Chapter 3Written Language

Reading, Composition, Spelling

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Reading Disabilities

Receptive Written Language

High Level

Comprehension

1. Reading2. Spoken

Low Level RecognizeWords

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• When we read, we decode the letters to form the sound of the words and we use comprehension or encoding to know what the words mean.

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CAUSES: HEREDITY

• Aoccdrng to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can still raed it wouthit porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istief, but the word as a wlohe.

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Case 1• Anna, a second-grade student, during her

independent reading had to use the quiet corner and read aloud to herself in order to comprehend what she was reading. She was easily distracted by noise. Anna is also disorganized (e.g., she would leave her material all over the classroom) and has the tendency to get frustrated after long periods of workbook exercises, so she need take a break.

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Case Questions• Can Anna comprehend what she hears?• Why does Anna read outloud to herself?• What characteristics tell you that Anna has

dyslexia, rather than ADHD?

• Does Anna have the potential to show behavioral problems as she advances in age?

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Behavioral Characteristics• Passive (McNulty, 2003)

• Appears insensitive or offensive (Cicci,1984)

• Class clowns • Aggressive• Greater discipline problems

(Humphrey, 2003; Johnson, 2002) • Attention problems (Berninger, 2001)

Informal EvaluationsTypes of children?• Good reading comprehension & poor decoding• Poor comprehension but good reading

decoding (Can read but doesn’t know if a word refers to a birthday cake or a tree)

• DJ is a little boy who has trouble with word recognition and reading. He cannot understand what he is reading when he reads it to himself. But if someone reads it to him, he can understand the story.

Strengths & Weaknesses of this Child?

Case 2

During a health supervision visit, the father of a 7 1/2 year old African/American second grader asked about his son's progress in reading. He was concerned when, at a recent parent-teacher conference to review Darren's progress, the teacher remarked that Darren was not keeping up with reading skills compared to others in his class. She said that he had difficulty sounding-out some words correctly. In addition, he could not recall words he had read the day before. The teacher commented that Darren was a gregarious, friendly child with better than average verbal communication skills. His achievement at math was age appropriate; spelling was difficult for Darren with many deleted letters and reversals of written letters.

A focused history did not reveal any risk factors for a learning problem in the prenatal or perinatal periods. Early motor, language, and social milestones were achieved on time. Darren had not experienced any head injury, loss of consciousness, or chronic medical illness. He had several friends and his father denied any behavioral problems at home or at school. A DSM IV - specific behavioral survey for ADHD was completed by his teacher. It did not show any evidence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Darren's father completed one year of college and is currently the manger of a neighborhood convenience store. His mother had a high school education; she recalled she found it difficult to complete assignments that required reading or writing. She is employed as a waitress. Darren does not have any siblings.

The pediatrician performed a complete physical examination which was normal including visual acuity, audiomentry, and a neurological examination. It was noted that Darren seemed to pause several times in response to questions or commands. On two occasions, during finger-nose testing and a request to assess tandem gait, directions required repetition. Overall, he was pleasant and seemed to enjoy the visit.

STRENGTHS TO USE IN TEACHINGWEAKNESSES

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• What are the outcomes of poor reading skills or dyslexia? academically? socially?

•  Is Dyslexia primarily a problem of decoding or encoding? If you improved their decoding will they understand what they read?

•  Does reading disability get better over time or is there always some disability?

• Does environment matter?•  Is having children read aloud important? Under what

circumstances?• Do genetics matter?

Reading Comprehension

• Experimental mortality threatens internal validity in that a different group composition is available at one data point than is available at the second. The researcher has little chance of knowing what the subjects look like who cannot be located. There is a rather substantial probability that those who cannot be located are different from those who can.

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Reading AssessmentIf you can’t comprehend what you read, what do you need to

assess?1. can you read (decode or recognize) words

2. can you comprehend what you hearhear

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Implications for Intervention

Contrary to the myth, people with dyslexia CAN read However, 75% of third graders who are poor

readers stay like that all the way into high schoolStudents may learn to compensate:

More likely to use context cues May have strong math skills (Berninger 2001)

Children can learn to read if early intervention is implemented. 18% incidence of RD reduced to 1.4 – 5.4% (Lyon,

Shaywitz, & Shaywitz, 2003)

High Interest Reading

• Adventure, Sci Fi• Scary, Gross• Novel: Study of Fables -- 2 versions

• Unfamiliar animals (orangutan vs. fox)• Emotional adjectives (angry vs. kind)• Active verbs (swooped vs. walked)• Surprise endings (cut off heads vs.

walked home)

Study: Children with attention problems (AP) and reading problems (RP)

Better performancewith high than low interest:

RP on 3 comp questions

AP on 5 comp questions

One comprehension question

Expressive Written Language

High Level

Composition

Low Level SpellingHandwriting

Grammar mechanics

Spelling

Spelling

Is this child using visual memory or auditory analysis?

Spelling

• Washals for Jewels• Klsd for closed• Patty for piece• Pekt for peeked• Eagel for eagle• Sounding for sounded

Which spellings show good phonetic analysis

Informal Analysis

www.scienceclarified.com/Diel/dyslexia.html

WHAT SKILLS DOES THE CHILD HAVE NATURALLY?

• TWS• TOWL-2• PIAT spelling

Formal Analysis

• InputProcessOutput

Written Language

– Why are there twice as many academic problems in written language as in reading, math, or spelling?

Working Memory Skills AreImportant for Written Language

Keeping ideas ‘in mind’ • Written work is brief or incomplete

Ordering those ideas• Ideas are not clearly organized or

well-developedTranslating auditory thought to visual

symbols (words, sentences)

Mechanics (memory)– Spelling– Handwriting (construct letters)– Punctuation

MechanicsGrammar

– Auditory errors• Sentence structure• Omissions, additions, substitutions, ending errors (agreement,

tense, plural, possessives)

– Visual errors• Punctuation• Capitalization

Grammar– Auditory errors

• Sentence structure• Omissions, additions, substitutions, ending errors (agreement,

tense, plural, possessives)

– Visual errors• Punctuation• Capitalization

Evaluate the Child’s Auditory and Visual Problems

Reasoning Skills (IQ)

IdeasReasoning &

Meaningfulness

Levels of Abstract:

1. Naming or lists2. Describes quality or action

3. Interpretation: inferences about feelings or relations

4. Narrative interpret: infers preceding action or outcome (past/future)

5. Eval interpret: generalizes, moralizes

Application: Evaluate the Child’s Conceptual Ability

Meaningful Experiences

InterventionsEssential Features:• Outline for planning, writing, revising

– Structure for different types (descriptive and argumentative styles)

• Providing feedback – Teachers – Peers

(Harris & Graham, (Harris & Graham, 1999)1999)

Taught by:• Self-regulated strategy training:

– Modeling/Direct Instruction– Cuing

• Steps: – Who (characters, feelings), – Where (setting), – What (goal, problem), How (plan, solution)

• Self-monitoring steps• Editing (student-critic and student-writer)

Technology

– Mnemonics, prompt cards, think-sheets– Graphic organizers (maps, outlines, child

drawings)– Computers

• Computer Assisted Composition (CAC) specifically accommodates handwriting and student interactivity with tools (editing: spelling, grammar, relistening to audio)

Teaching Composition: Write an original story of the

3 little pigs and the wolf• Self-regulated strategy training:

– Modeling/Direct Instruction– Cuing and the “three little pigs”

• Steps: – Who (characters, feelings), – Where (setting), – What (goal, problem), How (plan, solution)

• Self-monitoring steps• Editing (student-critic and student-writer)