5 Steps to Reading Success

So you're a special education teacher! You have your elementary class and now you have all these students to teach to read.
 Now it comes to deciding and choosing what reading materials you will use with your kids.
How do you pick what to use for your kiddos?

Here are 5 things to consider when choosing reading instructional materials.

1. Look at your kids' needs. What type of learners are they? Know your students! 

What type of disabilities and skills do your students have?

•  Are they good at memorization? 
• Do they lack phonetic skills? 
• Are they strong in vocabulary? 
• Can they read words fluently? 
• Do they grasp the meaning of the content they read? 
• Do they require extensive repetition to grasp concepts? 
• Are your students good at word calling(i.e, reading the word but not knowing the meaning)?

Keep these answers in mind when you select your materials.

2.  Assess your students if you don't know the answers to these questions. This assessment could be formal or informal. I usually started by administering a sight word test. 

This can be as easy as a checklist of the sight vocabulary your students need to learn. I frequently used Dolch or Fry, but sometimes I was required to use our districts word lists. Completing an assessment such as this can give a great picture not only about what words they know but how they approach decoding words.
3.   Look for the reading components that match your student needs. What do you need the materials to include and focus on? 

4.  Consider that fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, phonics and phonemic awareness are crucial components of any reading program. They all play an important role in a good reading course.
5.  Look at each student and determine what area(s) they need to focus on the most. Decide which series, programs will answer each students needs the most.

Let's look at just a few of the more common reading programs available that you could consider using.

EDMARK

Great for kids with good memorization skills.
This is an excellent program for students with special needs as it provides repetitive lessons that can be a valuable teaching strategy when working with kids with special needs. In my experience, Edmark works well with kids that learn whole words better than phonics.
I love the direction cards, the repitition and hand on materials in this program. They have take home materials and extra practice worksheets. Edmark also includes a technology portion of the program which can be helpful for kids needing reinforcement. The Edmark materials includes easy to use data sheets that work well to keep track of what lesson the student is on but also words missed in each lesson. These also serve as a great way to record data. Edmark is great for kids needing an instant gratification that they CAN READ.

PCI READING

PCI Reading Program is a superb choice for kids needing to work on transition from individual words to sentences and comp. This research-based program focuses on teaching sight words not only from the more common Fry and Dolch lists but it also incorporates real world words. Integrated in these materials are sight word lessons presented through repitition followed by hands on practice. By the time the students complete just level 1, they have mastered 140 sight words.
One of the great things about this program is the way they introduce 5 sight words which are quickly followed by  stories that enable the kids to practice the previous 5 words plus others they have learned before.
This is another great program that includes excellent worksheets and data recording sheets

SRA CORRECTIVE READING

This is a wonderful methodical program that focuses on decoding and comprehension. It is geared to start at 3rd grade.
This program has a great comprehension strand. It focuses on writing it thinking it and speaking it. The decoding sportion emphasizes vocabulary and structure of language.
This another great product with detailed progress and data tracking all built into it.

SRA READING MASTERY

Reading Mastery is another program that has been around for quite awhile and for good reason. It combines fluency, phonics, phonetic awareness, word decoding and comprehension into a package that works. The materials in this program are comprehensive and take a bit of organization, but once you settle on your organizational plan for it, you are set.   The data tracking and progress monitoring includes detailed
This program encompasses not only reading but writing, language and spelling as well.
The presentation of this program is highly scripted and some people have experienced difficulty with it, but I found it highly functional as the student could predict the questions.

SPELL READ

Spell Read focuses on phonological fluency and reading fluency. It is a 1-year program for students that are 2 or more years behind in reading level. This program is a highly structured sequenced program that helps students learn sound knowledge, how to analyze sounds and how to blend them.

The questioning technique of what is read in the program helps ensure the students are comprehending what is read. The written responses to what is read augment the synthesization of decoding and comprehension in this great program.


There are many restrictions we experience in the selection of materials to use with our kids. Sometimes our school boards dictate what we must use. We sometimes must heed the direction of our building administration or Special Education department. I have often found in my experience of material selection that if I have the research to back it up, they are often open to listening and considering of new materials.

