The Joseph Robert Shaw Foundation

Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury

Inclusive Guided Reading

By

One aspect of our Augmented Learning Study Program is providing small group academic instruction that would be seen in schools. In this time of virtual learning, we want our learners to have an opportunity to learn in groups from each other – as COVID safely as they can.

One challenge we have worked on is making an inclusive guided reading experience for our first graders who use and do not use devices. As I’ve written about before in teaching Joey to read – it can be extremely tiring for him to read the words on the page and then find them on his device. If we measured his ability to read and comprehend through his output on his device we would continue to see him reading at a beginning kindergarten level. And yet, Joey consistently recognizes many of the words from the dulce list through first grade. He is also able to match sentences from a guided reading text to their picture – demonstrating reading comprehension.

So how do we make that a group activity?

In using the Jan Richardson guided reading plans, we start with word work. Instead of each child having their own set of magnetic letters and a dry erase board to write down the word, I present the word to the group. The group reads it and spells it. Then I ask Joey to take one of the letters and hide it from us. The other group member must guess what letter Joey stole from us. This is identical to the game Richardson’s reading plan recommends – “what’s missing” except that instead of the teacher stealing the letter, it’s the student. I also let Joey mix up the letters and have the other student put them back in order. The other student then writes the word down, and Joey is able to tell us if the student was correct or not.

This also gives us an opportunity to work with sounds – looking at words that have the same initial or ending sound, or the same middle or vowel sounds. Although Joey cannot produce the sounds as he reads, he is able to point to an alphabet chart to select the sound he predicts will be at the end, beginning, or middle of the word in question.

We then do a book introduction to the text, highlighting words on Joey’s device as well as words the other student needs to know. We discuss the characters and setting, and then give the direction, “You read with your big reading voice, Joey will read with his eyes, and we will all read together.” I point to the words as we read the text so that Joey can follow along. After we have read and discussed the text, both group members are given sentences from the text and asked to match those sentences with pictures. 

Although this does not look like a traditional Jan Richardson guided reading group, the components are the same – word work, book introduction, reading, comprehension work, and then any follow up activities. This allows Joey to have a grade-level guided reading experience as he would if schools were open, holding him to the same expectations as the students around him. It also allows the other students in the group to see that he is able to read and comprehend just like they do – even though they cannot hear him read the words aloud. They may use their voices and he can use his eyes, but we are all active and working. 

Measuring Reading Comprehension

By

Ever since Joey started kindergarten I’ve struggled with the idea of how to assess his reading ability. Although I can encourage him to use his device to match the words on the page, this is laborious and time consuming for him. It certainly does not promote reading fluency or the phonemic process needed to decode unfamiliar words. But, if Joey isn’t read aloud, how do we know he’s reading?

When we read leveled books I try to take turns reading words with Joey. As we read I’ll point under each word and talk about how my voice or the word on the device matches the word on the page. I’ll pause at words Joey can quickly read on his device, or at words that I want Joey to learn to read on his device so that he has an opportunity to read the word as we go.  I have each word from the sentence laminated on a piece of paper with velcro so that Joey can build the sentence himself when given the words. This requires him to attend to the different letters in each word and put them in sequential order – holding each word in his head as we place it in a meaningful spot in a sentence.

But all of that still doesn’t let me know whether or not Joey is attending to the story – or if what I am asking him to do is so beneath him that he is bored.

After a quick assessment (and then another, and another), I realized that Joey learned more high frequency words (or sight words – and, in, here, the) during our quarantine time. He is clearly taking in what he reads and remembering what these words are. So what else does he know?

Finally, I printed out two copies of one of the personalized level readers from Pioneer Valley. One copy I put together into a book so that Joey could read it. The other one I cut out the words and the pictures for them, laminated and  added velcro to the back of each word. Now, I have an ability to make a sentence without a picture attached and ask Joey to match the pictures to the words (when given a field of 6 pictures). OR, I can show Joey a picture and ask him to find the word that matches.

Joey, of course, surprised me with how well he did the first time I presented the activity. He clearly attended to each word in the sentence and then correctly matched the picture. The second time we did the activity he was less engaged. By now the simple level B book was boring for him and the task was old news. He scanned the sentences but would only match part of the picture correctly. Although he was not nearly as accurate as he was the first time, this gave me great insight into Joey as a reader. When it is novel and interesting Joey will attend to all of the details in the book. When he thinks he already knows what is on the page (like all six year olds I am currently working with on learning to read) he will scan the page and make assumptions about what the words say. As frustrating as it is, this is something we have to teach all new readers – continue to engage with the words on the page – and read what is actually there, not what you think should be there.

I am excited to try this with another book – and to increase the level to see if Joey is capable of reading at grade level. By the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade, students should be reading a level 4/D book if they are being assessed using the Developmental Reading Assessment, Fountas and Pinnell, or Pioneer Valley assessments. Joey is below in this area but only because of his limitations to performing the task. He may be able to do more than we think he can, he is just unable to orally read the words on the page like we expect. 

