Should I correct every missed word?-Dyslexia?

[Sharilynn29]

My 8 yo dyslexic daughter often skips non-essential words while reading aloud. She may skip a "the" or "to" but understand what is being read. I've been making her stop each time to go back and read it again. It drives me batty that she doesn't read every word or will sometimes add a word. She's typically not losing the meaning of the sentence.

 

I've read in The Gift of Dyslexia that this is common. So, should I ignore these oversights or continue to stop and correct? I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time on something that may not be as important.

 

Thoughts??

[SonshineMama]

I have my son do two different types daily

1. reading for fluency (easier for him to read and I want to see signs of fluency - speed, expression, etc)

2. instructional reading (this is the reading that enforces the days lesson - we do both books and word lists for instructional reading)

 

During reading for fluency, I don't stop him at all

During instructional reading, I stop him and make him go back when he makes errors. . BUT I use small little cues

"hmm. . . " "oops." for those small words he reads mistakenly

for vowel corrections I say

"check the vowel"

 

I keep the corrections light and easy or if he doesn't know how to correct himself, I fix it myself.

[Sharilynn29]

Yes, this is a very common phenomenon with how right-brained children learn to read (most with dyslexia are right-brained learners). The reason for this is because your daughter is a visual, pictorial learner. Every word she translates into a picture. She will learn to read "hard" words first, like "encyclopedia," because it has a visual, and "easy" words last, like "the," because it has no visual.

 

Also, the way a right-brained child is naturally meant to read is to "skim across the tops of words" to "catch the visual." So, initially when they learn to read, they may skip every third word, but still read enough words to "catch the visual" she's translating the words into. Cool, huh?

 

Over time, as fluency develops, she'll do better at picking up on all those little words. I didn't correct my child when I noticed because it seems when we spotlight something like that, it makes them more self-conscious and almost do it more, or worry about it.

 

BTW, that's why right-brained children do better with silent reading versus reading aloud, especially during pre-fluency. I wrote an article about it, and almost everyone who responded, adult or on behalf of their child, said they prefer silent reading for the reasons we're discussing. It might interest you: http://www.therightsideofnormal.com/2012/03/07/silent-reading-versus-reading-aloud/

 

 

 

Wow, I never thought about silent reading like that! I always figured that she wasn't really reading when she would tell me about books. Maybe she's catching on more than I thought!

[eoffg]

Sharilynn,

The problem might be that your daughter is becoming a fluent reader?

Reading is very different from speaking/ listening to speech.

With speech and listening, we go from one word to the next.

But with reading, our eyes don't move from word to the next word?

Rather our eyes see words as groups, and move from group to group across the line.

But when reading in word groups, words like 'to', the', 'and', only need to be seen in the background to be cognized.

 

What would be important, is if she skipped words that change the meaning of the sentence.

[EKS]

I ran a pencil under the words and when my son omitted a word or read it incorrectly, I would point at the word with the pencil. This seemed less intrusive than interrupting verbally.

[Lecka]

I correct if it is very choppy and he seems confused.

 

If he is smooth I let that go and missing endings go (like ing).

 

Missing every 3rd word would be too hard and I would have him practice hi reading out loud at a lower level. But I do assume his silent reading is at a higher level than his oral.

 

(Right now I am just there for when he needs help, b/c I want to encourage him to self-monitor, self-correct, and re-read as needed. But at other times I have done the pencil thing and it works very well! But if it just made him irritated I would not stick to it.... I do want him to be an active reader and interrupting him can do more harm than good for that. Or, I would stick to it for some certain, defined, short practices, maybe. )

Edited August 28, 2012 by Lecka

[Sharilynn29]

I've decided to let her read one of her readers silently. I will then ask her what happened in the story. She enjoys narrating back (she's a big talker!) so I should be able to tell if she understood. We'll see how that goes. She also reads word lists from Why Johnny Can't Read and R&S readers. I'll let those small mistakes go if it doesn't change the meaning.

