"Learning to read is a cultural invention...so our brains don't come with that wiring and it's a relatively new invention at that...5000 years that we've had a system that actually represents spoken language! It's a wonderful thing but it's a challenging thing because what we have to do is to use areas of the brain, the left hemisphere, that are really wired for humans to acquire language and we have to build a new neural circuitry to be able to skillfully, automatically, effortlessly pull words off the page while making meaning. And for some children that is just a very difficult thing to do. It has nothing to do with intelligence, nothing to do with exposure. It has everything to do with "I was born with this brain" and skilled reading instruction will address these biological concerns." Margie Gillis, Ed.D.
This is the seventeenth blog entry focused on Home Reading this school year, intended to help families successfully support children as they learn to read :)
Teachers encourage children to participate in home reading - in fact, in our school, this is primarily the only homework our students in Kindergarten through Grade 4 are expected to do on a daily basis. We encourage this because we all aware of the research supporting the tremendous differences in vocabulary development, language awareness, cadence, comprehension and the ability to make connections between text and real life circumstances that exist between children who either read daily or participate in read aloud experiences for extended periods of time and those who do not, and teachers want all their students to have the best possible opportunities to succeed. Parents support their children in home reading, sometimes reading aloud, sometimes listening to reading, often mixing both kinds of reading over the course of time to keep children interested and excited about learning to read. Typically home reading enhances the learning to read journey and parents are able to track their child's improvements in reading through the weeks and months of a school year, particularly in the earliest years of school.
What happens when, despite best efforts of parents to provide and promote read aloud and home reading experiences, children seem to be struggling mightily to figure out the reading process and develop strengths as a reader?
There are two really critical points to remember at all times, from my perspective:
1) Learning to read is a journey just like all child development is a journey, and every child is going to experience their own journey in their own way; while there are somewhat predictable markers to make note of along the journey, when and where these happen can vary quite significantly from one child to another. Therefore, comparisons with other children are usually more harmful than effective, and wide variances will and do exist between children engaging in the learning to read process. A corollary statement to this recognition lies in the fact that school is a journey as well; no educator expects all children to become proficient at reading within a defined term - we have twelve + years to educate a child fully in basic learning and knowledge acquisition so not becoming a proficient reader in grades 1, 2 or even grade 3 does not mean a child will never be a good reader - some kids just take a little longer to bloom and this is perfectly fine!
2) Home reading is a supplement to being taught to read in school; it is not the only place where children will be learning and practicing reading. Teachers typically play the strongest role in teaching children to read, adding increasingly complex and demanding strategies to students' repertoires of reading strategies as they advance in their understanding of the reading process. We almost always begin with alphabet knowledge in Kindergarten and progress through numerous instructional phases as students acquire and polish their basic reading awareness and applications of that knowledge. Just like learning to read is a journey, it is also a shared responsibility between school and home - neither of us are in this alone! As teachers notice students are acquiring and using basic reading strategies - developing the effortless automaticity that Maggie Gillis refers to in the quote at the beginning of this blog entry - then new strategies to improve fluency, word recognition or comprehension will be introduced. This ensures a child's gradual flow of learning - not too much before they are ready to handle a new strategy, just enough to keep them feeling successful and engaged in enhancing their learning process.
I believe it is critical to remember these points at all times because it helps us keep the journey of learning to read for each child in perspective and takes away the anxiety and fear parents' often feel about their child 'never going to be a reader' or 'is just not a good reader'. Successful readers are scaffolded into reading, not born to it (again, in reference to the introductory quote) because our brains are NOT hardwired for reading; they are hardwired for language acquisition. We need to coax and develop brains into reading!
Sometimes, despite our best efforts between home and school, children do not appear to make much progress with reading. They seem to never become 'smooth' readers, and consistently struggle to remember or appropriately identify seemingly simple words. They begin to resist reading, saying they don't like it. When attempting to decode a new word, it appears a random exercise, with suggestions and sounds apparently unrelated to what is actually written on the page. Often, following either a read aloud or an independent reading experience, they don't seem to understand or be able to identify the content of what was just read, or be able to ask or answer questions about the topic. If these kinds of experiences continue to be typical in a child for longer than a few months, the teacher is likely to bring that to a parent's attention, and set some specific learning interventions in place.
