Goal: Proficient Independent Reader

Figuring Out How to HELP!

As we continue our quest to identify all the potential roadblocks to reading success we come to our last two major categories of pseudoword decoding and comprehension. At first glance, pseudoword decoding really does look like nonsense. It is that nonsense however that can give you a much clearer picture of the types of errors that are being made and how to address them.

Comprehension is something that most of us take for granted and have no idea of just how complicated and layered comprehension is. Is the evaluator looking for stated or implied cause and effect? Did the child understand the sequence of events and how they effected the outcome? The questions go on and on and it is the child’s comprehension level that determines their reading level. Even if the child can decode at the college level if they do not understand what they are reading they are not proficient independent readers.

When looking at reading baselines, you want to know if the evaluator was working with “hot’ reads” or “cold reads”. In other words, has the child seen the material before or is the material novel to the child. If they are” hot” reads, it makes no difference what skill you are looking at, the baseline is not valid. The goal is proficient independent reader and that cannot be achieved if the material used to determine the baseline is pre-taught. The object of the exercise of evaluation is to determine all of the skills that are not yet developed in order to remediate and to teach to grade level.

Pseudoword Decoding

• Involves the ability to apply phonetic decoding skills.Nonsense words are designed to be representative of the phonetic structure of words.

• Recording errors phonetically helps with later error analysis and evaluates whether the phonological decoding mechanism is developing in an age-appropriate manner.

• Older students who struggle in reading, will not have mastered the alphabet principle since they are unable to decode unfamiliar words or Phonological decoding
• Accuracy of word attack

Listening Comprehension

Listening Comprehension is developed earlier than reading comprehension and a young child has a much larger listening vocabulary than reading vocabulary.

• Using Picture Clues - Given a sentence and a picture depicting the content of the sentence, answer a question directly relating to an action or detail in the picture.
• Recognizing Stated Detail - Given a passage, restate a piece of information stated directly in the passage.
• Sequencing - Given a passage that contains a sequence of events or steps in a process, identify the event or step requested.
• Recognizing Stated Cause and Effect - Given a passage, state the cause or effect in a cause-effect relationship stated directly in the passage.
• Recognizing Implied Cause and Effect - Given a passage, state the implied cause or implied effect for a cause-effect relationship occurring within the passage.
• Predicting Events and Outcomes - Given a passage containing a series of events or background information, state an event or outcome that is likely to happen.
• Drawing Conclusions - Given a passage, state the conclusion that can best be inferred from information stated in the passage.
• Comparing and Contrasting - Given a passage, explain either the similarity or the difference between characters, objects, or events in the passage.

Reading Comprehension

Involves matching written words with representative pictures, reading sentences aloud, reading different types of passages, answering questions involving the comprehension of content that identify the main idea and specific details, making inferences, and defining vocabulary by using context cues.

Reading Comprehension Includes:

1. Literal comprehension
2. Inferential comprehension (# of questions that are inferential)
3. Lexical comprehension
4. Reading rate
5. Oral reading accuracy
6. Oral reading fluency
7. Oral reading comprehension
8. Word recognition in context

Qualitative Observations During Reading Evaluation:

• Substitutes visually similar letters
• Provides non-word responses for rhyming words
• Pronounces words automatically
• Laboriously “sounds out” words
• Self corrects errors
• Loses place when reading words
• Makes accent errors
• Adds, omits, or transposes syllables
• Reads passage aloud or silently when given a choice
• Refers back to the passage in order to answer questions
• Reads sentences fluently
• Makes self-corrections
• Uses context clues when decoding
• Uses phonetic decoding skills

Resources:
Report of the National Reading Panel (2000)

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) Virginia Department of Education, Gillon (2004)

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AUTHORS

Marie Lewis is an author, consultant, and national speaker on best practices in education advocacy. She is a parent of 3 children and a Disability Case Manager, Board Certified Education Advocate, and Behavior Specialist Consultant. She has assisted in the development of thousands of IEPs nationally and consults on developing appropriately individualized IEPs that are outcome based vs legally sufficient. She brings a great depth of expertise, practical experience, and compassion to her work as well as expert insight, vision, and systemic thinking. She is passionate and funny and she always inspires and informs.

MJ Gore has an MEd in counseling and a degree in elementary education and natural sciences. She worked as a life-skills and learning support teacher. She has been honored with the receipt of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She is the Director and on the faculty at the National Special Education Advocacy Institute. Her passion is social justice, especially in the area of education. She is a Board Certified Education Advocate who teaches professional advocates, educators, and clinicians the best practices in education advocacy.