Tonight's class about Reading and the Brain was absolutely fascinating!! I teach at the elementary level and am doing Program Support this year so am always working to deepen my understanding of how students learn to read. This year, my work in the Learning Centre has been eye-opening as I work with students who are frustrated with continually trying to learn to read. Most of these struggling readers are motivated, hard-working, and want to be successful. When you think of all that is involved in learning to read, it's a miracle that anyone can learn to do it! Here is the web that Dallas and I completed with ideas connected with learning to read.
Creating this web, using Inspiration (free trial available at inspiration.com), was a very fun activity! The web is a great visual illustration of the complexity of learning to read.
Barbara asked the question of when it is time to stop remediating and begin using compensatory strategies. I find that I flip-flop on this question and cannot seem to come to a final answer in my own mind. This year, I have worked with students who are not able to read in spite of the fact that they are motivated, focused, and willing to try anything. All avenues of remediation have been explored and unsuccessful. I am beginning to see the need for compensatory strategies.
Edyburn makes the comparison between a person with a physical disability and a person with a cognitive disability. I don't think this comparison is necessarily a good one. The purpose of school is to enhance and measure cognitive ability, not physical ability. If a student has a physical disability that "gets in the way" of measurement of the cognitive ability, I do not see compensating for this as being the same as compensating for a cognitive disability. However, that does not mean that I don't see the value in using compensatory strategies. As Edyburn concludes in his article, much more research is needed "...regarding the nature of assistive technology for enhancing reading performance" (Edyburn, D., 2007).
I have done some additional research and have found some great sites relating to teaching children to read. The two listed below have the best information and resources for teachers.
The University of Oregon has some great information about the 5 big ideas in beginning reading (Phonemic Awareness, Alphabetic Principal, Accuracy and Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension). The website is designed to provide information, technology, and resources to teachers, administrators, and parents.
http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/
The Florida Centre for Reading Research has information, assessments, and downloadable instructional materials.
http://www.fcrr.org/
Toni,
ReplyDeleteI quite like the diagram you and Dallas constructed. Great work!
On the topic of the Edyburn article, I thought the reason for discussing both physical and cognitive disabilities was to indicate that educators are quicker to help those in whom we can see (or identify) problems. Since we can't "see" cognitive disabilities, we tend to wait to help people who have them. I would like to better understand how you interpreted the article. Why do you believe both physical and cognitive disabilities are discussed?
Sherry
Hi Sherry,
DeleteI was referring to the first comparison Edyburn made to kick off the article. Your point about not being able to "see" cognitive disabilities has made me think about the way I think about compensatory strategies. I think my worry is that if we are too quick to compensate, we may not take remedial measures that will work for many students. However, I think that by Grade 4, if many remedial strategies have been tried and have not helped, then it is time to take compensatory measures.
I think all people are more understanding of physical disabilites. We would never deny crutches or a wheelchair to a person who had difficulty walking, but we deny audiobooks to people who have processing issues. For the N.S. literacy assessments at the grades 6, 9 and 12 levels if students cannot decode the words even if they can comprehend the message, they are evaluated as not meeting expectations in reading. Many of our LD students wcan nvere pass the assessment based on its defintion of reading.
ReplyDeleteExcellent discussions! Remember the definition of Assistive Technology: enhancing performance of an individual with a disability to successfully complete a task. Does it make sense to to teach an A/K amputee to walk or provide him/her with assistive technology (prosthetic leg in this case) to improve performance with walking? It is no different with individuals with Learning Disabilities or Cognitive delays. They require appropriate AT to improve their performance in various areas. They face barriers to processing information and information in general. If you think about the TASK, then the skill sets of the individual and how they will achieve the task it should be clear where and what Assistive Technology will fit to improve that person's performance.
ReplyDeleteNice connection to the factors to be considered in making AT decisions, Barbara. I think when I discussed remedial vs. compensatory strategies, I had zoned in on considering reading problems (to the exclusion of other problems that may require the implementation of AT).
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