Brain Links
Comprehension Tips for the Dyslexic Learner
About Comprehension...
Comprehension relies on mastery of decoding; children who struggle to decode find it difficult to understand and remember what has been read. Because their efforts to grasp individual words are so exhausting, they have no resources left for understanding.
Signs of comprehension difficulty:
- confusion about the meaning of words and sentences
- inability to connect ideas in a passage
- omission of, or glossing over detail
- difficulty distinguishing significant information from minor details
- lack of concentration during reading
Things to do in the classroom:
- Go over new vocabulary before reading the passage.
- Provide the questions you are going to ask before you read the passage so the student can have an idea of what information they will need to try and retain while reading along with you.
- Ask the students to write down questions based on the titles and subtitles within the text.
- Break the class into groups to encourage discussion.
- Discuss different reading comprehension strategies prior to reading and talk about which strategies would work best for this reading assignment.
- Ask students to predict what they think will happen next.
- Discuss the method of organization or the point of view of the story.
- Use real-life examples to help in understanding the material.
- Read material several times.
For the Adventurous...
Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension
Math/Science Connection Tips
*watch the Youtube video for an idea on how to teach division. This can be adapted to single step division also. Students are using kinesthetic learning to reinforce the process on how to solve a division problem. This can be interchanged to many operations! Love this!!!!!!! P.S. It's right at 1 minute long.
Remember to supply students with acronyms, charts (100's charts, place value, food chain, planets, conversion charts, etc.)
High Yield Strategy
Fact or Fib Showdown
1. Students write “fact” on one notecard or post-it note and “fib” on another notecard or post-it note.
2. Teacher presents a statement associated with the content.
3. Teacher allows 3-5 seconds for student processing to decide if the statement is a fact or a fib.
4. Teacher says, “1, 2, 3 Showdown!”
5. Students slap their response in the middle of their desk/table.
6. Students justify their response with a partner or small group.
7. Teacher clarifies/verifies correct response and dispels misconceptions.
Ways to Integrate for comprehension: Follow up after a reading passage, story, reading group, etc.
App/Technology Idea
News-O-Matic is the daily newspaper for kids. It is an exciting and engaging non-fiction experience, and a fantastic modern educational tool. It gives young readers a window into the world - and a reason to love reading news for kids. Whether the stories are about India's election, the World Cup, or the moons of Saturn, they provide students opportunities to make connections in meaningful ways and inspire children every day.
Myth Buster
Myth: If you just give them enough time, children will outgrow dyslexia.
Fact: There is no evidence that dyslexia is a problem that can be outgrown. There is,
however, strong evidence that children with reading problems show a continuing
persistent deficit in their reading rather than just developing later than average children
(Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, & Fletcher, 1996). More strong evidence shows
that children with dyslexia continue to experience reading problems into adolescence and
adulthood (Shaywitz et al., 1999, 2003)