Teaching Methods and Strategies for Teaching Reading to a Functional Skills Classroom
What are the most effective teaching methods for teaching reading to students with intellectual disabilities? Students with intellectual disabilities have severe deficits in language and memory that causes difficulty in learning to read (Allor, Mathes, Champlin, & Cheatham, 2009). The teaching method most commonly used to teach students with intellectual disabilities to read was to memorize sight words (Allor, Mathes, Jones, Champlin, & Cheatham, 2010). Sight word vocabulary is essential, but should not be the only method. Current research by Allor et al., (2009) suggests more effective teaching methods can assist students with intellectual disabilities to acquire basic reading skills.
Review of the Literature
This literature survey was embarked on to examine the question: What teaching methods and strategies are the most effective for teaching reading to students in a functional skills classroom? Students with intellectual disabilities in a functional skills classroom are often left behind or assumed to not be capable of learning to read and one in five students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (ID) achieve minimal literacy skills (Allor, Mathes, Roberts, Jones, & Champlin, 2010). Frequently school curriculum for students with moderate to severe disabilities focuses on social and interpersonal functioning with academic skills taking a back seat. Effective
Early reading success is the foundation of a student’s knowledge and self-esteem. The foundation also provides future opportunities for growth. Students must learn to read proficiently so that they are able to learn more in future grades, post-secondary schools, and the workforce. Beverly Tyner’s Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers states “In the United States, which offers few career opportunities for the illiterate, teaching children to read proficiently is the most important single task in education.” (Tyner, 2009). Beverly Tyner created the Small-Group Differentiated Reading Model which incorporates research-based strategies for teaching beginning reading skills and skills
This website offers a variety of tips and strategies for working with students with dyslexia. It gives suggestions of activities to promote phonological awareness skills, reading comprehension and fluency, vocabulary development, oral reading, comprehension of written directions, spelling, and writing. Additionally, this website offers general recommendations for teachers of beginning readers and writers, general recommendations for the classroom, and recommendations to support reading comprehension and fluency in the classroom. Moreover, the websites gives strategies for supporting vocabulary throughout the reading and writing process. Lastly. recommendations for students with visual deficits are discussed on this website. There are several
Helping Children with Learning Disabilities Understand What They Read is an article by Regina G. Richards. Her article discusses the basic strategies and techniques that can be used for students with learning disabilities. The article states, a key component of comprehension is that the student must be actively
Reading, writing, and speaking is difficult for many people. In honest opinion, these subjects are hard for me. So, imagine the struggles for those students that have a learning disability and those who are learning English. Luckily, I attended a session at the LDA conference that promoted tips and strategies to help students with these subjects. Moreover, how to help both ELL students and students with learning disabilities access these curriculums. Session W32 by Linda Tilton showed me how to help students get organized and become active learners. Not only that, but how to give high interest review strategies to reinforce vocabulary, reading, and writing. As Linda stated, “These are the nuts and bolts to take back and use!” For example, she
In this very short article Gersten, Baker, and Edwards briefly outline the results of a study conducted that examined interventions that improved the writing skills for students with learning disabilities. This article provides insights into what type of interventions and explicit instruction have provided the most positive learning outcomes for students with learning disabilities. Gersten wrote that the effective components of instruction tend to be multifaceted. The reliability and consistency of the Gersten’s components led to improvements in writing abilities for targeted students. When teaching writing and choosing interventions Gersten suggests educators make sure their choices contain the following aspects:
Research indicates that among students, poor readers evolve into poor thinkers, devoid of strategies to structure the writing assignments that contribute to academic success (Alfassi, 2004, p.1), and teachers who fail to model effective literacy strategies to their students, simply compound the problem. For educators attempting to meet the diverse range of learning needs, the ever increasing number of students with learning difficulties is overwhelming. The decisions regarding the types of interventions and the limited research on numerous strategies currently available are both misleading and confusing. However Walker, (2004) warn that reliance on untested methods and dependence on strategies that have limited evidence have resulted in unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for students. Significantly whilst there has been an exponential increase in research evidence collected around many popular interventions, there is very little
At Brockton High School in Brockton, Massachusetts, the school put forth an initiative to integrate literacy-related instructional strategies across all content areas. This school-wide instructional goal has attributed to the overall boost to student achievement. The leadership team at Brockton High School recognized that changing the school culture would require the adults on campus to re-evaluate curriculum and instructional strategies.`Moreover, changing the mindset of school requires an examination of data to determine the area of need. The leadership at Brockton recognized that the greatest gaps in student achievement stem from the lack of literacy skills. With the use of content-specific information, literacy skills such as reading, writing,
After monitoring the student and further assessing the student’s abilities, the instructional team decided to set up some helpful PBIS interventions. The reading teacher immediately started working with the student on reading pauses where the student would read short paragraphs then pause and discuss the context of the reading. Next, the student was put on a reading program where short interesting easy reading books were read for homework and the student had to write out short summaries about the text. The student was also given access to a program that had a wealth of audio books that the student would be assigned to use. Lastly, the teacher gave the student a short checklist of reading strategies to go over every time she would begin a reading assignment.
