The following represents excerpts from an article written by Pragya Katariya titled, Dealing with Reading Disabilities in Children While Teaching. I was impressed with the author's thoughts about providing systematic, explicit phonics instruction and sensitizing other children in the classroom.
The competitive nature of modern society makes it imperative for all people to be well versed in the very basic constituents of education: reading, writing and mathematics. In fact, these are the foundation stones on which people build their careers and craft their stories of success. Yet, statistics prove that as many as 80% of students with Learning Disabilities have their problems in reading.
Identifying the reasons for reading disabilities
To effectively deal with reading disabilities, as a teacher, you should understand that at the surface all reasons for the problem may seem similar but delve a little deeper and you will find that they vary from child to child. For example, some children may have difficulty in reading rhyming words, others may struggle with words that start with the same sound and yet others may not be speaking at the level of their peers.
Dealing with reading disabilities
All children have unique behavioral and emotional patterns and their own way of dealing with situations. Studies have shown that the majority of children who enter kindergarten and elementary school at-risk for reading failure can learn to read at average or above levels, but only if they are identified early and provided with systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension strategies.
Build vocabulary
Learning, or rather informal learning is a process that begins long before children enter preschool. Studies have shown that children from an average middle class family [are] exposed to approximately 500,000 words by kindergarten; an economically disadvantaged child is exposed to half as many, at best. You can teach new words to children through phonemes or sounds that represent the letters of the alphabet. Children enjoy blending sounds to make words; they are also more comfortable reading words they are familiar with.
Sensitize children in the class
It is equally important to sensitize the children so that they do not mock or laugh at the kids who cannot equal their level of reading or performance. It is a known fact that nature has a way of compensating for disabilities; a child with a reading disability may be extremely good at something else, for example, he or she may be very talented at drawing. So if children laugh at a child’s effort at reading, you can point out his or her talent in drawing and explain to them that every human being is gifted in one way or the other. This will not only sensitize the children to respect each other but will also help to build bridges between them. Once children feel that they are not outcasts but accepted members amongst their peers, they will be all the more willing to learn and conquer their disabilities.
Communicate with parents
There should be no gap in communication between the parents and the teacher, as they collectively have the maximum influence on a child’s crucial developing years. Keep them in the loop about the policy you are following and ask them to follow the same at home for maximum impact. If need be, counsel them to be appreciative of any progress their children make and also emphasize that they should never lose their calm in front of them.
There are other strategies to help children with disabilities come up to speed in reading. Learn more about neuroscience and reading intervention.