What programs do YOU use in your classrooms? Share your favorites. 

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READING SKILLS: Main Idea

Today I wanted to share a few strategies and supports that have worked for me when teaching  main idea in my special education classroom over the years.
MAIN IDEA is  finding the information that tells what the entire text or picture is about. It is the message or the point the author of the materials wants to convey.
When teaching main idea I use key words such as WHO and WHAT plus using ideas such what is the BIG IDEA of this story.

WHY
Being able to determine the main idea is one of the basic concepts of reading.
Being able to determine the main point of what read extends into almost every other subject we learn.

HOW

Picture Main Idea
Start at the picture level. Use an easy to understand pictures from magazines, photos, picture books or comic book.  These can be  extremely useful for main idea especially for those having difficulty with the concept.  When working with materials at the picture stage, be sure and include the use of key phrases to prompt the correct answer such as What is happening in this picture?  What is the boy/girl doing? Pictures depicting things familiar to the student are particularly  helpful at this stage such as the one below.

This picture doesn't contain distracting  details such as other people or even other equipment on the playground.
In my store - you will find 2 products regarding main idea. One is at the picture stage and one is at the picture/sentence stage.

Pictures and Word Sequencing

Once the student is successful at main idea in  pictures, try incorporating words that correspond with the pictures. Using a very basic sentence that tells only basic information about the picture give an easy sentence for the student to read and then then tell what is happening in the picture.

As the students skill increases, the sentences can be augmented to include more details.

 

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Edmark or PCI: Comparing Two Reading Curricula

When you look at  reading programs for special education classrooms, especially those for students with significant disabilities, two programs immediately pop up. So please join me as we take a quick look at both of these programs.
One program is Edmark Reading Program. It has been around since 1972 and is well liked by many special education teachers.  Another program that comes to mind is PCI Reading Program. This program is fairly new starting around 2009 . Both of these of these programs are excellent materials to use when teaching reading to students with disabilities. Both have significant strengths and only a few differences.
As a Special Education teacher of students with significant disabilities for the last 12 years,  I have used both of these program extensively and have seen both of them work their "magic"  in teaching students with disabilities how to read.  I say "magic" because it almost seems like that sometimes. It NEVER gets old watching a child's eyes light up when they realize they CAN READ a word for the first time.  Its a lot of hard work, of course on the student and the teacher's part, but there is THAT moment when, that" light bulb" goes on and you can almost see it turn on within the child. They are proud of themselves and they WANT to learn more.
A lot of times when you speak with teachers, you find they have great allegiance to one or the other of these programs. Sometime teachers have a choice as to what program to use but other teachers must use what is provided to them by their school or district.
I am different. I adore both, have used both extensively and feel both have their place in our world of working with students with disabilities. I used Edmark extensively for many years until PCI Reading was introduced in our county and we were instructed to use PCI as our primary materials as it followed our standards closely and use Edmark as a backup, supplemental program.

WHO ARE THESE PROGRAMS FOR?
Before we start, lets start with a couple of similarities between the two programs.
Both are designed for use  and work well with students with developmental disabilities and autism as well as students with significant learning disabilities.
They both have extensive research to back their use.
They both use an errorless approach to teaching the materials to students. This means student have a high rate of success and can see themselves as successful readers. Built into both of them is a spiraling repetitive teaching sequence of the content that helps ensure students a successful learning experience. They both focus on giving students a solid foundation of common base vocabulary upon which students can build their reading skills. Both PCI and Edmark teach a highly structured set of words with sequential teaching steps broken into small increments to increase the learners' success. Here is a quick look at a few factors of both programs.

Let's look at each one separately for a moment.
Edmark
When a student successfully completes Level 1, they have usually progressed from nonreader to being able to read approximately 1.0 GE materials.
The words taught in the Edmark program include words that can invoke an image. Words such as ball, car, airplane, him, you, milk, and zoo.

