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Decoding & Word Identification Skills
Foundational reading concepts, such as sound-symbol correspondence, letter names, and phonological awareness, are critical and often influence a student's ability to acquire more advanced reading skills.
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Students are introduced to each letter with a structured, *multi-sensory approach that includes the letter’s name, sound, and written forms (cursive and print). Using multiple senses simultaneously including **large-motor muscles, students learn each letter’s connections (sound, name, written forms) and apply these concepts throughout lessons. Reading fluency, important for effective comprehension, is addressed at lessons on text at the student's independent or instructional level, depending on their individual needs.
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Letter reversals are also evaluated and attended to during lessons, as sorting out these differences is part of the reading foundation. The use of cursive handwriting is very beneficial to students in distinguishing letter differences in both reading and writing.
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*Multi-sensory learning is the use of multiple senses, simultaneously, to acquire new concepts. This includes seeing, hearing, speaking, writing, and movement.
**Using large-motor muscles to learn language skills is an evidence-based practiced supported by research. Sky writing and large-letter formations on paper or a desk are examples.
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Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness consists of phonological sensitivity and phonemic awareness. The ability to hear word parts and individual sounds in words is necessary for language development. Many children with dyslexia need explicit instruction to develop phonological awareness.
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Students are evaluated on their phonological awareness skills within the first week of lessons, and deficits are addressed immediately as these skills are necessary for reading development.
Reading Comprehension
The purpose of reading is to derive meaning from the text, and students’ understanding of text is fostered as soon as they can read a sentence. As a trained instructor of Lindamood-Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing program, students are prompted to visualize and describe (verbalize) what they read. In later levels, learning strategies, such as monitoring and summarizing, are taught using self-regulated strategy development (SRSD).
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Vocabulary and morphology are other important parts of comprehension, and they are discussed separately below.
Vocabulary
Students with learning disabilities are often told to listen to audiobooks so they can increase their vocabularies. However, research shows that many students with learning disabilities have difficulty acquiring vocabulary through context clues. They must have explicit instruction in academic vocabulary words, which are words they will need to know in higher school grades.
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Using robust vocabulary instruction, students are introduced to new words with a multi-step approach that spans several lessons. These words are reviewed at the end of lessons using verbal activities, such as creating two sentences using two vocabulary words. Students enjoy the lessons and especially enjoy creating their own digital vocabulary journals. These books are bound and given to students after Level 3 and again after Level 5. They include academic vocabulary, word matrices, morphology, and idioms learned at lessons.
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*Pictured (right): Digital journal pages my students have made.
Morphology & Etymology
Understanding the history of English helps students understand the odd spellings of many English words. There are good explanations to our often misunderstood language, and understanding the background of our language helps students to remember and recall words and word patterns easier.
Research shows that learning the etymology and morphology of words (structured word inquiry) helps develop language skills: decoding, fluency, spelling, and comprehension. Learning about words and word parts is fascinating to students, and when students are engaged in learning, it means their new knowledge is more likely to stick!
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*Pictured (right): Digital journal pages and review cards made by Paige Looney.
Spelling
Spelling, a core component of language, is an important part of lessons. The spelling of words consists of three techniques: sound spelling, spelling with tapping individual sounds, and spelling without tapping. These three techniques are taught and used in lessons along with and sentence dictation.
Learning specific procedures to spell words (both single syllable and multisyllabic) and sentences has several benefits. First, the procedures help strengthen students’ awareness of the internal structure of words which is necessary to spell more advanced words. The second benefit of spelling procedures is to provide students with tools they can use independently, without our support.
The Alphabet and Dictionary Skills
Students build the alphabet using letter tiles and an alphabet arc. Skills are taught using the alphabet: IMF (initial, medial, final) sounds, consonants/vowels, the number of letters in the alphabet, and sequential order of letters. Once students have an efficient understanding of the sequential order, they learn dictionary skills, such as alphabetical order.
Directionality awareness skills, such as before/after and left/right, are evaluated and addressed for each student.
Calendar & Directionality
Sequencing abilities can affect other language areas, including dates and directionality (before/after). These skills are evaluated and addressed on an individual basis. Some students benefit by filling in their own calendar at the beginning of lessons. This quick activity also shows their competence with number writing and if number reversals need attention. Depending on the student's needs, other activities include: order of the months, days of the week, seasons, holidays, and the number of days in each month.
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Directionality awareness skills, such as before/after and left/right, are evaluated and addressed for each student.
