The RIGHT Strategies Get the Job Done for Challenged Readers with ADHD and Others

For students to become good readers, they need to be shown how to adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. Each student must develop a set of specific strategies and match the appropriate strategies to every reading situation in order to improve skills and overall reading success.

The following 5 strategies can make all the difference for readers who lack the needed focus and attention to content that must be read. In fact, these strategies have the potential to help all individuals experience more reading success!

The RIGHT Strategies That Help Students Read More Quickly & Effectively

1. Previewing
Review titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the purpose, structure and content of a reading selection prior to actually reading that same selection.

2. Predicting
Use your prior knowledge of the subject matter and about the author to make predictions about content, vocabulary and writing style.

3. Skimming and Scanning
Do a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions.

4. Guess-timating with Context Clues
Use your prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas provided in the text as clues to the meanings of unknown words (instead of stopping to look them up).

5. Paraphrasing
Stop at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text.

How Teachers Can Help Students Learn When & How to Use These Reading Strategies

1. Model the Strategies
By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing, predicting, skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they begin to read word by word.

2. Allow Class Time to Use the Strategies
By allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class time to these activities indicates their importance and value.

3. Use Cloze Exercises for Vocabulary
By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps students learn to guess meaning from context.

4. Encourage Student Discussion of Successful Strategies
By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice of strategies.

In conclusion, when students are shown and then learn how to use the right reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience and gain confidence in their ability to read the content. These are the important keys to reading success both in current learning situations as well in the future.

Source: Strategies for Developing Reading Skills from NCLRC-The National Capital Language Resource Center, Washington, DC
http://nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm

For information on digital & low-tech reading tools for ADHD, dyslexia and other challenges, please visit:
www.FocusandRead.com Tools for struggling readers of all ages!
www.BrennanInnovators.com Info & support for struggling readers
314-892-3897

Image courtesy of:
Brennan Innovators, LLC at www.focusandread.com

The Four Different Kinds of Reading

Did you know that there are different kinds or types of reading? Indeed, there are actually four of them, and each has its own specific purpose or objective. It is important to know these four different kinds of reading as well as practice and perfect your ability to use them. In doing so, you'll be able to improve your overall reading success. This is especially important if you are a student who wishes to reach your full academic potential.

This week we have created for you a short list of the four different kinds of reading. We hope that you will review these and practice each in the coming week. Try to use each kind as you read the newspaper, a textbook, a novel or perhaps even a research report or term paper. Also, consider the kinds of reading required for specific types of printed materials or even digital media. At the end of the week, you should be much more conscious of and skilled at utilizing every one of the four different kinds of reading. You will also be improving your reading skill level, being much more prepared for a great academic term in the coming school year.

The Four Different Kinds of Reading

1. Skimming - moving the eyes quickly over text on a page, to get the main idea or "gist" of a selection

2. Scanning - looking for a specific item of information in a selection

3. Extensive reading - (usually for shorter selections) reading for pleasure or just to get a broad understanding of the material

4. Intensive reading - (usually for longer selections) extracting specific information, accurate, in-depth reading for details

Skimming and scanning might be used when beginning to read a newspaper. If a specific story would be located in that newspaper, then you might then use intensive reading. Extensive reading might be done with a novel, but if you were editing a novel for potential publication, you would more likely do a considerable amount of intensive reading.

These are just a few examples of the different kinds of reading and when they are used most effectively. If you are a challenged reader, you might consider trying one (or more) of the specialized tools available to help facilitate your reading. A few of these tools can be used with all four kinds of reading (even when using some tech devices, too!) We hope you will increase and perfect your use of each of these kinds of reading in the coming week---and in the future. We think you'll become a much better reader because of your dedicated efforts!

Happy Reading, everyone!

Sources

Reading Skills: different kinds of reading - with exercise
http://www.learningtolearn.group.shef.ac.uk/read/read_difkind_task.html

Four Kinds of Reading by Bill Stiffler
http://www.billstifler.org/ENGL1010/05R01-read.htm

Hall, Donald. "Four Kinds of Reading." Thinking in Writing. 2nd ed. Ed. Donald McQuade and Robert Atwan. New York: Knopf, 1983: 163-166. Print.

For more information on customizable reading tools for better focus & attention, please visit:
www.FocusandRead.com Tools for struggling readers of all ages!
www.BrennanInnovators.com Info & support for struggling readers
314-892-3897

Image courtesy of:
Brennan Innovators, LLC at www.focusandread.com