Omits, adds, substitutes, or reverses letters, words, or sounds when reading

Accurate reading of words is key to associating pronunciations with correct orthographic patterns as well as to facilitating comprehension. The teacher can use the following strategies to guide a student to the accurate decoding of a word or to correct a mistake when he or she is reading.

Strategies and Accommodations:

1. Misreading or skipping letters:

If a student misreads a letter in a word (e.g., lid for lip) or skips a letter in a word (e.g., pat for past), then the teacher directs the student to name the letters in the word. The naming of the letters focuses the student’s attention on the letters and also strengthens the orthographic identity of the word.

2. Misreading a word:

If a student misreads a word (e.g., pane for plant) the teacher directs the student to use a backing-up procedure. The student identifies the syllable type, determines the vowel sound (short or long), and codes the vowel accordingly (i.e., marks it with a breve or a macron). The student produces the appropriate vowel sound and blends it with the consonant sound immediately after the vowel. He or she blends this unit with any remaining consonant sounds after the vowel, adding sounds one at a time. The reader then blends the vowel and all of the consonant sounds after the vowel with the consonant sound immediately before the vowel. Any remaining consonants that precede the vowel are blended on one at a time. The backing-up procedure with the word plant looks like this:

Step l: The student codes a with a breve and says /a/ plant

Step 2: The student blends /a/ with /n/ plant

Step 3: The student blends /an/ with /t/ plant

Step 4: The student blends /l/ with /ant/ plant

Step 5: The student blends whole word plant

Auditory Synthesis: The student may be quite familiar with the individual sound elements, but cannot blend them to make a smooth pronunciation of the word. The student may sound only the first symbol or two in a word and guess at the rest. He or she may sequence the sounds or syllables oddly. Recognition of the same sounds in different words will present a problem.

3. Have the student count the number of syllables in a word while the teacher says it slowly. The student can also tap the syllables and accent the word as it is being said by the teacher. Vocabulary familiar to the student should be used.

4. Use a sight word vocabulary approach in order to teach the student key words and phrases when reading directions and instructions (e.g., key words such as “circle”, “underline”, “match”, etc.).

5. Tape record pronunciations of words on which the student commonly makes errors in order that he/she can hear all the sounds.

6. Have the student point to syllables as he/she reads them in order to help him/her recognize omissions, additions, substitutions, or reversals.

7. Have the student place his/her finger under each letter as it is sounded out and then sweep his/her finger under the whole word as the sounds are blended together to say the complete word.

8. Consider using the Glass Analysis Method (Easier to Learn, Box 329, Garden City, NY 11530)

1. Identify the whole word and the letters and sound of the target cluster (on a word card)
2. Give the sound(s) and ask for the letter or letters
3. Give the letter or letters and ask for the sound(s)
4. Take away letters and ask for the remaining sound
5. Say the whole word

Steps in Glass Analysis - Example

1. The word is carpenter
2. What letters make the /er/ sound? The /ar/ sound? The /car/sound?
3. What sound does the letters “ar” make? “ter”? “en”?
4. Say carpenter without the /c/ sound. Say carpenter without the /ter/ sound.
5. The word is carpenter.

This intervention is usually done in a small group for 10 minutes.