Module 2 Strand D2

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Module 2 Strand D2
Decoding and Comprehension

Decoding and Comprehension: Two major types of reading problems among LD students

     Bender examines four aspects of reading related to decoding and comprehension

(figure 6.1 p.162):

1. word attack skills
2. word comprehension
3. sentence comprehension
4. comprehension of longer texts

   Dyslexia

• historically associated with learning disabilities
• definition still debated and controversial
• associated with either visual-perceptual perspective or auditory-language perspective (new position on dyslexia)

   Note:

• accounts for much less than 1% of population presently identified as LD in public schools (Bender, p.163)

"Reading Difficulties vs. Learning Disabilities"

"Biological Basis For Reading Disability Discovered"

"Academic Interventions for Children with Dyslexia Who Have Phonological Core Deficits"

"Reading Methods and Learning Disabilities"

"The Uses and Misuses of Processing Tests"

"How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative Classrooms"

" Multi sensory Structured Language Programs: Content & Principles of Instruction"

"Beginning Reading and Phonological Awareness for Students with Learning Disabilities"

"How Children Learn To Read"

Semantic Mapping - a word central to a topic is placed in centre of the map and through brainstorming related words are categorized and arranged around the central concept. Students may be given graphs, charts, or pictures to be completed following reading a selection. Semantic maps or story maps are also called participatory organizers or cognitive organizers.

Scaffolded Instruction -  involves the development of new knowledge, based on the development of a relationship with older knowledge. A student must be provided a "scaffold" which bridges the gap between what that person currently knows, and the new knowledge to be mastered. Vygotsky (as early as 1978) suggested that learning must be "scaffolded" or structured and supported by a person more competent in the particular skill under study.

Testwiseness and students with LD -  refers to a person’s ability to understand the structure of a question, and to use that understanding to assist in answering the question. A simple multiple choice question generally has four possible answers, two of which are distractors (e.g. nothing to do with the correct answer). Thus, based on this knowledge, if a student identifies the two distractors and eliminates them from consideration, he or she then has a 50% probability of guessing the correct answer.

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