Tag Archives: Comprehension Improvement Tools

Improve Reading Comprehension

Ways To Improve Reading Skills Of A Child With Dyslexia

2 Comments

Dyslexia refers to a reading difficulty, which does not spring from neurological, sensory or intellectual problems in the child. The child develops an impaired phonological representation for words. There are many ways in which parents and teachers of such children can help them regain their confidence and improve their reading and comprehension skills. Let’s take a look:

  • Read Aloud- Reading out loud to a dyslexic child can have a profound effect on his decoding and comprehension capabilities. It can motivate the child to delve deeper into bigger books in contrast with the smaller ones he struggles to read. This will inevitably boost his confidence.
  • Support- When parents and teachers join hands to help a child, deep down the child develops the zeal to fight on. It is important to highlight positives in the child and at the same time be very open about where he stands academically and what sort of help he will need. This creates a team spirit and in turn motivates the child, as he does not feel alone at all.
  • Slow Reading- Dyslexics should not be pressurized to read as fast as other kids. More important than the speed is the accuracy with which they read. Teach him strategies like memorizing what he has read and focus on his talents too. This way he will be able to navigate the world better as an adult.
  • Baby Steps- It is very important to go at a pace that feels comfortable for your child. Small tiny steps in the right direction go a long way. There is a plethora of simple activities that can boost your child’s language and reading skills. You can sit with your child as he reads out aloud and help with difficult words. Bedtime reading is a good way to incorporate this.
  • Acceptance- Dyslexia is not a learning disorder that a child will outgrow. Reassure your child that it is in no way going to affect your child success and reading abilities later in life. Teach him how to go about dyslexia by first accepting the issue, and then not hesitating to ask for help as and when needed.

Expose your child to various resources such as reading tools that can help to boost his confidence at learning and being successful.

Comprehension Improvement Tools

How Reading Aloud Increases Comprehension

2 Comments

Reading aloud can provide children with an opportunity to learn phrasing of sentences and develop fluency in English. It also helps to increase a child’s interest in reading and nurture his creativity. When a child reads aloud, his comprehension skills automatically improve as he gains knowledge about phonics and word building. However, the process should only be carried under supervision to ensure that the child gains the maximum benefit out of it.

A student with good comprehension skills will be able to easily read and understand the text by identifying the words mentioned in the passage. This improves his literary caliber and helps him to enjoy reading. Certain reading tools can also be used to improve comprehension and learning skills, subsequently increasing fluency.

Reading aloud can increase comprehension in the following ways:

  • Improved Retention: Reading aloud helps to form visual and auditory links in our memory pathways. This helps us to remember things in a better way and eventually improves comprehension skills. When you read aloud, you can clearly remember most of the words and also increase your vocabulary.
  • Helps To Build Connections: While reading out loud, you can make instant connections between the words in the book and real life. You connect to similar real life stories and experiences that organize things in your mind. This leads to better retention and enables you to read faster as they recognize words.
  • Sounding Out Words Becomes Easier: Reading aloud technique makes it much simpler to sound out words. With correct guidance, individuals are able to pronounce the word correctly. However, comprehension skills may improve only if there is phonemic awareness and alertness. A student can easily break down words and then identify common letter sounds while reading.
  • Improves listening and reading skills: When reading aloud, you are easily able to identify grammar and also learn the sentence structures. When you are able to read efficiently, you expand your interpretative skills. Identifying the written word is very beneficial when you want to understand passages and answer questions related to it.

See-N-Read Reading Tools are designed to increase comprehension and reading skills in people of all age-groups. They enhance focus on the line being read and reduce word/ line skipping while reading out loud. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Reading Tools

Your Teaching Budget Demands Results, See-N-Read® Delivers

1 Comment

The students you care for have various challenges and the budget to address those challenges is hardly unlimited. You need the most effective tools for your money to ensure the integrity of your educational program.

See-N-Read® Reading Tools are your patented (U.S. Patent 7,954,444) solution to assist children with reading challenges. Through years of research and careful testing, our dedicated learning specialists have created tools that are proven to help children with difficult reading Fluency and comprehension issues.

See-N-Read®  Learning Tools’ team is dedicated to studying and solving reading comprehension and fluency problems in people of all levels, from child to adult. We understand that the solutions offered in traditional reading comprehension programs do not necessarily address readers who respond differently to certain stimuli. We also understand the devastating effects that misdiagnosing children with a disorder or disability can have on their self-esteem. Our tools are research-based and classroom tested; addressing physical and cognitive anomalies in order to improve reading speed and comprehension while stabilizing learners’ confidence by enhancing success.

Our tools are easy-to-use, requiring virtually no training time for teachers or students…Simply Lay It on the Page and Read™. The learning curve for our tools is not disruptive – you will be able to apply it almost instantly within your normal curriculum. We have created See-N-Read® to easily integrate into your program at any point during the year. If you find that traditional methods are not working for your students, do not hesitate to add our proven tools at any point in time and in any curriculum. Your students will keep pace with ongoing materials and you will close the gap between traditional and nontraditional learners more quickly.