 

I found it interesting that I had her read through the ten lists of Fry words (frequently used words). She did poorly with the first group-small easy words, did well with the next few lists-lots of memorization, and could read some fairly large words on the ending lists. When she gets to a word that she doesn't know, she has no idea how to sound it out.

 

I'm sure having a fun (and hard) time learning how she learns!

[herekittykitty]

Yes, this is a very common phenomenon with how right-brained children learn to read (most with dyslexia are right-brained learners). The reason for this is because your daughter is a visual, pictorial learner. Every word she translates into a picture. She will learn to read "hard" words first, like "encyclopedia," because it has a visual, and "easy" words last, like "the," because it has no visual.

 

What home_mom described is the Davis model of dyslexia - picture thinking kids. I don't know if it fits all dyslexics but it sure fit mine. The Davis program has kids build clay images for those words that don't have images associated with them - like the, on, because, etc. Sounds weird to left-brainers like myself, but my son totally got it and loved doing it. If you haven't you should look at Davis's book The Gift of Dyslexia.

[Sharilynn29]

What home_mom described is the Davis model of dyslexia - picture thinking kids. I don't know if it fits all dyslexics but it sure fit mine. The Davis program has kids build clay images for those words that don't have images associated with them - like the, on, because, etc. Sounds weird to left-brainers like myself, but my son totally got it and loved doing it. If you haven't you should look at Davis's book The Gift of Dyslexia.

 

This is actually the book that I am reading right now. It makes so much sense to me. I just started the last section that describes the methods used. This is definitely my dd! I know she'll love the clay. Anything artsy fits her personality. :D

[Shellers]

I ran a pencil under the words and when my son omitted a word or read it incorrectly, I would point at the word with the pencil. This seemed less intrusive than interrupting verbally.

 

This is what I do too.

 

If my son's book reads:

"Go home." said, Peter

 

But he reverses it and says:

"Go Home." Peter said

 

I don't say anything.

 

If he misses a word altogether I'll tap the skipped word when a pen. My DS12 is getting to the point that he's going back and rereading a passage if it doesn't sound quite right to him.

 

My DS is constantly reading "WAS" for "SAW" and vice versa.

[Lecka]

http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/rayner.htm#PhonicsandWholeLanguage

 

Maybe a little off-topic, but I love children of the code.org. It is just a guy whose daughter had trouble reading, who has gotten a lot of interviews with reading people.

 

This one is about eye tracking studies, that you see mentioned sometimes. This is the only place I have seen them talked about with any kind of detail.

 

It is just interesting to me.

 

And, it is like this man has sat around and thought about what all could be going on in a child's head who is reading a little slowly -- and so it makes me more accepting, to think that there is a lot more going on than what it might appear.

[Mandamom]

I use the pencil technique and don't say anything when they miss/skip words. I do require that they correct it though.

 

I have several reasons to do so.

 

1) I want the brain to learn to see the words that are there. Without requiring corrections the student's brain believes that it is correct and has no reason to make the necessary corrections. It can be taught.

 

2) The fonts in books tend to get smaller and closer together as reading levels get higher and it is easier to teach reading words correctly in larger fonts.

 

3) Informal reading tests (performed by reading specialists) require that students get around 95% of the words correct. Each of those little words (to, is saw, house, etc.) would count as an error. Even if they pass the comprehension section they would miss too many to be considered in a higher level due to word recognition.

 

4) As the reading level of books increases and the fonts get smaller smaller words take on larger meanings. If they miss to, is of, in lower level books which may not affect meaning but later they start missing words like via, not, in/un, the passage meaning could change significantly.

 

5) My last reason, I have started working with several students who seemed to hit a wall around 3/4th grade reading level and then 5/6th grade reading level. I find that they are misreading too many words to comprehend the passage. They did fine in comprehending what they were reading even when missing those small words but once they higher reading level they hit a wall. Once they are reading more words accurately, comprehension level rises and then they can go to the next reading level.

 

My students (including my own ds6) might get a little annoyed with me when I ask them to read something again but they understand I'm doing it for the right reasons. :tongue_smilie:

 

Just thought I'd share.