Publisher Description

Teaching Children with Reading Difficulties is written chiefly for pre-service and practicing primary school teachers who are in the front lines of helping young children acquire the skills of reading. The book presents the results of decades of reading research in an accessible manner, and translates the results of this research into practical guidelines and strategies for successful reading instruction. Teaching Children with Reading Difficulties addresses the prerequisite skills of 'learning to read' (the development of essential phonological skills, letter-sound knowledge, word-recognition skills and vocabulary development) in addition to strategies that will help children develop the fluency and comprehension skills that contribute to 'reading to learn'.

Table of Contents

Dedication Acknowledgements Authors Note Introduction 1. What is happening when we read? Bottom-Up or Skills-based Explanations Top-Down or Whole Language Explanation Interactive Models 2. How do we learn to read? Emergent Literacy Stage Early Alphabetic Stage Advanced Alphabetic Stage Orthographic Stage The Mature or Critical Reader Why some Children do not Learn to Read The Effects of Failure 3. Reading and the brain Introduction Structure of the Brain Functions of the Lobes Parts of the Brain related to Language Skills The Central Role of Language in the Reading Process Seeing the Brain at Work: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging 4. The foundation skills of learning to read Linguistic Knowledge Phonological Awareness Letter-Sound Knowledge Vocabulary Development Fluency Comprehension 5. Strategies for teaching reading Teaching Linguistic Skills Teaching Phonological Skills Teaching Letter-Sound Knowledge Teaching Vocabulary Teaching Fluency 6. Strategies for teaching comprehension skills Strategies Used Before Reading Strategies Used During Reading Strategies Used After Reading 7. Spelling development and instruction Why is Spelling Important? Why is Spelling so Inconsistent? The Development of Spelling Skills Principles for Teaching Spelling to poor speller Instructional Strategies to Teach Spelling 8. Assessment of reading-related skills Assessing Linguistic Skills Assessing Phonological Skills Assessing Letter-Sound Knowledge Assessing Sight WordsAssessing Fluency Assessing Comprehension Assessing Readability of Text 9. The Adolescent with Reading Difficulties The Matthew Effect in operation Principles for working with adolescents with reading difficulties Instructional considerations Some specific instructional strategies for adolescents Resources for adolescents Conclusion Appendix Glossary References Index

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