Problem

Michelle reads words accurately, but she can’t comprehend the content. She has difficulty connecting to language she reads or language she hears. Words seem to go in one ear and out the other. People think she is not trying, and she has been labeled a “motivation” or “attention” problem.

Cause

A primary cause of language comprehension problems is difficulty creating an imaged gestalt – a whole. This is called weak concept imagery. This weakness causes individuals to only get “parts” such as a few facts or details rather than the whole picture.

Individuals with weak concept imagery have difficulty with…..

• reading comprehension• critical thinking• may not easily follow directions or connect

to conversations• difficulty expressing ideas in an organized

manner

Symptoms• Weak reading comprehension• Weak oral language expression• Weak oral language comprehension• Weak written language skills

Comprehension

Auditory Visual

Phonological Awareness

Orthographic Awareness

Contextual Reading Oral Vocabulary

Language

• Symbol imagery – a static type of imagery for processing parts

• Concept imagery – a dynamic type of imagery for processing wholes

Visualizing/Verbalizing1. The climate2. Picture to picture3. Word imaging4. Single sentence imaging5. Sentence by sentence6. Sentence by sentence imaging with Higher Order

Thinking7. Multiple sentence imaging with Higher Order Thinking8. Whole Paragraph imaging with Higher Order Thinking9. Paragraph by paragraph imaging with Higher Order

Thinking10. Page Imaging with Higher Order Thinking

Higher Order Thinking – imaging for main idea, conclusions, inferences and predictions

Let’s give it a try…

Picture to Picture

Picture to Picture

what size color number shape where

movement mood background perspective when sound

Structure words

Let’s give it a try…

Word Imaging

Let’s give it a try…

Sentence by Sentence Imaging with Higher Order Thinking

The Ice Slide

• The black and white penguin waddled on his short legs to the top of the ice hill. He stared down at the cold water. Then he flopped on his belly and slid down the smooth ice. He splashed head-first in the water and flapped his wings to swim fast.

The bravest man in the rodeo is the one dressed up as a clown. When a cowboy topples off a bucking bull, the rodeo clown runs between the cowboy and the raging bull. The clown dances and waves his arms to draw the bull away from the cowboy. The crowd cheers as he teases and dodges the bull until the cowboy gets away. The clown takes a bow as men ride in on horseback and herd the bull out of the arena.

Higher Order Thinking Questions

• Picture summary• Word summary• Using your images, what is the main idea of this

story?• From what you pictured, why do you think the

clown might be braver than the cowboy• From your images, why do you think the crowd

cheered for the clown?• From your images, why do you think it might

have helped for there to be more than one horse that came in to herd the bull away?