Most people have struggled with reading in one situation or another, depending on their appreciation for the content, their prior experiences, and the texts. This department column shares ways for educators to help literacy learners unlock their potential with instruction anchored in their skills, knowledge, ways of learning, interests, and…

Application of the direct instruction paradigm to reading comprehension skills involves providing a problem-solving strategy through demonstration and modeling, guiding strategy application, and creating opportunities for independent strategy application. Examples of the approach to teach sequential relationships and main idea-supporting…

A step-by-step plan is presented for teaching a mnemonic strategy that students with and without learning disabilities can use to improve word recognition skills. The SCUBA-D strategy involves (1) Sounding it out, (2) Checking sentence clues; (3) Using main idea and picture clues, (4) Breaking words into parts, (5) Asking for help, and (6) Diving…

Five modified cloze procedures useful in intermediate-level reading-comprehension instruction are described. They include exercises where clues to the missing word come before the blank, clues come after the blank, clues are labels for groups of ideas, clues are pronouns, and clues signal readers to look for something important. (Author/JDD)

The study, involving 39 intermediate-grade disabled readers, found that visualization instruction plus pictorial display, in which subjects were instructed to make pictures in their minds and were shown a pictorial display that illustrated the temporal-spatial sequence of the reading text, was particularly effective in facilitating subjects'…

Poor readers can be taught to improve their comprehension skills by utilizing the same self-questioning techniques that good readers use spontaneously. Three questioning techniques (Question-Answer Relationship or QAR, ReQuest, and Reciprocal Teaching) are highlighted as empirically supported instructional strategies appropriate for students…

This article describes a picture drawing strategy to enhance the comprehension of fourth- and fifth-grade students with language and reading problems. Students used adhesive notes to draw pictures of main ideas as they read aloud or listened. Students learned the strategy rapidly and were able to use the pictures to generate summary statements.…

Notes that students' comprehension and interest increase when they talk about how to read, draw inferences, and answer inferential questions. (FL)

A speed reading technique is described for use with reluctant readers. The technique uses timed probes with practically any reading material, to heighten student motivation in addition to increasing fluency. Methods for self-recording progress data and strategies for building fluency are described. (JDD)

Argues that student comprehension difficulties are often diagnosed as reading problems, even though the problem extends to other learning skills. Considers the issue of comprehension in the context of reading, and examines aspects of the issue that extend to teacher communications. Suggest ways to help students understand social studies material.…

This conference paper provides examples of reading comprehension strategies that can be used with students with learning disabilities or reading comprehension difficulties. Before reading, during reading, and after reading strategies are presented. The before reading strategies, which activate the students' background knowledge and attention,…

The initial step of a strategic process for solving mathematical problems, "studying the question," is discussed. A lesson plan for teaching students to identify and revise arithmetic problems is presented, involving directed instruction and supervised practice. (JDD)

Describes a metacognitive strategy that has shown the ability to improve the reading comprehension of poor readers and learning disabled adolescents. (FL)

This practical book offers teachers at all levels the understanding and motivation they need to teach children to read--especially those students who need help the most. The book provides educators with the most current reading research about how students learn, regardless of age or grade, and helps them understand that learning to read is only…

A case study of a seven-year-old student with reading difficulties illustrates the effectiveness of using a cognitive-adaptationist approach over a diagnostic-prescriptive approach. The student developed an "intentional" approach to his own learning through acquiring insight into his own reading strategies; his progress was documented through…