Comprehension Tips
Reading specific
- Reading the words from left-to-right can be a difficult task for struggling readers. Often, the words appear to move around, or the space between words is unclear. It helps to use a finger or a card underneath the words to help your eyes "track" and focus on each word and letter you are sounding out. This will train your eyes to focus on the word you are reading instead of skipping around, looking for other clues to simply guess at the word.
- One of the best reading comprehension strategies is to make connections with what you are reading. Can you relate to any of the characters or to the story? If you make a connection to yourself, it is called a text-to-self connection; if you make a connection from the story you are reading to another story you have read, it is called a text-to-text connection; and, if you make a connection to something you have seen on the news or to an experience someone you know has had, it is called a text-to-world connection. Helping a struggling reader involves encouraging them to make as many connections as they can. The more connections they mae, they better they will remember and comprehend the story.
- Asking questions is another great reading comprehension strategy. If you ask questions about what is happening in the story, a character's feelings, or wonder what will happen next, you will be engaged in your reading, and that will help you understand on a deeper level.
- As a struggling reader encounters a new word, one reading strategy is to look up the meaning of that word. If you attach meaning, then you are more likely to remember it and to be able to decode it. After you decode the word, practice writing it and using it in a sentence.
- Those who struggle with reading and processing language also have a difficult time with organizationand processing spoken directions. One of the best strategies is to encourage the person to make up checklists outlining each step of a particular task.
- Reading is an intense activity for some and requires them to create their own stimuli to help increase brainwaves to match up with the task at hand. Students often do this by wiggling around, bouncing their foot, or tapping their fingers. Let them. It actually helps their concentration for the task instead of hindering it.
