DEFINITION

Students with difficulties in reading skills show labored reading, difficulty reading new words (word attack skills), and/or display avoidance of reading.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

WHAT YOU CAN DO

What is the difference between Phonetic Reading and Whole Language Reading?

Phonetic reading, children are taught to dissect unfamiliar words into parts and then join the parts together to form words. By learning these letter-sound relationships the student is provided with a decoding formula that can be applied whenever they encounter an unfamiliar word.

Whole language learning is less focused on rules and repetition than is phonics. It stresses the flow and meaning of the text, emphasizing reading for meaning and using language in ways that relate to the students' own lives and cultures. Whole language classrooms tend to teach the process of reading, while the final product becomes secondary. The "sounding out" of words so central to phonics is not used in whole language learning. Instead, children are encouraged to decode each word through its larger context.

What are some pros and cons to the two different reading methods?

There are pros and cons to both methods of teaching.
Phonics-based reading programs tend to build better pronunciation and word recognition. The phonics formulas can be applied again and again, and will help a child with spelling far more than the memorization and guesswork of whole language. If only taught phonetically, however, a child may have difficulty understanding the full meaning of a text, due to the constant breaking down of words into parts. Phonics critics also state that the rules and rote learning it entails are stifling and may cause children to develop the attitude that reading is a chore.

Whole language learning is thought to provide a better understanding of the text, and a more interesting and creative approach to reading. However, whole language learning may come at the expense of accuracy and correctness. A child might be awarded high marks for "overall language use," even if he or she has misspelled many words.

Which method is best for my child?

Which is best for your child?
Small children tend to fall into the categories of either visual or auditory learners. Visual learners, on the one hand, are more likely to benefit from the whole language approach since their strength is in recognizing words and word sequences that they have seen before. On the other hand, auditory students learn what they hear — so they rely more on phonetics.

Does that mean you should try to categorize your child, and push for one teaching method? Probably not. Despite the differences in how children learn, most learn through a combination of techniques. That fact, plus the different strengths that each method offers, suggests that a mixed approach for each child will probably be most beneficial.

Does my student have a reading disability?

A reading disability may exist if reading interventions have been in place but your student has a deficit in these skills (not just a weakness).

Could my student's reading problem be due to a visual sequential processing deficit?

Visual sequential memory skills are the student’s ability to remember the sequence of visual stimuli.  The student’s visual sequential memory deficits may manifest themselves in an inability to remember the order in which information is presented; because of this, the student may struggle with spelling as he may forget the order of letters in words.  Additionally, visual sequential memory deficits may be most noticeable in the student’s inability to complete multi-step mathematics problems, comprehend and remember written directions, and outline the major components of reading material. If so, then try this.

Could my student's reading problem be due to scotopic sensitivity syndrome?

Symptoms: Eye-strain; Fatigue Headaches (including migraine); Nausea including visually-related motion sickness; Problems with depth perception (catching balls, judging distance, etc.); Restricted field of view and span of recognition; Discomfort with busy patterns, particularly stripes ("visual stress" and "pattern glare"); Discomfort with extreme conditions of bright/dark contrast (i.e. backlighting); Discomfort or difficulty reading (reading involves busy patterns, particularly stripes; People with strong symptoms of the syndrome find it very difficult to read black text on white paper particularly when the paper is slightly shiny.); Text that appears to move (rise, fall, swirl, shake, etc.); Attention and concentration difficulties; Seeing the part and losing the whole Epileptic seizure related to strobing or pattern glare. If this applies to your student, then try using colored overlays to place over the visual information, which helps most students with SSS. Any teacher store should have these various colored transparancies, and the blueish gray hue works most often for students.