Column: The Focused Student: Take action when reading is a struggle for your child
Welcome to another new year — and the start of another semester of school for students. In previous columns we talked about preventive maintenance. The new year is a great time for such maintenance if your child is struggling academically.
Reading and writing are the foundation on which almost all academic activities are built. Deficiencies in these two areas cause problems everywhere else, so if your student is struggling academically, a thorough professional assessment of his/her reading and writing skills is the place to start. Reading, in particular, is a remarkably complex task that involves everything from vision to brain processing to decode and understand the written word. It is important to know what the problem is in order to respond correctly.
If a problem is identified, then the question becomes, “What can be done about it?” The answer is, “A lot.” If it’s a vision issue, the answer is obvious and often quite straightforward. But in most cases reading difficulties stem from disruptions in how the brain decodes and processes information. Several commercial programs attempt to confront and remediate these challenges. The two most popular are Orton-Gillingham and the Lindamood-Bell method.
Orton-Gillingham was one of the first programs designed for struggling readers, especially dyslexic students. It also has the most research behind it. Over the years it has been adapted for at-risk students and ESL students. The focus of the program is reading at the word level, not necessarily comprehension. The program stresses and uses direct teaching of the “fundamental structure of language,” which means phonic rules, word-attack strategies and more.
A multisensory method is used to connect letters to sounds and sounds to words. This may be accomplished by saying the sound a letter makes, or writing the letter in the air, sand, or shaving cream while saying the sound. It may also include feeling a block letter and positioning it correctly with the eyes closed. Each lesson usually includes visual, auditory and kinesthetic method to connect the sound to the letter then the letter to the word.
Lindamood-Bell is a focused language arts program that also connects letters to sounds and fosters the blending of sounds into words to teach reading. Where it differs from Orton-Gillingham is in its use of imagery to improve comprehension by connecting words to understanding. For example, what does a car look like, what makes a car different than a truck or train, etc. This program is a very prescriptive. Lindamood-Bell also offers a math program.
Lindamood-Bell has learning centers; the Orton-Gillingham method is taught to teachers, tutors and schools. Lindamood-Bell is more one-on-one; Orton Gillingham can be one-on-one or done in small groups. It can also be modified for the individual as far as time and intensity and integrated with a student’s current reading program.
Both programs usually involve an initial assessment to gauge strengths and weaknesses, both rely on drill techniques, and both have a long track record that make them reasonable and reliable options. Costs vary.
If you think reading might be a problem for your student, make a new year’s resolution to take action immediately. Don’t let your student fall behind unnecessarily. Without adequate reading skills, almost all other learning will be impeded.
ROBERT FRANK is the executive director of the Hillside School and Learning Center in La Cañada. He holds a master’s of science degree in special education and has more than 40 years of teaching experience. His column appears on the last Thursday of each month. He can be reached at frank@hillsideforsuccess.org.
