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…

All students can benefit from a deeper understanding of how our language works. "Playing With Language" shows elementary school educators (K-6) how to think about, talk about, and manipulate language out of context. This cognitive skill set, known as metalinguistic awareness, is an important component of reading ability. This practical…

This study had two main aims: first, to offer a descriptive account of shared reading program using an evaluative lens and second, to examine whether teachers' perceptions of the importance of phonological awareness, word decoding, and text comprehension in helping young learners develop their reading abilities were indeed emphasized during…

Wordless books offer a bounty of riches. The format is accessible to everyone regardless of language or reading ability, making the books ideal for use in international settings, classes with nonnative speakers, or families with adults or children who are struggling or emergent readers. They enrich the aesthetic lives and literacy skills of…

This mixed methods study explores the pilot implementation of a Response to Intervention framework in the first grade classrooms in three urban schools. Two schools in a fully implemented condition (FI) with a facilitator and a partially implemented condition (PI) without a facilitator were investigated using student achievement data, field notes,…

Homework is an instructional staple for most classroom teachers; however, considerable debate over the effectiveness of homework has been at the center of discussions among researchers, administrators, educators, parents, and students. Rather than continuing the battle as to whether or not homework enriches learning, it appears the more…

The use of a three-step decoding strategy with constant time delay for teaching decoding and word reading to students with mild and moderate mental retardation was investigated in this study. A multiple probe design was used to examine the percentage of words correctly decoded and read as well as the percentage of sounds correctly decoded. The…

The ability to read aloud fluently is a reflection of one's ability to automatically decode words and comprehend text at the same time (Samuels, 2006), a task which may be difficult for many intermediate elementary students with learning disabilities (LD) (Ferrara, 2005). Previous research shows that audio-assisted repeated readings and…

The teaching and learning of phonics are core elements of a balanced literacy program for people with intellectual disabilities. Studies have shown that individuals who have limited phonic and decoding skills will be unlikely to progress in their reading ability beyond an emergent level and are more likely to experience difficulty in…

A method of training pupils to read for total comprehension by an analytical approach is proposed. Specific techniques are suggested. (RM)

In accordance with current recommendations concerning teaching reading to kindergarten children, this paper presents a kindergarten reading curriculum. Included are a description of major instructional techniques, a time-line illustrating how instruction might evolve across the school year, and finally, a battery of informal tasks for assessing…

This study investigated the effects of three different word-decoding instructional procedures: a single-letter (SL) approach, a letter-combination (LC) approach, and a procedure in which children receive several weeks' instruction in the SL method and then switch to the LC approach. Grade 1 pupils were assigned at random to the three treatment…

This investigation examined the use of computer-assisted instruction (i.e., "WordMaker") on students having different levels of reading ability. Of particular interest were the effects of "WordMaker" on the spelling performance of first graders in a co-taught classroom. In a short 10-week period, the "WordMaker" software program had a positive…

A study evaluated the phonics performance of skilled adult readers using the D. Durkin phonics test, which was also used in 1984 to measure the phonics ability of children. The test, which was given to 25 college juniors and seniors, consisted of 29 regularly spelled pseudo or nonsense words to be pronounced aloud by the subjects. Results…

While previous studies have investigated children's awareness of two units within words--syllables and phonemes, there is experimental evidence that children are also aware of intrasyllabic units (units intermediate in size between the syllable and the phoneme), and that these units may be useful for teaching phonological awareness and reading.…