Learning Disabled or Curriculum Casualty?

1. Learning Disabled or Curriculum Casualty? The importance of phonemic awareness in reading.

2. Imagine walking into a room of 100 people, knowing no one and being expected to know everyone’s name by simply looking at them. This is how a student with little or no phonemic awareness feels in a whole language environment.

3. Is Phonological Awareness Important to Reading Ability? • The debate continues today! • Over 20 years of research has proven that lack of phonological awareness is the most powerful determinant of reading failure(PR Newswire, November 1999). • The International Reading Association (2002) position statement found that phonemic awareness is predictive of reading success.

4. Most poor readers are deficient in decoding skills. • Systematic phonics instruction helps children learn to read more effectively. • Phonics instruction boosts spelling skills in young students.

5. When Should Students be Able to Read? • If students have not mastered the requirements of reading by the end of third grade are not likely to gain opportunities to enhance their literacy skills. • Children with poor reading skills in first grade have a 90% chance of continuing to have reading difficulties three years later. • National Assessment of Education Progress in Reading test found only 40% of fourth graders are reading at their grade level.(The majority of these students have been receiving literature based reading instruction!

6. Does Supplemental Instruction Increase Reading Levels? • A study of first grade students with behavioral/reading difficulties receiving phonological awareness training should substantial growth in their reading skills. • Students delayed in reading benefit from phonics instruction. • Phonics instruction emphasizing decoding skills helps remediate decoding deficits.

7. Does the Reading Mastery Program Produce Results? • A study on hispanic and non-hispanic students in early elementary showed that supplemental instruction worked. These students received higher scores on letter word identification, word attack, vocab., and comprehension subtests on the Woodcock-Johnson. • In this study instruction made a difference regardless of ethnic background, gender or grade.

9. It Works • The implementation of the Reading Mastery program provided two to three times the number of opportunities for students to engage in critical reading behaviors. The less students respond, the less they learn and deficits can occur (Kamps, et.al., 2003).

10. The Problems with Whole Language • Global learners and average to above average students learn to read despite the whole language approach • Analytical learners and below average students fall behind in the whole-language approach. Analytic learners require a more organized approach to reading • What are the majority of students we teach?

11. Significance • Follow the research. • Phonological awareness is extremely important when teaching children to read. • The National Reading Panel stresses a combination of three methods: phonics, reading skills practice, and reading comprehension strategies (School Library Journal, 2000).

12. If children are taught a list of sight words they learn exactly that– a list of sight words. If children learn to decode they are capable of reading over a thousand regularly spelled words composed of sounds!!

13. My District as an Example • My district is literature based. • The number of Title students is growing, Valley schools are now title schools. • In recent years supplemental strategies have been tried (computerized instruction) • The rise in LD students. • The introduction of direct instruction in reading.

14. Independent, Dependent or Guided?

16. Are They Really Learning Disabled or Casualties of Literature Based Instruction?