At EHS, we will regroup our readers with considerable challenges into smaller, direct teaching groups for some intensive intervention, for example. Or set them up with Calgary Reads/EHS Reads volunteer tutors for a couple of extended reading sessions per week for several months to increase their opportunities for building skills through practice and repetition of reading. Or, if the challenges with learning to read appear to be connected to worry or anxiety about reading, they may be offered the opportunity to participate in a series of reading experiences with one of our therapy animals (Hope, our therapy rabbit, or one of the Puppy Pals therapy dogs that visit our school) to build confidence and relieve anxieties associated with reading.
Should these additional supports still not gain traction with students and help them achieve the fluency, automaticity and comprehension we would typically expect to see acquired through the first two or three years of reading instruction, parents might find themselves in meetings with the teacher, Diversity Learning Leader and/or school Administrator talking about the possibility of psycho-educational testing to discover whether or not a learning disability is present. A learning disability is not a negative thing, it just describes a particular neural circuitry the brain is struggling to appropriately develop and the testing offers insights and suggestions for more direct interventions to build student success. There was a time, several years ago and before, when the identification of a learning disability carried great stigma in schools but that is no longer true - identifying a learning disability now simply means that child will get whatever supports and accommodations that are necessary to ensure they continue to build successful learning going forward in their education - and these accommodations are able to be continued on through university, if need be - a godsend for all intelligent children who might initially struggle with reading and making sense of text.
Through the past sixteen blog entries this school year focused on home reading, I have offered numerous strategies and insights into the reading journey. This entry is intended to help answer questions many parents have about their child not being a good reader, especially in the early years of learning to read. To recap (generally!) many of the strategies suggested in previous blog entries, the key things to remember about home reading and supporting your child with the learning to read process are:
- activate prior knowledge when sitting with your child to read, either to or with them; look at the pictures, talk about the title, ask about and/or offer connections to the child's previous experiences before actually engaging in reading the book
- make predictions and ask why your child is making a particular prediction - make suggestions as appropriate without overwhelming
- use letter/sound and word attack strategies as your child attempts to decode new words, including talking about blends, digraphs, prefixes, suffixes, etc. - find out what your child knows about these things and how you might be able to help him/her grow in their understanding of how letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make sense!
- identify key words - or new words; those that your child is stumbling over, and play some games to remember them; talk about meaning, why these new words are important in understanding the text, ask questions and encourage your child to ask questions
- make sense of text as it is being read; ask questions, clarify understandings, summarize at the end
These basic steps will ensure an effective home reading experience for you and your child. There are many, many more ideas contained in previous blog entries; no one can predict which child will benefit most from which strategy so students must have a repertoire to refer to as they engage repeatedly and joyously in the reading/learning to read process.
Sometimes the learning to read journey seems to go great, then slow down and later pick up again. Occasionally, it will feel like the journey stalls even as it begins. Frequently the learning to read journey seems to unfold in fits and starts, with successes intermingled with challenges. Every child to himself seems to best sum up the learning to read experiences. It is important to remember the child, teacher and parent are all involved in this journey together and that the journey will be idiosyncratic to your child at all times.
I have great faith in the learning to read process, having had the immeasurable pleasure of watching and supporting students learning to read for decades. I know this process is greatly enhanced by daily reading at home with a trusted and supportive parent or family member. I know learning to read sometimes feels like a never-ending journey (and it truly is!), one we didn't really count on as parents in the early days of babyhood with our children. It is also rewarding beyond belief to be able to note and track their triumphs and challenges as our children acquire and utilize reading strategies in their own lives!
Next week's blog entry will focus on comprehension strategies for both younger and more proficient readers. Happy reading, everyone!
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School
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