This document discusses recognizing and overcoming reading problems. It provides signs that a child may be struggling with reading, such as difficulty with rhyming, hearing sounds, or retelling stories. It also discusses the physical and linguistic causes of reading difficulties like dyslexia. Several effective reading intervention programs are described, including Reading Recovery and READ 180, which provide explicit phonics instruction and show improvements in reading scores. The document concludes with ideas for teachers to help students with reading problems, such as using multisensory instruction, developing rapport, and recognizing their potential beyond performance.

1. Recognizing and
Overcoming Reading
Problems
Efrain Suárez Arce, HQT
EDUC 551: Reading Processes in a Second Language Setting
Dulcinea Nuñez, Ph. D.

2. Forward
• Learning to read is a challenge for many kids, but most can become good readers if
they get the right help. Teachers have an important job in recognizing when a child
is struggling and knowing how to help. Here are some signs to look for if you
suspect a child is having trouble reading.
• Difficulty rhyming
• Difficulty hearing individual sounds
• Difficulty following directions
• Difficulty re-telling a story
• Struggles to sound out most words
• Avoids reading aloud

3. KEEP IN MIND…
• Many children have reading problems only because they did not get
adequate instruction in decoding. Children need opportunities for
systematic focused practice in decoding real words. Children who do
not get this practice fail to develop a rich mental lexicon that is
essential for promoting fluency and comprehension. High poverty
areas are often competing for limited resources and outdated
programs and methodologies. These children may not be reading
disabled, just never adequately taught.
https://www.weareteachers.com/things-about-dyslexia-every-teacher-needs/

4. Learning to Read: Sousa Chapter 6
Reading is probably the most difficult task
for the young brain to do. 50% of children
make the adjustment to reading with
relative ease. 20% to 30% will find it to be
the most difficult task they will ever
undertake in their young lives. Late-talking
toddlers score lower than their peers in
vocabulary, grammar, verbal memory, and
reading comprehension, but early
intervention at age 2 can help their
language skill development.

5. Detecting Reading Problems
• Critical observation of a child’s
progress in learning to speak, and
eventually in learning to read, remains
our most effective tool for spotting
potential problems.

6. Learning to Read
• reading involves two basic operations: decoding and comprehension.
• Phonological Awareness- the recognition that oral language can be
divided into smaller components, such as sentences into words, words
into syllables, and ultimately, into individual phonemes.
• Phonemic Awareness-is a subdivision of phonological awareness and
refers to the understanding that words are made up of individual
sounds and that these sounds can be manipulated to create new
words. Simply learning letter-sound relationships during phonics
instruction does not necessarily lead to phonemic awareness.

7. What Beginning Readers Need To
Learn
• Phonological Awareness: Rhyming, alliteration, deleting & substituting
sounds, sound patterns
• Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting words into individual sounds,
manipulating phonemes
• Alphabetic principle: Correlating letter-sound patterns with specific text
• Orthographic awareness: Understanding spelling rules & writing
conventions
• Comprehension monitoring strategies: Identifying the main idea,
making inferences, using study skills that assist reading

8. The Neural Systems Involved In
Reading
Successful decoding and comprehension in
reading require the coordination of three neural
networks:
• Visual processing
• Phoneme recognition
• Word interpretation

9. Difficulties In Learning To Read:
Physical Causes of Reading Problems
• (NOT all struggling readers have dyslexia)
Linguistic Causes:
1) Phonological deficits.
2) Differences in auditory and visual processing speeds.
3) Structural differences in the brain.
4) Working memory deficits.
5) Lesions in the word form area.
6) Word-blindness.

10. Difficulties In Learning To Read:
Physical Causes (cont.)
Nonlinguistic Causes:
• Perception of sequential sounds.
• Sound-frequency discrimination.
• Detection of target sounds in noise.
• Visual magnocellular-deficit hypothesis.
• Motor coordination and the cerebellum.

11. Spoken Language Difficulties
• Delay in speaking.
• Difficulties with pronunciation.
• Difficulty in learning the letters of the alphabet.
• Recalling incorrect phonemes.
• Insensitivity to rhyme.
• Genetics. 25%-50% of the children born to a parent with dyslexia will
also carry the trait.

12. Some effective reading intervention
programs are…
• Reading Recovery - (lowest-achieving readers in 1st grade, 12-20 weeks
long) 30 min. ind. instr. phonics, phonemic aw., letter-sound rel., comp.
• Success for ALL--Reading First - (K-3, Core reading program) 90 min.
groupings same skills assessed every 8 wks., teacher works with one lev.,
less kids referred to sped., 1/2 yr. gain on control group, 64th per to 50th.
• The READ 180 Program - (4th-12th low-achieving readers, comp. program
from Scholastic, Inc.) Direct, explicit, and systematic instruction in word
analysis, phonics, spelling, reading comp., and writing. Showed sig.
improvements in reading scores & overall school performance, as well as
development of more positive attitudes & behaviors.

13. IDEAS
• Don’t insist on “trying harder”. REMEMBER – slow speed and clear
comprehension. Reading will tire them out quickly.
• develop good student-teacher rapport.
• keep contact with the child's parents and give them periodic reports.
Make suggestions of what they can do with the child at home to
complement your classroom strategies.
• make sure that other classmates understand the nature of dyslexia so
the child is not bullied or mocked.
• encourage the child to point out talents and strengths.

14. MORE IDEAS
• Get a complete explanation of the student's history of reading
problems
• Use a multisensory approach in classroom instruction.
• recognize the compounded frustrations of an adolescent with reading
disabilities
• Realize that these teenagers may have problems with their self-
esteem.
• Recognize that these students may also have behavior or truancy
problems.

15. MORE IDEAS
• Realize that these students often have a significant gap between their
performance and their potential.
• Show concern and understanding.
• Use diagrams and graphic organizers when teaching. Advanced organizers
that contain important notes about the lesson are also very helpful and can
help prevent failure.
• Develop good student-teacher rapport.
• Maintain contact with the student's parents and give them periodic progress
reports. Make suggestions of what they can do with the student at home to
complement your classroom strategies.
• Children with mild dyslexia often develop coping strategies in elementary
school. Be aware that these strategies may be inadequate for the more
complex secondary curriculum