Examples of Reading Difficulties

Short-Term Memory

• Difficulty acquiring letter and word identification skills

• Difficulty recalling phoneme/grapheme relationships

• Difficulty with story recall

• Difficulty remembering and summarizing what is read

• Difficulty readily connecting what is read to background knowledge while reading

Working Memory

• Problems with simultaneously remembering a comprehension question and integrating information from the passage

• Difficulty recalling the beginning of a sentence while reading words at the end

• Difficulty with comprehension and remembering information from the top of the page while reading the final paragraph

• Difficulty sequencing and retaining sequential information from text

Reading Strategies:

• During reading comprehension tasks, use active reading techniques such as: Underlining, Using a highlighter, Rereading, Marking important parts, Writing in margins of books, Using sticky notes while reading

• Have students take turns making/asking questions and responding to questions about material being taught

• Model and encourage thinking out loud and/or subvocalizing

• Use kinesthetic tracing of letters and numbers patterns

• Teach the use of Graphic Organizers

■ Tree diagrams

■ Time-Sequence

■ Problem-solution

■ Topic organizers

■ Venn Diagrams

■ Flow charts

■ Concept webs

■ Compare and contrast charts and matrices

■ Learning frames-summary frame, definition frame, argumentation frame, problem-solution frame

Accommodations

• Review prior knowledge before teaching new information

• Check for comprehension at strategic points

• Present information with a retrieval cue-such as category labels

• Provide handouts that are clearly written, uncluttered, and have space for work