Kathleen Whitbread, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Education, Saint Joseph College KWhitbreadsjc.edu Sheryl Knapp Presid

1. Kathleen Whitbread, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Education, Saint Joseph College KWhitbread@sjc.edu Sheryl Knapp President, Literacy Advocates Sknapp@LiteracyAdvocates.com

2. Did You Know That� Only 33% of the nation�s fourth graders are proficient readers (National Assessment of Education Programs, 2007).

3. No Child Left Behind Intended to address literacy crisis Requires schools to use evidence-based reading practices ALL students will learn to read well by the end of third grade

4. �ALL� Includes Students with Disabilities Because reading is a critical skill for future independence Because reading is the central focus of early education Because access to general education means access to literacy instruction Because reading instruction does not stop for non-disabled students at the first sign of �no progress�

5. So, How Are We Doing?

6. Not so well�

7. Reading Instruction for CT Students With ID Survey of reading instruction for kids with intellectual disabilities and nondisabled students in CT (Whitbread, 2004) Distributed to all 169 CT schools Return rate = 60% (100 districts)

8. What Did We Find? A significant number of students with disabilities were being excluded from reading instruction, or were receiving inadequate instruction.

9. Where�s The Phonics?? Nearly 30% of the teachers report using Edmark as the primary reading program for students with intellectual disabilities Sight word programs do not teach students to generalize knowledge to new words �We use Edmark for any student who is not able to grasp phonics and phonological awareness sounds�

10. Who Is Teaching ? 50% report that the special education teacher teaches reading to students with intellectual disabilities 30% report that students receive reading instruction from the regular education teacher 20% reported �other� (tutor, paraprofessional, reading teacher)

11. Where Is Instruction Taking Place? 27% report that instruction takes place in the regular education classroom 49% report that instruction takes place in the resource room 24% report that instruction takes place in a self contained special education classroom

12. What About Planning Time? Over half of the survey respondents report that there is NO planned collaboration time between regular educators and special educators �we meet after school and before school� �we meet on our lunch hour� �it only happens on our own time� �we have informal, on-the-run conversations�

13. What Do We Know About Inclusion and Literacy? Students with intellectual disabilities educated in inclusive classrooms score higher on literacy measures than students educated in segregated settings (Buckley, 2004)

14. What do we know about teaching reading?

15. �Teaching Reading Really Is Rocket Science!� Dr. Louisa Moats

16. The National Reading Panel (NRP) Reviewed more than 100,000 reading studies Formed the basis of No Child Left Behind mandates Identified five critical elements of effective reading instruction.

17. Critical Elements of Reading Instruction Phonemic awareness� ability to hear & manipulate sounds in words Phonics� relationship between letters & sound Fluency�ability to read accurately, fluidly, & with expression Vocabulary�communicating effectively; Recognizing words in print Text comprehension�understanding what is read

18. Phonemic Awareness Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a spoken language. Phonemic awareness falls on a continuum of phonological awareness tasks.

20. Examples of PhonemicAwareness Tasks Phoneme (sound) isolation: What is the� Initial (first) sound in eyebrow? Medial (middle) sound in try? Final sound in rose? Phoneme deletion: what word would be left if the /k/ sound were taken away from cat? Word to word matching: do pen and pipe begin with the same sound? Blending: what word would we have if we put these sounds together: /s/, /a/, /t/?

21. Examples of Phonemic Awareness Tasks (cont�d) Phoneme counting: How many sounds do you hear in the word cake? Deleting phonemes: What sound do you hear in meat that is missing in eat? Odd word out: Which word starts with a different sound: bag, nine, beach, bike? Sound to word matching: Is there a /k/ in bike?

22. Blending and Segmenting are Critical Skills Blending. Students listen to a sequence of individually spoken phonemes and then combine the phonemes to form a word. e.g., /d/ /o/ and /g/ makes dog Segmentation. Students break a spoken word into its component phonemes. e.g., Breaking truck into 4 sounds: /t/ /r/ /u/ and /k/.

23. Phonemic Awareness Instruction Means to an end, not an end in itself. Part of an overall reading approach�not the entire reading program. Average 20 hours total for typically developing students (usually more for students with disabilities). Often develops in conjunction with phonics instruction.

24. How Many Phonemes are in� smooch could might stay coin try lion eight

25. Phonics The understanding that there is a predictable relationship between� � phonemes (the sounds in spoken language), and� � graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds in written language)� � and that this information can be used to read or decode (�sound out�) words.

26. Phonics Instruction Systematic and explicit. Concepts are introduced in a logical instructional sequence.

27. Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction Provides instruction in letter-sound relationships. Significantly improves students� reading comprehension, word recognition, and spelling. Provides students opportunities to practice by reading words, sentences and stories.

28. Phonics Instruction Is� Particularly beneficial for students who are having difficulty learning to read Most effective when introduced early (typically in Kindergarten or 1st grade)

29. What Are Examples of Non-systematic Programs? Literature based programs that emphasize reading and writing activities Basal reading programs that focus on whole word and do not specifically teach students how to blend letters to pronounce words Sight word programs (e.g. Edmark)

30. How Much Phonics Instruction Is Enough? Two years of phonics instruction is sufficient for most typically developing students. May be significantly longer for students with disabilities Hang in there�you may think the child is never going to get it and one day, it clicks!

31. Fluency The ability to read accurately, quickly, and with proper expression and comprehension. Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding words, they can focus their attention on what the text means (National Institute for Literacy, 2002).

32. Important Points About Fluency Fluency instruction is often neglected Sustained silent reading has not been shown to improve fluency Strategies for improving fluency include: Guided oral reading (NRP, 2000) Repeated opportunities to practice with feedback (Honig, 2001; Moats, 2001: Kame�enui, 2002) Proficient decoding at an early age (Honig, 2001)

33. Vocabulary Listening vocabulary -- the words a person knows when hearing them in oral speech. Speaking vocabulary -- the words we use when we speak. Reading vocabulary -- the words a person knows when seeing them in print. Writing vocabulary -- the words we use in writing.

34. Vocabulary Important for comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are reading unless they know what most of the words mean.

35. How Vocabulary Is Learned Indirectly. Through everyday experiences e.g., conversations with adults, being read to, and reading on their own. Directly. Through explicit instruction in both individual words and word-learning strategies.

36. Critical Elements of Instruction

37. Systematic

38. Multisensory

39. Research-Based Programs

40. Individualized

41. Monitoring Progress

42. Questions to Consider� Does the student�s reading program contain the 5 components of instruction recommended by the National Reading Panel? Is the bar set high enough? Is the person teaching the child to read qualified? What training has s/he received? Is the student getting systematic, explicit instruction in reading?

43. �Teaching students to read is a central�arguably the central�mission of formal schooling.� Connecticut�s Blueprint for Reading Achievement (2000)