The Reading Journey

“Everyone is a reader…Some just haven’t found their best route yet.” – unknown

During a recent reading association meeting I was met with some interesting reading statistics:  “Reading scientists” predict that 95% of students can be taught to read accurately and fluently.  If this is true, how do we help our struggling readers in their journey to becoming successful readers?  Some of our students take to reading just like ducks take to water.  They jump in and swim with very little formal instruction.  On the other hand – there are those who need explicit instruction, floaties, and a life jacket just to be able to tread water.

Each child is unique and there are definite differences when it comes to learning to read. Ongoing oral language, strategic reading experiences, and reading volume seem to be important keys and instruction must be tailored to fit the individual’s learning needs  Here is a quick look at some of the percentages adapted from Put Reading First, Teaching Students with Persistent Reading Problems and Straight Talk About Reading:

For 5% of our children – Reading is easy!  These are the ones who read before they start to school and don’t require a lot of formal decoding instruction.

For 35% of our children – Reading is relatively easy.  These are our students who will learn to read regardless of the literacy approach and will use a variety of strategies.

For 40% of our children – Reading is difficult.  Research shows that these students need systematic and explicit instruction.

For 20% of our children – Reading is one of the most difficult tasks to be mastered at school.  These learners need intensive, systematic, multi-sensory direct instruction.

Now we know the stats, so what are the next steps?  What road maps do we use for these very different reading journeys?  Here are some suggested principles of instruction:

For the 5% – Provide quick systematic phonics instruction to enhance spelling, provide opportunities to enrich vocabulary, and extend comprehension skills.

For the 35% – Build phonemic awareness, provide phonics instruction to build decoding skills, develop vocabulary, and explicitly teach comprehension strategies.

For the 40% – Strategically teach letter/sound relationships (involve visual, auditory, and tactile activities to help children remember info), demonstrate explicitly how to sound out a word (segment sounds, blend them together), link decoding and spelling, use predictable texts to build fluency, build background knowledge for connections, develop vocabulary through lots of exposure (speaking, listening, reading and writing), and introduce and model specific and focused strategies to build comprehension.

For the 20% – Use all of the above plus use your assessments drive step by step instruction.  Demonstrate and directly teach each skill in a variety of multi-sensory ways.  Guided reading practice and discovery are important tools for building automaticity.  Continual review, ongoing scaffolded instruction, and guided skill practice are a must to build confidence, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

I heard a reading interventionist say, “It’s like calling for EMS in an emergency.”  We must provide an Explicit – Multi-sensory – Systematic approach for those with the longer, more winding reading journeys.  The road might be more rocky, but it can be navigated with growing success.

You can find out more here: https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf