Is your child
reading books that are too difficult?
Children who
are weak at reading want to be better. They tend to choose books that are too
difficult for them and pretend they are better than they really are. It can be
very difficult to get across to a child that this won't help him improve. Many,
many times I have seen children just looking at the pictures while pretending
to read. This is a complete waste of time for school aged children who should
be reading independently.
'High interest,
low skill' books are often presented to children who are struggling with
reading. They usually appear very simple to an adult but, in fact, many of
these books are much too difficult. When the child's reading doesn't improve,
the conclusion is often that there's something wrong with him. Now of course it
is sensible to investigate the possibility of learning disabilities, but test
results often show that that there are no such disabilities - the child is just
very weak at reading. Having said this, these hi-lo books are great when a
child does have basic reading skills but just doesn't like reading. The topics
are very engaging.
The bottom line
is that a child needs to be able to read 95% of the words easily when reading
independently. That usually works out to knowing all but three or four words on
the page. It's really important to make sure the level of text is right for
your child's current reading skill. This is because, with reading, confidence
is everything.
Reading prompts
that work
It is tempting
to tell your child the words he doesn't know and hope that he'll remember them,
but there are far more effective ways to help an early reader. What should you
say to help when he reaches that first unknown word? What sort of prompting is
appropriate?
When he
hesitates before attempting a word, ask (in a conversational tone of voice) Can
you see something in the picture to help you? or What's happening in the
story? or What's the information about in this book? (This last one
applies to books that are informational rather than narrative.) When he's had a
try at reading the word (whether correctly or incorrectly), ask Does that
make sense? If he reads it incorrectly, then ask What would make sense
there?
These sort of
prompts are about the meaning of the text.
You can also
prompt him to use his knowledge of how language works and the structure of oral
language and grammar. When he hesitates before attempting a word, ask, What
would sound right there? When he's had a try at reading the word (whether
correctly or incorrectly), ask Can we say it that way? If he reads the
word incorrectly, then say Try again and think what would come next.
These are
structure prompts.
Another
appropriate way to prompt is by getting him to focus on the initial letters or
clusters or patterns of letters and the sound they make. When he hesitates
before attempting a word, ask What does it start with? or Can you
start to say the word? or Can you get your mouth ready to say the word?
(Asking him to look for smaller words he knows within the unknown word can also
be very helpful.)
When he's had a
try at saying the word (whether correctly or incorrectly), ask Do you know
another word that looks like that? or You said...... Does that look
right?
If he reads the
word incorrectly, then ask Do you know another word that starts with those
letters? or What do you know about letter patterns that might help?
These are
visual prompts.
Timing your
prompts
You are trying
to build up your child's confidence in his own ability so you need to allow him
time to have a go at working a word out before you prompt at all. This is
usually known as 'wait time'. 'Wait time' is something that any adult can have
trouble with. Either we're in a hurry ourselves or we're trying to help too
soon to save the child from embarrassment (which is giving the child the
message that we don't think he can do it). Instant help can also result in lazy
children. It takes practice to hold back but you'll be surprised at the
results. A 'wait time' of 10-15 seconds or so is recommended. Try it!
If your child
can't work out a word in that amount of time, follow the instructions above for
meaning, structure and visual prompts. Two prompts are enough. Any more would
make it seem like too big a deal.
If your
meaning, structure and visual prompts don't work, you should read the situation
carefully. If your child is showing signs of stress, ask 'Would you like me
to tell you the word?' Don't just tell him what the word is because he is
likely to feel disempowered and that will not help to build confidence. By
asking if he'd like you to tell him, he is still in control of his own
learning. There's a big difference.
If he says Yes,
just tell him the word calmly without making any fuss. You don't need to say
anything else.
If he says No
(but you can see he's getting frustrated), help by breaking up the word with
your fingers and saying Let's break it down into chunks.
For example, if
the word is brown, you'd point out the br and say, This part
says brrrr. Then point to the n and say, This part says nnn. You
know those two chunks.
Then point to
the ow and say, I can help with this chunk. It says oww, just like the oww
in cow. So when we put the chunks together in order we get brrr, then oww, and
then nnn. See if you can put them together. If he can't do this, say it for
him. You will need to work on phonological awareness exercises in this case. If
he can put the sounds together, say That's right and move straight on.
If he says No
(and wants to keep trying to work it out by himself) that's great. If he
can't work it out, or if he comes up with the wrong word, just say the word
correctly once and move on.
You'll find
that some meaning, structure and visual prompts work better for your child than
others. Every child is different. To find out which type or what questions your
child relates to best you need to try them all.
Also, by giving
meaning, structure and visual prompts you are getting him to think about the
text in a broad way. This helps avoid the 'barking at print' that is very
common with children who have become so focused on decoding words that they
have no idea of the meaning of the text.
Experiment with
giving different types of prompts for different words (not the whole lot for
one word.) Keep up the variety while you learn how your child responds to each
type. And if you find that over time (ie weeks) your child responds best to
visual prompts, throw in the other types as well from time to time to keep that
broader thinking going.
Your two goals
are to:
- Take away the stress for your child...by making sure he can read 95% of the text independently
- Help him build up confidence in his ability...by prompting the right way
- Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ali_Roundtree
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