Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties - Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Presenter: David Kilpatrick
• Presented by: Exceptional Student Services Unit in collaboration with Jill Marshall and Veronica Fiedler
• Vision: All students in Colorado will become educated and productive citizens.
• Mission: To ensure all students are prepared for success by providing excellent leadership, service, and support.

Structure of Learning Series

• 13 Modules: Comprehensive learning experience on assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties.
• Format Options:
  • Complete all 13 modules for a comprehensive experience.
  • Individual sessions for specific guidance.
  • Companion resource for book study on "The Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties."

Module 4: Word Level Reading

Session 1: The Challenges of Word Level Reading

• Key Learnings:
  • Difference between word identification and word recognition.
  • Challenges in developing word-level reading.
• Word Recognition vs. Word Identification:
  • Word Identification: Recognizing familiar or unfamiliar words (can be sounded out or guessed).
  • Word Recognition: Recognizing familiar words effortlessly - hallmark of skilled readers.
• Sight Words: Known words that jump out instantly; essential for skilled reading.

Session 2: Word Reading Development

• Phonological Skills: Central to learning an alphabet-based writing system.
• Alphabetic Principle:
  • Alphabetic Writing: Represents phonemes in speech.
  • Phoneme Skills: Necessary for decoding and retaining words.
• Developmental Levels:
  • Early phonological awareness influences letter name/sound knowledge.
  • Phoneme awareness fosters reading and spelling skills.

Session 3: How Poor Phonological Skills Hinder Word Reading

• Phonological Core Deficit: Main cause for limited word reading progress.
• Impact:
  • Difficulty in phoneme awareness limits reading ability.
  • Different levels of deficit show different reading challenges.

Session 4: Orthographic Mapping

• Orthographic Mapping: Process of storing words for instant retrieval.
• Skills Needed:
  • Letter-sound proficiency.
  • Phonemic proficiency.
• Irregular Words: Not a major issue for mapping, but challenging for decoding.

Session 5: Word Reading Fluency

• Fluency: Fast, accurate, and expressive reading.
• Challenges:
  • Fluent reading depends on the size of sight vocabulary, not just speed.
• Reading Practice: Effective mainly for those who remember words.

Session 6: English Learners and Word Reading Development

• Challenges:
  • Faster progress in word reading than comprehension.
• Phonemic Skills: Transferable across languages.

Session 7: Understanding Word Reading Difficulties

• Key Questions:
  • Why some students struggle with word-level reading.
  • Impact of phonological core deficit.
  • Why some interventions work better than others.
• Intervention and Instruction: Effective methods align with scientific understanding of reading.

Conclusion

• Key Takeaways:
  • Importance of phonological and phonemic skills in reading.
  • Need for proficient letter-sound and phonemic skills for effective reading instruction.
• Upcoming Topics: Next module will explore the simple view of reading and comprehension.