Reading+Comprehension

Literacy can be defined as the ability to communicate by reading, speaking, listening and viewing ( [] ). The importance of these skills has been indentified and are implemented from birth. As a child grows older and moves through their schooling years, literacy skills, especially reading, are relied on greatly and it can be said that having good literacy skills with a focus on reading is the base to quality learning. However with all skills there is always a percentage who face difficulties in reaching mastery in that particular skill set.

In the case of literacy skill this is no different. Large numbers of school students through all years (Kindergarten-yr 12) are said to have reading and writing problems Masters and Forster (as cited in Foreman, 2008). Unlike other learning hindrances such as behavioral and physical, literacy problems are often undetected. With literacy problems usually unseen until the end of the first year of schooling at the earliest (Foreman, 2008) it turns into an uphill battle to get struggling students back to an age standard level. Doyle (as cited in Foreman, 2008) states that 83% of a school day is being directed towards paper and pencil activities including reading therefore it is vital that students obtain effective reading comprehension to enhance learning. Along with the benefits of effective reading comprehension there are also effects seen in students who lack in this skill set such as:
 * Low confidence
 * Low motivation
 * Low work expectation and work rate
 * Low self-esteem à Depression

Having identified the importance of literacy skills and reading comprehension as a sub branch, the process of learning how to read needs to be addressed. Foreman(2008) places forward three explanations of how reading is learnt, these being:
 * The bottom-up approach which emphasises the learning of associations between letters and their sounds to identify words (phonic analysis and synthesis).
 * The top-down approach which introduces reading by exposing students to stories and whole words, with associations between letter and sounds being largely learned incidentally.
 * The interactive approach which states that both whole words/stories and letter-sound association are important and are used interactively in learning to read.

With literacy difficulties making up the largest area of disability in our community (Foreman, 2008) the underlying reasons for this need to be addressed. When the topic of literacy difficulties is addressed with relation to responding to individual needs in education the main area that had had a major link was vision and visual perception/processing problems (expanded below)


 * Other skills needed to develop reading comprehension **

With many students only decoding single words and not comprehending what they’re reading the student reading the piece of text will not be able to understand the meaning or ideas the writer is trying to express, whether this be a story or work instruction. When the reader understands the text it enhances the overall reading fluency, allows for word predictions to occur and allows for greater reading comprehension to be achieved.
 * Sight word development**

A way to improve the students understanding, fluency and allowing for word prediction of a piece of text can be achieved by improving their sight word vocabulary. Sight words (magic words, sensational words or automatic words) are automatically identified by the student reading the text allowing the reader to approach to meaning level of the text instead of only decoding single words. Andrews (as cited in Foreman,2008)states that if more attention has can be paid to word recognition and/or decoding single words then less attention is likely to be available to develop an understanding of what is being read. With fluent readers having large sight vocabularies it shows the importance of this skill to develop reading comprehension.

(50 common sight words) Phonics is a strategy used to teach people how to read by connecting sounds with groups of letters. This skill is used to develop overall reading comprehension through the same way as the sight word system. If a student can combine their sight words with phonic skills (sound blending) the amount of word decoding will be minimal and allow for fluency and more analysis and understanding of the text being read. Once students progress their skills in phonics they are more likely to identify new words and improve reading comprehension Badenhor (as cited in Foreman,2008). There are many programs such as the PM Reader program, which is used on the computer and provides text with audio that the student can follow.
 * The || Of || And || A || To || In || Is || You || That || It ||
 * He || Was || For || On || Are || As || With || His || I || At ||
 * Be || This || Have || From || Or || One || Had || By || Word || But ||
 * Not || What || All || Were || We || When || You || Can || Be || Said ||
 * There || Use || An || Each || Which || She || Do || How || Their || They ||
 * Phonics**

Reference List.

Foreman,P.(2008). Inclusion In Action: Second edition; Cengage Learning.

Meisinger, E., Bloom, J., Hynd, G. (2010) Reading fluency:Implications for the assessment of children with reading disabilities. Annals of Dyslexia, 61(1), 21-43 Munro, L.(1998). Phonological and phonemic awareness: Their impact on learning to read and spell. Australian journal for intellectual disabilities. 3(2). 15-21

Racci, L.(2011). Home literacy environments, interest in reading and emergent literacy skills of children with Downs syndrome verse typical children. Journal for intellectual disability research. 55(6). 596-609

Washburn, E., Matesha, J., Brinks, C.(2011) Are pre-service teachers prepared for struggling readers?. Annals of dyslexia. 61(1). 21-43

Wise, J., Sevcik, R., Morris, R., Lovett, M., Wolf, M.(2007). The relationship among receptive and expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, pre-reading skills, word identification skills and reading comprehension by children with ready disabilities. Journal of speech, language and hearing research. 50(4).1093-1109.