Developing readers progress from basic reading skills to fluency and comprehension of increasingly difficult print reading during elementary school. The components of good reading ability rely on different brain process, beginning with the acquisition of basic reading skills.
Brain Processes that Underly Basic Reading Skills
The processes involved in basic reading skills include both phonological processes - the ability to relate sounds to print and to sound out word parts - and rapid word retrieval - the ability to automatically recognize words and parts of words in print. We have learned from functional brain imaging research that phonological processing of a word and automatic recognition of a word are two separate brain processes that work differently in good and poor readers. Highly efficient readers use the brain pathway that involves rapid retrieval of word forms to recognize words by sight. Less efficient readers rely on the slower phonological brain pathways as they read. (Shaywitz, 2003)
Some of the clues that may signal potential reading problems in a young child are difficulties with rhyming, delay in learning the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet, and difficulties with pronunciation after the child turns 5 or 6. Early reading interventions that develop the ability to relate sounds to print and to sound out unfamiliar words are critical for children who are struggling with basic reading skills. If your child has difficulty learning the skills of phonemic awareness and phonological processing, scientific-based interventions are available to develop these skills. While you can build her phonological skill development at home, a school or center-based early reading intervention is stongly advised for a young child who appears to be at risk for basic reading skill problems.
Brain Processes Involved in Fluency Skills
The processes involve in fluent reading rely heavily on the activation of a part of the brain known as the word form area. In the most common form of dyslexia, the word form area is seldom accessed during reading. Instead, dyslexic readers develop compensatory strategies that continue to use the slower phonological brain pathways. Students with dyslexia will therefore struggle with fluency skills. But, the experience of dyslexic readers who have gone on to achieve academic success suggests that some word automaticity can be achieved in an area of interest. Even when fluency is weak, other strengths can be used to achieve comprehension.
Fluency interventions are being developed, but a good approach with your struggling reader is to begin with a phonological intervention and then use these strategies to develop word fluency and compensate for fluency deficits.
- Practice and learn sight words, even those that are below your child's grade or age level. Use the Dolch sight word list and these suggestions for ideas and activities to learn sight words.
- Build the child's fund of vocabulary knowledge. Teach new words using a multisensory approach. The more the child plays with the word, through spelling, rhyming, recognition, and understanding meaning, the more that word will be available for comprehension during reading. Make word play and learning a part of your everyday life with these ideas and activities to build vocabulary.
- Have the child read to you often. Learn how to do paired reading and other read-to-me techniques at home with these ideas and activities to build fluency.
- Teach higher-order comprehension strategies to compensate for lack of fluency. Help your child learn to think about what he is reading, to visualize the story, or predict what will happen next. As you read together, stop to ask questions that relate the text to his knowledge and experience. In the later grades, teach your child to skim for headings, graphics, main points, and summaries when studying. Learn more about techniques you can use at home to build reading comprehension.
