Children with Learning Disabilities

COMPREHENSION

OVERVIEW:
1) Comprehension for the General Population

2) Comprehension for Students with LD

3) Assessments 4) Teaching Strategies

Comprehension for the General Population

Comprehension is defined as "intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader" (Harris & Hodges, 1995), thus, the reader gains meaning from the text when they engage in intentional, problem solving thinking processes.

Comprehension for the General Population

FACTS
Readers dont develop the ability to comprehend text easily or

quickly.
Therefore reading comprehension must be taught over an

extended period of time.

Reading comprehension must be refined, practiced and

reinforced
Typically, narrative text (i.e., fiction) is easier to comprehend and

remember than expository text (i.e., factual and informational material). ( Reading Rockets, 2012)

k12reader, 2011

Why is Comprehension Important?

Without comprehension reading doesnt

provide the reader any information Essential to life

Areas of Reading Comprehension

Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

(NRP, n.d.)

Students with Learning Disabilities

What areas of reading comprehension are most difficult for students with learning disabilities?

Students with Learning Disabilities

Difficulty with 1. Decoding 2. Fluency 3. Comprehension
PROCESSING Short-term memory Working memory Metacognition: Ability to recognize task Select and implement strategies Monitor comprehension COGNITIVE TRAINING Modifying thought process Observation Providing strategies Teaching self-initiative

Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2009

Students with Learning Disabilities

FILM: Rick Lavoie, F.A.T City

Assessments
CBM Maze Fluency can be administered to a group of students at one time. (Grades 4-6)
The first sentence in a passage is left intact. Thereafter, every seventh word is replaced with a blank and three possible replacements. Only one replacement is semantically correct. Students

have 2.5 minutes to read the passage to themselves and circle the word correct for each blank.
Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. (n.d.).

Assessments: MAZE
She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came

upon a (ant, haunt, house). She knocked and, when no one (annually, answered, modern), she walked right in. At the (dangerous, to, table) in the kitchen, there were three (bowls, brown, here) of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She (wax, tasted, sadly) the porridge from the first bowl.

4th =20 correct replacements per 2.5 min. 5th= 25 correct replacements per 2.5 min. 6th= 30 correct replacements per 2.5 min.

Assessments: MAZE
AIMS
https://sites.google.com/a/kauaipacific.org/te

acher-resources/Home/asessment/aims-webmaze
Make your own: http://www.interventioncentral.org/tools/ma

ze-passage-generator

Teaching Strategies
CLOZE:
? The grizzly bear has long claws! Anticipation Guides

Guessing and predicting prior to reading

Chunking information Graphic Organizers

Graphic Organizers
Create images that organize ideas/text
When using this strategy the teacher

should: Explain its usefulness Explicitly describe how to use Demonstrate and model use Follow-up with independent practice

Main Idea

(Mailbox,2012)

Plot Triangle

(primary concepts, 2008)

Content/Text Specific
(Google Images, 2012)

References:
Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. (n.d.). Using CBM for progress monitoring. Washington, DC: National Center on Student Progress Monitoring, American Institutes for Research. Retrieved from http://www.studentprogress.org/library/Training/CBM%20Reading/Usin gCBMReading.pdf. Hallahan, D.P., Kauffman, J.M., & Pullen, P. (2009) Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education (11th ed.) p260-299. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. K12 Reader: Reading Instruction Resources for Teachers and Parents (2011). What is reading comprehension? Retrieved from http://www.k12reader.com/what-is-reading-comprehension/ Lavoie, R. (1989) F.A.T. City. Public Broadcast System. United States. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhzh9kt8z7c National Reading Panel (n.d.). Put Reading First: The Research Building Block for Teaching Children to Read. Retrieved from http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/Publications/publications.htm