child – EVER. When I speak to parents about the types of books their children should be reading, I think of three different categories—
1. Books that should be “read to” children which consist of the classic children’s books with complex story structure, rich vocabulary and multisyllabic words that give even adults a challenge to pronounce at times.
2. Books that should be “read with” children which contain the books that are at their instructional level which means they can read some of the words but are making too many errors to have full comprehension when left to their own devices.
3. Books that should be “read by” children which are the books that are EASY for them to read. You can test this simply by doing the “Five Finger Test”. Open the book and have your child start reading. Each time he makes a mistake hold out a finger to keep count. If you reach five errors within 50 words, the book is too hard.
In the upcoming “Ask the Reading Specialist” columns I will address each of these categories separately and explore how they play an equally important role in literacy development.
When you are working with your child, there are certain things that you should do to support her. The key word is support. You can’t do the work for her. You want your child to become an independent reader but during this sometimes difficult process, both you and your child can get quite discouraged. The following tips should help you.
Before you and your child start reading: Look at the cover and talk about the book. What’s the title? Who’s the Author? Have we read any of their books before? How about the illustrator? What do you think the book is about? Where is it taking place? Is it a real or make-believe story? How did you know?
These questions and any others you think of activate any prior knowledge they might have about the subject and it also gives you the opportunity to talk about possible vocabulary.
When you or your child are reading: Stop occasionally and ask what has happened. Ask for predictions as to what is going to happen. Ask for reasons for those predictions.
This is a quick check of comprehension.
When she comes to an unknown word:
Wait. Give her time to use one of their strategies. (If the word is very difficult, or a name that they haven’t seen in the story yet–Give them the word immediately.)
Ask her what she can do? Remind her that she has some strategies to draw from.
Think & Suggest. What clue could you give her so she can figure the word out? (Look at the picture; Ask a question to which the answer is the unknown word. Ex. The dog bit the man. I might ask, “What could a dog do?”)
Give them the word. If all else fails, don’t despair. Just give her the word and move on.
When she decodes an unknown word–make a big deal of it. “Wow!! That’s fabulous.” “You’re so smart!” “You’re such a good reader!” You can also ask how she figured the word out? Verbalizing the strategies used helps make her more aware of strategies that work. Praise her often but sincerely.
The most important thing to remember is that you want your child to enjoy reading. You want her to feel successful. Children who are having difficulty in learning to read are sensitive. If she loses her self-confidence and develops an “I can’t” attitude, a big battle has been lost.
Stay tuned for the third and final segment in this topic– Reading BY Your Child which will discuss how to help your child choose appropriate books for them to read independently.
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Q: I have a hard time getting my son to focus on reading a book he is to hyper. He was diagnosed with ADHD in January. Do you have any suggestions for me about reading to a ADHD child? To get them more focused on reading, what books benefit them, etc. I am so frustrated!!! Thank you so much for your time!!! Look forward to your answers 
A: Thanks so much for your question, it’s a good one. When reading with a child with ADHD, you want to take three things into consideration—time of day, reading level of the book, and duration.
Choose a time after your son has had adequate time to release his energy and then gradually transition to quiet time to read. After dinner may be a good time to sit and read together if he’s had some playtime after school. Be sure not to wait too long if he’s going to do the reading, otherwise, he may be too tired.
Next you want to consider the difficulty of the book. Reading should be fun and relatively easy when reading independently. Let him pick a book in which he is familiar and interested in the topic. You can also share the reading with him. You read a paragraph or page, then he reads a paragraph or page.
Depending on the age of your child, you want to limit the time you read together to between 15 and 30 minutes. If you are reading multiple books, take a brief water break or stretch between books. Maintaining focus for ADHD kids is exhausting and if learning to read has been a challenge, he is using twice as much energy.
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