Stay tuned to find out! 

Who Reads? Creating new routines for learning new skills

By

Joey turned to me, putting his eyes directly in line with mine. “Miss Ann-Bailey. Teacher” he said, smiling. While this is true, I quickly recognized the attempt to negotiate with me. My friend, it is only because I am your teacher that we are having this battle, I explained. And I’m holding firm because I know you can do it. One day you will read many books all to yourself. Right now, we are reading this book together. Now, find “IS”.

He gave me a similar look to what he gave me years ago when we first started using the eye gaze and I insisted on him using the device instead of simply looking at what he wanted and laughing. Back then, he believed he had a communication system that worked for him. The idea that I would change this system made him mad. Eventually, Joey and I worked through it, and now he uses his device like a pro. To get here though, he needed to bend and I needed to bend until we found our middle ground.

Now, I am changing the nature of how we read books. When I present him with a simple book that has a repeated pattern sentence on each page, he is not sold on the idea that he should read the whole page to me. That’s not what we do. Miss Ann-Bailey reads to Joey.  Because she’s the teacher. As he pointed out to me when I asked him to read the sentence to me. 

It was not that the task was too hard for Joey. I scaffolded it down to make it fit right with what I knew was an easy task for him. Joey has many high frequency words and can quickly find them on his device. And yet, he still refused to read the sentence. He grabbed the book and hugged it, and then threw it on the floor. He loudly protested. He told me what the last word in the sentence was. He told me the first word in the sentence. He would not, he made it clear, read the middle words of the sentence, even when I helped him find them on the device. Reading, he seemed to be saying, was my teacher job. 

Joey’s mom entered the room at the end of the session and asked who won. Did either of us win? Eventually, Joey selected the word is. Once. But this will resume in our next session, and Joey will learn to read these books. With repetition, persistence, and encouragement, Joey will read words in books just as he learned to communicate with his device, and moved away from his previous communication method of crying or laughing to express his wants/needs. 

I appreciate Joey’s strong willed nature, even when he turns it against me. It’s his greatest strength, and I’ll happily figure out how to meet him where he is to get him to where I know he can go. 

Learning to Read on an AAC Device

By

Joey and I have been working on reading predictable pattern books that are typically introduced at this time of year in kindergarten. Joey is doing well with these books, and shows an understanding of using the words and pictures to recognize unfamiliar words. It’s exciting to watch him grow in these abilities, but there are certainly challenges that arise from making sure Joey has appropriate access to leveled reading materials. 

One challenge is simply selecting the right books for him. I like to use a computer program from Pioneer Valley that lets you put the child’s name into the book. It gives the child at least one firm, known word, and who doesn’t like reading a book about themselves? Yet, when I first began with these books, I realized Joey didn’t have his name on his device. He could say the phrase “My name is Joey”, but couldn’t just say “Joey.” I had to cross out Joey and write “I” over each word. (Joey was quickly added and he can now read his own name, and is working on saying it!). 

Another challenge has been finding books that have words that are on his device already. This week I brought a book to practice high frequency words, only to realize that the main word, “here” on each page isn’t on Joey’s device yet. We can read it together and take turns with the words, but it is not the same as providing Joey with a book he can read independently.

There is also the matter of finding appropriate books. Because I can put a name into the book, the book may say “Joey is swimming. Joey is running”. Making him read a book about himself swimming, running, or jumping seems very wrong. I can put his brother’s name into the book, but that too seems a bit unfair. 

More than anything though, I can tell how quickly he tires from reading. Unlike just learning words on his device and exploring new vocabulary, now he has to be careful with exactly which words he selects. When he is just speaking, he can use words that are similar in meaning to another word if he can’t remember where to find it, or if he is having difficulty getting his eyes to focus on one specific word. With reading, he needs to match the word exactly. Once we finish with one of these books, Joey is exhausted. If I take a ten minute language data sampling after we’ve read, Joey will say only around 11 words, when before the book, he may say up to 30 or 40 words. Over the last few weeks I’ve seen Joey’s stamina grow for selecting high frequency words and reading print on the page. Still, what is a two minute book for a typically developing child, is a ten minute struggle for Joey – not because of difficulty recognizing the words – but just the attempts at finding each word to make a sentence.

I struggle with this, because I see Joey’s potential, and continually am surprised by how fast he is learning to recognize high frequency words. I don’t want to exhaust him, frustrate him, or make him hate reading, but I also don’t want to lower my expectations and have him not get access to the grade level reading standards I think he is capable of. I am continuously looking into new ways to support his reading development that will maintain the high standard without overwhelming him.

Saturday Serenade

By

Test post for Saturday Serenades https://www.musichealsglennjan.com/saturday-serenades

Bitnami