The approach used in Edmark is basically a sight word approach is an alternative to learning to read with phonics.

The systematic and repetitive program steps allows students especially those with significant disabilities to become successful readers
Edmark has a software component that once taught, can often be used independently by  students. 

Edmark also has a manageable systematic record keeping with lesson by lesson and word by word tracking that provides way to record reteaching.
Sight words used in the program are primarily for grades K-3 but that doesn't mean the student will be reading on grade level 3 when they have successfully learned the words.
The Edmark Reading Program provides motivation by breaking learning into steps that ensure even the poorest readers achieve over 90 percent correct answers. This approach eliminates incorrect responses and leads students to see themselves as “readers” rather than “nonreaders.”
Four instructional formats are used throughout the program: Word Recognition, Direction Cards, Picture/Phrase Cards, and a Story Book. Level 1 teaches the student 150 basic sight words plus endings (-s, -ed, -ing). Level 2 extends the learning by teaching an additional 200 words, plus compound words.
Basic literal comprehension skills are taught through pictures, and directions cards.
Edmark's comprehension is very basic literal comprehension skills and very useful for beginning readers. Here is an example of a Level 2 comprehension lesson in Edmark.



PCI
The PCI Reading Program works on a 5 word cycle then assess. This program includes errorless discrimination, positive reinforcement, a controlled vocabulary with tactile reinforcement. It also has a great software component.
It systematic record keeping is very concise, easy to track, quick to complete and tracks reteaching extremely well.
PCI teaches 140  words in level 1 and the students can read a book after just 5 words are mastered.
The words taught in PCI come from the Dolch and Fry lists and include more words that cannot be tied to an image in isolation, such as is, as, do, to or as well as more common words that can be connected to an image making it easier to remember.
PCI includes phonics and phonemic awareness in the teaching of their materials.
One of the places these two programs differ is in the treatment of comprehension, phonics and phonemic awareness. Level 3 in PCI takes the words learned in levels 1 and 2  and expands that learning into word analysis, and decoding while still expanding the students vocabulary and controlling the words in what is read. Level 3 also introduces students to new genres of nonfiction, and poetry while integrating writing, fluency and comprehension.

Here is a video showing you some of the components in the PCI Reading program.While this video came out in 2009 when Level 1 was brand new, they now have levels 2 and 3 out.

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Teaching Sight Words to students with disabilities

Teaching children with disabilities takes a very special type of person. A person who can think "outside the box", think of different ways to teach things. They need to have the patience to teach the same concept over and over again and to appreciate even the smallest steps of success in learning.

In my 37 years of teaching, I have taught many children with different types of disabilities some of which include Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Downs Syndrome, and Intellectual Disabilities just to name a few.
Its important to remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and that not everyone is going to learn to read the same way. It's important when teaching children how to read that we remember what their strengths and weaknesses are in their learning abilities.
Just as when a delicious meal is made, there isn't just one way to make it delicious. The same goes for reading. There isn't just one way to teach every child and for all those children to be successful.
So I hope you'll join me as we start a short journey into teaching reading.

1. WHOLE WORD Reading

This method presents the entire word to the child. This method presents the word in one unit. It doesn't matter whether the word is a small word such as "it", or a longer word such as beautiful.  It presents the word in its whole form; no segmentation, no phonetic sounds, no phonetic blending. In fact, it does not require the student to use phonics at all. Many people have difficulty with this approach as they feel it  doesn't provide the student with a method with which to learn new words on their own.
 This method requires memorization of the word. Often lessons are based around a repeated spiraling approach. Words are presented, read, practiced, reinforced, and tested then reintroduced a little later as reteaching and review. This is great for students with good memories, but for some students with disabilities, long term and often short-term memory learning is very difficult. However, I have seen this method work time and time again.
It important for student to  have their own core lists of essential words that students have learned. Sometimes the words correlate with the reading program being used. When in doubt - fall back onto a well used standard set of words  such as your basal reading series should have a list of frequently used words in the series. One of the most important things you can do would be to teach the students the everyday common words that are seen in print such as the DOLCH words or FRY word lists. Both of these lists provide words that can be found in everyday reading pairing pictures and words

Some programs I have used successfully that utilized this method are
Edmark Reading Program and PCI Reading Program Levels 1 and 2.
Both are awesome programs and I have witness great jumps in reading because of them.
Below is a brand new product I have in my store to practice the words for the PCI reading series. This activity is in game format of Roll, Read, Color and contains all the words for Level 1

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2 For Tuesday #2

Reading Instruction in Special Education 

What do YOU use in your classroom?

