Struggling Adolescent Readers:How to support your student with a Learning Disability

Presentation by Kristin Blain 8th Grade Resource Teacher

Lakeshore Middle School

teachersites.schoolworld.com www.adlit.org

Today we will discuss:

Learning Disabilities

Reading Decoding

Decoding Strategies

www.pearse-trust.ie 

What is a Learning Disability? LD affects the brain’s ability to

receive, process, store, respond to, and communicate information

NOT an intellectual disability

Average to above average intelligence

Struggling to acquire new skills impacts school performance

No apparent cause for LD

(National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2013)

KinaLearn.com: How a Dyslexic Brain Works- A simple Demonstration

Common Types of Learning DisabilitiesDyslexia Difficulty reading Problems reading, writing, spelling, speaking

Dyscalculia Difficulty with math Problems doing math problems, understanding time, using money

Dysgraphia  Difficulty with writing Problems with handwriting, spelling, organizing ideas

Dyspraxia (Sensory Integration Disorder)

Difficulty with fine motor skills Problems with hand–eye coordination, balance, manual dexterity

Dysphasia/Aphasia Difficulty with language Problems understanding spoken language, poor reading comprehension

Auditory Processing Disorder Difficulty hearing differences between sounds

Problems with reading, comprehension, language

Visual Processing Disorder Difficulty interpreting visual information Problems with reading, math, maps, charts, symbols, pictures

Startling Statistics…

Secondary students with a Learning Disability (LD) experience significant deficits in reading when compared to other students in their grade level

Dropout rate for students with LD was estimated at 31.6 % as compared to 9.4 % for students with no disabilities

(U. S. Dept. of Education, 2007c)

Only 11% of students with LD, as compared to 53% of students in the general education population, have attended a four-year postsecondary program within two years of leaving high school

(National Longitudinal Study II, 2003)

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The Vicious Cycle… 1.) Older students don’t

practice reading and avoid it because

reading is taxing, slow, and frustrating

2.) Because they have not read much, they are not

familiar with the vocabulary, sentence structure, text

organization and concepts of academic “book” language

3.) Over time, comprehension skills decline because they

don’t read, become poor spellers and poor writers

4.) What usually begins as a decoding deficit becomes a debilitating problem with

language (both spoken and written)

(Moats, 2002)

The Reality:

A wealth of evidence shows that intensive, high-quality literacy instruction can help students who are struggling build the skills they need to succeed in high school and beyond (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004).

www.goodfinancialcents.com

How You Can Help Students with learning disabilities can be very

successful in school

It is up to parents, guardians, and teachers to work together to develop a system that will work for the student

Implement simple but helpful strategies with your student at home

Key Literacy Component: Decoding Decoding (word identification), refers to the ability to

correctly decipher a particular word out of a group of letters.

Two skills involved in decoding:

1. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual units of sound. These units of sound are called phonemes (i.e.  /k/,/a/, and /t/, form the word cat).

2. Phonics is the understanding of the relationship between the letters in written words and the sounds of these words when spoken. Students use this understanding as the basis for learning to read (recognize familiar words and pronounce new words) and write.

(National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

Key Literacy Component: Decoding Cont.

If decoding is not fully developed by adolescence, students experience difficulty when they encounter new words

Research supports instruction in decoding, word recognition, and spelling helps improve phonemic awareness for students who have difficulty understanding how to blend sounds to articulate unfamiliar words

(National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

blogs.ksbe.edu

About Decoding Strategies

Adolescents with decoding difficulties need more intensive practice to develop their reading skills more thoroughly both in and out of school

Both phonics and phonemic awareness instruction should occur using the language used in educational settings

Focus on only one or two

strategies at a time www.spelloutloud.com

(National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

Decoding Strategies to Try Research-based recommendations (with each strategy, you model and have your student repeat):

o When looking at new vocabulary words, articulate each syllable slowly (i.e., e-co-sys-tem), pausing slightly between the syllables. Repeat this articulation several times.

o Point out patterns in the pronunciation and spelling of prefixes, suffixes, and vowels in selected words (i.e., rac-ism, sex-ism, age-ism, etc.).

o Point out similarities and differences among words that belong to "word families" (e.g., define, definitely, definition).

(National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

Let’s Practice!*Please refer to your parent

activity handout

Appleby, Ph.D., J., Brinkley, Ph.D., A., Broussard, Ph.D., A. S., McPherson, Ph.D., J. M., & Ritchie, D. A. (2009). Social reform. In Americana journey: Early years (p. 418). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill.

Teach your student to begin their homework by looking

at the section

vocabulary

Remember… Adolescent readers who struggle with

decoding need extra time to decode each word AND to apply their higher order thinking skills to fully comprehend the text that they read

(National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

Encourage your student to self-advocate for the extra time that they will need for reading in and out of the classroom

Practicing these decoding strategies at home will help your student feel more confident and comfortable using them at school

theredranch.blogspot.com

The Moral of the Story… With research-based

strategies, encouragement, and persistence, your student can and will achieve great things!

MedicalNewsOnline: Overcoming Learning Disabilities

References Appleby, Ph.D., J., Brinkley, Ph.D., A., Broussard, Ph.D., A. S., McPherson, Ph.D., J. M., & Ritchie, D. A. (2009). Social

reform. In Americana journey: Early years (p. 418). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill

Manzo, C. (Actor). McGraw, P., & McGraw, J. (Producer).(2012). Overcoming Learning Disabilities [Online video]. Hollywood: CBS Television Distribution. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AzqbCUnRs2Q

Moats, L. (2002). When older students can't read. In LD Online. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.ldonline.org/article/When_Older_Students_Can%27t_Read

National Institute for Literacy. (2008). Key literacy component: Decoding. In all about Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved February 7, 2013, from http://www.adlit.org/article/27875/

National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. (2008, June). Adolescent literacy and older students with learning disabilities: A report from the national joint committee on learning disabilities. In LD Online. Retrieved February 10, 2013

NCLD Editorial Team. (2013). What are learning disabilities?. In National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/what-is-ld/what-are-learning-disabilities

QuestGarden, Inc. (2011). Prefixes and suffixes. In QuestGarden. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://questgarden.com/106/93/3/100719150625/files/Prefix.pdf

Vogel, D. (Narrator). (2011). How a dyslexic brain works [Online video]. KinaLearn.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013, from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgvs28_kinalearn-com-how-a-dyslexic-brain-works-a- simple-demo_people#.UWIQsZPviSo