With its tremendous benefits, the Balanced Literacy Approach that has been adopted by the Houston Independent School District and many others may have possibly overlooked a key component to the implementation and success of the program: the need for explicit (direct) reading instruction in decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension for reading growth. This is especially true of at-risk students who may be one or more grade levels behind in reading. To better understand the impact of direct instruction its effectiveness in improving the reading achievement of at-risk students, an action research was conducted at one of HISD’s elementary campuses.
The two options for identifying students with disabilities are RTI model and the IQ-Achievement discrepancy model. The RTI model is a multi-tiered approach to identifying students with disabilities. With this approach the amount of students who are identified as having a learning disability has decreased because of the support students receive at different tiers and it eliminates inadequate instruction as the reason for reading problems. Universal screening and high quality teaching is done for all students. Students who show that they need additional help receive tier 1 services where frequency and intensity increases. Students are monitored and receive research based instruction in the general education classroom. Some students may still struggle and have to receive more intensive and frequent service. Those students will receive supplemental support from an educational professional. Tier 3 services are provided to students who still struggle and need even more intensive service. Students may also qualify for special education services. The IQ-Achievement discrepancy model is used to determine if a disability is present. Standardized tests are used to eliminate low intellectual ablity as a determining cause for reading problems. With this model, a professional assess whether there is a discrepancy between a student’s scores on an iq test and scores obtained from areas
Students with disabilities are at a higher at-risk for dropping out of high school at a greater rate than typically developing peers (Pyle & Wexler, 2012). Students with identified disabilities are required to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) according to law, and these students have unique needs that general education curriculum cannot meet on its own. However, there is abundant research that discusses various literacy interventions and strategies that can be effective. These interventions can be used in a school setting by any certified teacher (regular education or special education). This literature review will discuss some of the various reading and writing strategies as well as best practices for literacy in order to ensure students with disabilities are given the best chance for success. By providing timely interventions, monitoring progress, and analyzing data, it can be possible to increase achievement for those students with identified disabilities.
In the educational world, there are countless programs, curricula, strategies, manipulates, and resources for teachers to pull from in order to aide in the teaching of concepts and learning of students. Whatever method(s) a school or district has deemed best practice, or adopted as their curriculum, tend to be the instructional practices or resources utilized the most by those teachers. Additionally, teachers will also have preference to teaching styles, resources, and materials they use for their students. While autonomy in any classroom is important to students’ academic growth, one must also be careful to select and implement instructional with great intention and purpose. Consideration to students needs is equally important as the mandate of teaching standards and demonstrating proficiency amongst students. Even when teaching non-disabled students, it can be time consuming and overwhelming to plan lessons so just how much more is involved when planning for students with significant disabilities (SD)? Better yet, what are appropriate instructional strategies to use for students with SD? Regardless of the instructional setting, these are considerations that must be given when teaching students with SD in order to maximize their learning opportunities to learn
This project will support the needs of secondary students with cognitive disabilities and autism in their pursuit of foundational reading skills. To accomplish this, we will purchase Don Johnston’s Start to Finish Core Curriculum. Written and edited by Speech Language Pathologists, the Start to Finish Curriculum enables students to build comprehension, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary skills. This project aligns with the LEAD 2021 Curriculum Strategy as it removes barriers for student success and keeps students actively engaged in building their core reading skills. The curriculum includes 15 chapter books with daily comprehension lessons, student worksheets and writing lessons, end of book tests and practice, 160 phonic lessons with reproducibles,
They also suggest further research regarding the creation of reading tests that minimize the effects of a word reading disability (Fletcher et el., 2009). Fletcher et al. (2006) suggests future research be conducted on types of skills required for reading tests with students who have a variety of difficulties in reading. I believe there is a need for more research to address which accommodations are fulfilling their purpose to be considered useful to the students with disabilities as well as fairly and accurately measuring the students
Many students around the United States have reading difficulties, which can be due to a variety of reason such as: low socioeconomic status, family history of learning disabilities, a neurological disorder, limited exposure, etc. Reading difficulties can lead to further problems with education and learning, therefore the struggles should be addressed and intervention techniques should be implemented promptly. The interventions need to be individualized for the student based on their needs in order to improve the student’s reading to the best of their abilities.