Some students with visual impairments have not learned to read print or braille due to a variety of factors. The inability to read proficiently affects all areas of a person's life. Thus, it is essential that teachers of students with visual impairments (hereafter called "teachers") are systematic and use research-based practices in…

Students who have problems comprehending textual material tend to experience failing grades, peer rejection, and even social isolation. Furthermore, students with poor reading comprehension demonstrate poor academic performance in all subjects, not due to difficulty in learning specific subject content (i.e., math, history, etc.), but rather their…

Professional development (PD) of teachers working with students in the first years of learning to read is a privileged way of preventing initial reading difficulties and its effects in the long and short term. This research studies the effects of PD in student reading performance, although the results are not conclusive with regard to which PD…

This study investigates students' fear in academic reading as well as the influence of perceived difficulties in their reading comprehension. The paper aims to study the level of anxiety as experienced by undergraduate students in academic reading. Data from 25 respondents were analyzed quantitatively using Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) developed…

Phonological awareness has been found to be an important skill underpinning reading development in several alphabetic languages. However, the development of phonological awareness and its relationship to reading development can be influenced by the nature of the language under investigation. While understanding this relationship in Thai language…

Seventy-five percent of third grade students who are at-risk will continue to struggle with reading through the years into adulthood, never to recover their potential reading development. Once less-skilled third grade readers reach ninth grade, one in six students are four times more likely to leave high school before receiving a diploma than…

Effective fluency instruction should focus on reading with understanding, rather than simply reading quickly or expressively. This article outlines three research-based instructional approaches that assist students in developing accurate, automatic word recognition and prosody; at the same time, they ensure learners attend to the text's meaning as…

This article presents a critical review of the literature surrounding the potential impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision impairment on reading development in the early years of primary school. Despite pre-school screening programmes, it is still possible for children to enter school with undiagnosed, uncorrected vision impairments. This can…

Phonological awareness is the ability to attend to and recognize the sound structure of a language. This skill is known to be important for learning to spell and read and a lack of phonological awareness skills is linked with reading difficulties. Previous research has shown phonological awareness training improves phonological awareness skills,…

Teachers who work with struggling beginning readers need a supervised training experience that leads them to understand both how reading ability develops and how to adapt instruction to meet the needs of individual children. The practicum, in which a teacher works with one struggling reader under the supervision of an experienced and expert…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Learning Progressions in Science: A New Approach Emphasizes Sustained Instruction in Big Ideas (Patti Hartigan); (2) Putting the "Boy Crisis" in…

Increased attention is being given to the attitudes exhibited by preservice teachers enrolled in secondary-level content area literacy courses, who frequently resist the idea of teaching reading to their future students. To develop a greater understanding of such perspectives, the author analyzed literacy narratives written by undergraduate…

This study investigated the phonological processing skills of 29 children with prelingual, profound hearing loss with 4 years of cochlear implant experience. Results were group matched with regard to word-reading ability and mother's educational level with the performance of 29 hearing children. Results revealed that it is possible to obtain a…

Examines research evidence that suggests an association between impulsivity and poor reading performance; outlines methods that have been helpful in training children to respond less impulsively, to take more time, and to make fewer mistakes so that ultimately they may become better readers. (Author/GT)

Poor reading ability is associated with numerous negative consequences. School psychologists should provide teachers with resources and support to improve student reading ability and prevent these negative outcomes. This paper offers a guide for school psychologists to use in the consultation process when working with teachers to address students'…