Reading Welcome back to our Connections blog. This edition is brought to you from the Oasis teams at Jumeirah and Arabian Ranches Primary and Secondary. We hope this, and future editions, will allow families across the JESS schools to have a progressive understanding of different aspects of learning. We are now in our second year of the blog, and in our tenth edition we will explore some of the barriers that may impact your child's journey as they learn to read.
Engage - Enable - Enrich
Reading and Neuroplasticity Although a small percentage of children may at some point be formally identified with a specific learning difficulty, such as Dyslexia (related to reading and spelling), many children may face at least a degree of challenge when learning to read. Believe it or not, humans were not designed to read - at our most primitive we were meant to hunt, gather and make campfires. 'Reading is an act of improvisation - - when you read, you're actually using parts of the brain that were designed to do other things. You are, as it were, patching together several different technologies' (to read more on this fascinating perspective follow the link). Reading literally changed history by altering the brain! Research into neuroplasticity (the ability to 'rewire' the brain) demonstrates the significant impact of reading; developing new pathways and an ultra-speed processing system that allow us to complete individual component tasks simultaneously allows us to decode and make sense of text... it is no surprise many of us have some challenges in this area! This video is a helpful 'introduction' to reading - it touches on some of the processes involved...there really is quite a lot to it! As adults we often forget just how tricky it is, once we are able to read automatically.
A sound basis for reading - phonological awareness, phonemic awareness and phonics Children need to develop certain prerequisite skills in order to become fluent decoders (readers) and encoders (spellers). They need to be able to hear, discriminate between and manipulate the sounds in speech. Children with good phonological awareness can do tasks such as generating rhyme; tapping the number of syllables in words; counting the number of sounds in words, and blending and segmenting the sounds in words. Research suggests that strong phonological awareness is a strong predictor of future reading (and spelling) proficiency. Phonics - There has been much research on the teaching of reading and spelling to young children. The experts agree that structured, systematic phonics is the most effective. Phonics programmes teach children to connect the sounds (phonemes) in their speech with a letter or letters (graphemes). The explicit instruction of phoneme-grapheme correspondences is very important. More information and a free course for parents can be found here: https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/ Some students may be faced with specific challenges in reading (and spelling) that are not easily overcome with carefully adapted teaching approaches, this may mean they have a life-long learning barrier. What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a language-based learning difficulty, that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. However, dyslexia can affect individuals in a broad range of ways, including memory, processing speed and organisation. The British Dyslexia Association describes some typical indicators of Dyslexia as: •Difficulties with sequencing, telling left from right, ordering days of the week/months etc. •Inaccuracies in reading •Difficulty with spelling such as omitting letters or putting letters in the wrong order •Taking longer than peers to complete writing and struggles to understand what s/he has written •Difficulty with rhyming •Difficulty clapping a simple rhythm •Poor concentration •Difficulty processing language •Difficulty planning writing •Requires instructions to be repeated This helpful video provides some an introduction to some of the theory and practicalities regarding the potential impact of Dyslexia. Alternatively, this is a great video to share with your children help them to understand and value the benefits of neurodiversity - the strengths and barriers of having Dyslexia.
Support for success
Across both primaries and secondary, we support students to develop their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills, dependent upon their point of reading acquisition. All students are encouraged to read regularly at home and use the Accelerated Reader and Read Theory software to complete comprehension quizzes. Additionally we may provide some extra support, dependent on need by way of the following interventions; - Phonics for reading - SoundsWrite - Orton-Gilingham - IDL - Nessy - Better Reading Partnership - Book Club
Parent's perspective
It is always valuable to learn from the experience of others. We are very grateful to the families that share their personal stories in order to help us to better understand some of the challenges that our children might face. Should you be willing to share your story (anonymously if you prefer) please don't hesitate to contact us oasisjj@jess.sch.ae (Jumeirah) or primaryadmin@jess.sch.ae (Arabian Ranches) Agnes M. Holly is a past parent of JESS, all five of her children attended JESS Jumeirah over the previous 20 years! She is particularly passionate about reading, both personally and professionally, and has written prolifically on the subject. Here she shares her views on the values of reading at home. A piece of writing has so much more to offer than the sum of its words. With diminishing conversation, how are children to extend their vocabulary? Apart from reading the words on a page correctly, a child has to be asked to discuss the content: eg Why has he said that? What was he thinking? How is he feeling here? Why? How would you feel? The same or different, and if so why? What do you think he will do next? What does that word mean? Can you use another word with similar meaning (synonym)? What’s the opposite of that word (antonym)? – to mention a few possible questioning routes. If you are not a native speaker, or are yourself uncomfortable about reading, that is not an issue at all. Up to the age of about 9-10 parents should always sit with their child for reading. If the child is a fluent and voracious reader, the time spent sitting side by side with a parent is still worth gold for other reasons. Children need us, need our closeness and the knowledge that we care. You should sit side by side - you could be reading a book or an article of your choice at the
same time. However, if you are on your phone or another device, be sure to be reading and NOT using social media. In this, as in everything, if we do not model the desired behaviour, children will interpret that. They will feel that we do not really think reading is important. Always being aware of what our child is reading – their choice of book and topic - allows us an insight into our child’s world. (interests, choices) It gives us further scope for conversation and discussion, beyond the “have you done your homework?” type of topics. Finally do not underestimate the pleasure of reading to your child. Nowadays, it is harder to do, with the undoubtable lure of games and social chatter, but if you choose an exciting book, something to engage them AND YOU – do not overlook yourself in this. If you yourself look forward to the reading aloud sessions, they are far more likely to. Reread classics from your childhood, or choose something new - any offering by Michael Morpurgo, for example, is going to enrich you, as much as your child. If all else fails, read to them for 10-15 minutes as they are falling asleep. You will be giving them a far greater gift, than just the story. Happy reading!