PCI is one of my preferred reading program to use when teaching my self contained class. I love the repetition of the words being  presentation paired with the repeated practice of reading the words.
I have seen many students become fluent readers because of the PCI reading program.
This past year I found some of my students needed a little reinforcement in reading and writing the words after they had been presented in the program.


I developed some supplemental worksheets that can be used in conjunction with the program. Each worksheet gives the student the following activities to practice the words.

1) Trace and Read presents the each word in dotted font
to trace first with arrows to guide correct letter formation
then without the direction arrows. 
2) Find and Circle presents a variety of words in different 
fonts/sizes in which the students must circle the focus
word.
3) Write gives the students practice writing the focus word 
on their own.
4) Cut and Paste provides practice pasting the letters in order to form the word after cutting them apart.  



In my store you will find supplemental reading worksheets sets for all 140 words in Level 1, and Level 2 was well as review sets for both levels. Coming in the near future will be both reinforcement and review sets for the new level 3 that is out. This week for you - I am offering my level 2 PCI word worksheet sets at a discount price just for 2 For Tuesday.

The other item I'm offering is a set of Number Counting Worksheets 1-10. These worksheets provide multiple opportunities for students to practice counting, coloring in squares to match the numbers, and matching items with the numerals. 





Check out Chalk One Up for the Teacher's Blog for the this weeks' Entire Two for Tuesday Lineup.

Check out both these great products with the link below and snatch while they are on sale. 

Thanks for checking out the blog today. 

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Where Have I Been?

Oh my blog friends and readers - I have missed you!  Its been a rough couple of weeks in Superteach's classroom. Yes, newbies and neophytes, even the experienced ones have them.

Ever have one of those times when no matter what you did; no matter how organized and prepared you were - nothing really went your way; nothing really worked; everything was harder than it should be?
Well that's just what has been going on in my neck of the woods recently and I'm sorry but the blog writing fell by the wayside.  But I have missed it and you, my followers and readers. There were times when I thought  I would get a blog post up, but then something else would come up with a more pressing need.

Well one intensive student  and many consultations and reports later....PLUS one exhausted brain..I'm baaaaccck!
I have never been so glad that I am somewhat of a data person than in the recent month.  Data saved me! It gave me a true picture of what was going on in the classroom and at school. It saved me  a tremendous amount of work to already have my data recorded. At least all I had to do then was tally it, graph it and put it into a report.
I would have to say right now that collecting data is one of the most important things we as special education teachers do. Its like an artist with a brush. Recording that data and having it ready to summarize it so you can "paint" a picture of what your students are doing will speak volumes when presented.

Here's a little Freebie to get you going on my next project! Level 2 of the PCI Worksheets. Even if you don't work with PCI Reading, these words are all Dolch and Fry common sight words.

 

PCI Reading Level 2 Sight Words Worksheet FREEBIE

See you soon!
Superteach!

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REVIEW after this long break- A way to bring that focus back!

As we head back to school - we all know some of those kiddos will need some  review to get their brains back in gear after the holidays.
We head back Monday here, but the kids don't return until Tuesday. My mind is slowly turning to what we will need to work on Tuesday morning and how I can jump-start their brains to get back into  the groove.
Here's one thing I am doing - I have created a new product of review sheets and flash cards for the sight words we are working on in Reading. These words follow the PCI Reading Program Level 1, but they are also words from the Dolch List and Fry Word Lists.
Check them out!

 Take it easy and everyone enjoy their last bits of vacation if you haven't returned already!

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