Learning aids for reading Glasses! One of the simplest potential learning barriers to eliminate, that will specifically impact reading (and writing), are issues related to vision. Vision checks should ideally be completed every two years and should, where appropriate, include eye movement tests as well as acuity tests. If your child is prescribed glasses for close work it is essential that these are available for use in school every day. Some children will take time to adjust to wearing their glasses - be sure to remind them of the importance and encourage them to stick with it! Coloured filters/Reading rulers Some people can experience 'visual stress' wherein they struggle with the 'glare' of the white page or screen. Visual stress is perceptual, rather than visual in nature, it is therefore not corrected by prescription glasses, and it cannot be detected by standard visual, educational or medical tests. Those with visual stress may; •
Experience difficulty looking at a computer screen
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Be unusually sensitive to bright lights, especially fluorescent lighting.
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Have difficulty judging heights or distances, which sometimes causes problems with stairs and/or escalators.
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Find driving at night particularly stressful, sometimes experiencing a fragmentation of reflected light.
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Develop headaches and migraines when reading.
Some, or all, or the following can be noted while reading. Sufferers may: •
Fatigue quickly when working with text
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Experience problems copying from the board
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Skip words or lines when reading
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Seem to experience increased difficulty after an initial period of about 10 minutes
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Keep moving their head or body position, or moving closer to or further away from the page
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Read slowly and haltingly and have difficulty absorbing information
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Track with the finger
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Yawn while reading.
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Frequently rub their eyes
It is often the case that people with visual stress can read with much greater ease if they cover a print with a specially treated coloured overlay or 'reading ruler' (which are inexpensive and come in many different versions and colours). Some optometrists prescribe coloured lenses, and have specialist equipment to test for colour preference. Kindle (or similar) As Agnes mentioned in her article (Parent's Perspective), some children may have difficulties with the size and style of a font. An e-reader will allow your child to overcome the challenges of a traditional paperback by adjusting font size, style and spacing to suit their preference. Text to speech There are many options to be explored in this instance, including the Immersive Reader tools available on the Microsoft Surface and similar features in Clicker 7 (used on some ipads and laptops in primary). Text to speech allows students to listen back to their own written work or highlight text from articles or website and have the speech engine read it aloud. There is often the opportunity to alter the voice (male, female or with a particular accent or language) and/or speed of reading
Tech support
Like it or not our children are 21st century learners; more adept at using technology than we might ever be! All the more reason then to utilise some excellent interactive software programmes and apps to engage and extend their understanding. Books are available in text and audio form for many different platforms, and there is most definitely at least one 'app for that'!
Surrounded by literacy; how can you help at home? Regular reading is always useful, however this doesn't always have to be with a book! The opportunities to read are all around us... Library/Book Shop: Why not take a trip to the library or bookshop. Instead of simply going to a preferred genre of book, add a little challenge to finding books and in turn, develop reading skills. Simply provide your child with a list of random words for example: Difficult, success, opportunity and give them a set time (about 5-10 mins) to find a book that has one of the words in the title. They then return to you when they have sourced a book for each of the words in the list. You then spend a little time discussing the cover, the genre of book and the blurb of each book. To extend the process you can then support your child in using the book code to return the book to its rightful shelf place.
Another library challenge would be to provide your child with a list of authors and they go and pick a book by each author and repeat the exploration task as mentioned above. This is also something that can be done online using the school library catalogue system called "Oliver": https://jess.oliverasp.co.uk/library/welcome.do In the home: •
Give your son or daughter an interesting or captivating news article from a news paper or online. Ask them to read the article and then report back the key points/events or messages of the article in just 3 or 5 bullet points. Challenge your child by asking them to come up with an alternative headline.
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Bake a cake or cook a meal following a recipe. Allow your child to follow the recipe with limited guidance. Any small reading errors could result in a rather creative or inventive cake! I dare you try it!
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Make a shopping list of ingredients from a recipe and allow your child to lead the way around the supermarket to allocate the shopping list using their reading skills.
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Of an evening or weekend when enjoying some quiet family in front of the TV, why not ask your child to read out the choices of available programmes, movies or game shows along with the times. Ask them to plan the evening schedule of TV. You can also apply this prior to going to the cinema; ask them to check the films titles, age ratings and show times and then select the film and time.
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If you have a bookshelves full of books at home, why not task your child with the activity of categorising your book collection into an order/ system of your choice e.g. alphabetically by authors surname
Out and about in the town or city: The outdoors surrounds us with literacy and reading opportunities that are so easy to miss when in a rush or have another agenda. Make time when you're next out and about to dedicate a little time to reading and recognition or words and phrases. •
Encourage your child to read out the names and information on street and road signs.
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Give a list of shop/store names to spot and tick off as they walk around the mall. If you provide a reward for completion it will add some further excitement into their mall day.
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Allow your child to take ownership of the shopping list. Not only will this help their Reading but it will give them skills for life to carry with them into adulthood.
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Go an an adventure with a map; allowing your child to be in complete charge of navigation. Good luck!!
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When going on a long car journey, give your child a list or words or phrases to spot on advertisement boards, store fronts or even on the side of trucks. Make a reward deal if they're to tick off the list by the time you reach your destination.
Reading with your child doesn't always have to be about sitting down to listen to them read. There is so much out there to help develop Reading and wider literacy skills . . . .for free!! Have fun, explore and enjoy reading in a variety of different environments. And finally... Please look out for our next edition of Connections wherein we will explore 'spelling' in more detail. We hope to provide context and strategies that will help you to better understand the ways in which you can to support your child's learning.