In short, if you are a teacher on a budget, See-N-Read® is the reading (or study) aid for you. You can visit us at our website for more information on our reading and study tools and the research that went into their development. We are also happy to talk to you about any questions you may have. We look forward to helping you bring your students to new levels of competence and confidence!

Improve Reading Comprehension

Improve Reading Comprehension – Strategies That Work

1 Comment

Good reading comprehension is essential for success in both academics and everyday life. It helps students understand and retain any information while reading. Improving reading comprehension essentially encompasses three different aspects, pre-reading tasks, reading strategies and post-reading, to efficiently store information into the long-term memory.

Here are some effective strategies that can help to improve reading comprehension:

  • Form Connections: Before starting to read the text, ask the child to have an overview of what the content is all about. Allow him to recollect any similar topics that he may have read before or any connections that he may have. For instance, the passage may mention places that the child has visited in the past. Let him talk about the memories of those places so that he is better able to understand.
  • Read In Chunks: While reading, ask the child to segregate the content into small chunks. Make him stop after each paragraph and recapitulate what all he has read. Put up questions about what happened, the main idea of the lesson and what could happen next. Also, encourage him to highlight the key points so that he can recall and retain information anytime later. Have Him
  • Read Aloud: Reading aloud compels the child to go about slowly, making it easier to understand. Also, he can form connections between the information he already knows and the one he is currently reading. Ask him to jot down any unfamiliar or complex words that he may come across in the text. Hold Post-Reading
  • Discussion: After the child has finished reading, hold a discussion in the classroom where everyone can discuss their doubts. Asking questions, sharing opinions and listening to that of others promote a better understanding of the content. Repeated
  • Readings: It is important for the child to read fluently to improve comprehension. After reading the text once, allow them to go through it once again. Being familiar with the words and context will help them read fast as well as smoothly. Encourage them to frame a story out of the passage, recite it to others and draw inferences to improve retention.

See-N-Read Reading Tools can help to improve reading comprehension in kids of all age groups. The research based products are designed to help children read fluently, while minimizing distractions on the page. To know more about the reading tools, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Reading Tools

Classroom Strategies To Improve Reading Skills

1 Comment

Reading skills are an essential component that allows students to make the most out of their academic education. It allows them to analyze any given information beyond simple comprehension, such that it can be retained for years and applied in real world setting. Though elementary level students need to develop a strong foundation for reading skills, elderly children should constantly reinforce this knowledge and utilize it in daily life.

Hera are some classroom strategies teachers should use to improve reading skills in students:

  • Utilize different reading materials: Allow students to access reading material in different formats, such as books, magazines, newspapers, e-books, audio books etc. This will allow them to form connection with the information in a better way. Practicing reading while simultaneously seeing the words in the book will boost their comprehension skills.
  • Make connections: Forming connections between the present and previously learned information helps children to develop a deeper understanding of the reading material. For instance, while reading about a place where he/she has been on a vacation, allow them to share memories or experiences associated with that place. Good reading is all about the ability to relate and understand information.  
  • Ask questions: Putting up questions will increase the students’ curiosity in gathering more knowledge about the content. After every passage, ask them what they think is the essence of the paragraph and which information is important. Good readers will always raise questions about the information being read to comprehend it better.
  • Hold discussions: While reading a text or making assignments, ask children to note down words or phrases that they do not understand. Subsequently, you can hold classroom discussions to deliberate upon the meaning and usage of those words until everyone understands it.
  • Draw inferences: Inferences can be drawn by combining the different elements in a story. For instance, if we read that a character had runny nose and watery eyes, we might infer that he/she has cold or allergy. Help students develop this skill by predicting what may occur next or what would have led to the present circumstances.  

See-N-Read Reading Tools are designed to improve reading skills in students of different grades. The research based products provide a practical learning to help children overcome moderate to severe reading, writing and study skills deficiencies. For more information about the reading tools, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Improving Reading Comprehension In Students With ADHD

1 Comment

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often face difficulty with reading comprehension. Maintaining attention span is important to direct intellectual focus on a stimulus, recognize and decode words as well as retain information in long term memory. Deficits in attention imply inability to store and retrieve the information being read. Children with ADHD find it difficult to control attention, thereby, have trouble in understanding the text, interlinking the context and associating it with previously learned information.

Here are some strategies that can help to improve reading comprehension in students with ADHD:

  • Provide Interesting Content: As far as possible, provide engaging content to develop the students’ interest in reading. They may find it easier to concentrate on comprehension passages that are stimulating, interesting and are not very lengthy.
  • Minimize Distractions: Even slight distractions while reading can sidetrack ADHD students. Allow them to read in short time intervals and take frequent breaks in between to stay focused. Teach them to use a reading strip in order to maintain place on the page. If the content is lengthy, help them break down the text into smaller passages to avoid getting confused.
  • Encourage Active Reading Strategies: Teach students to underline and highlight important points while reading. Provide them with different colored pencils or highlighters to set apart information according to their relevance in the content. This will help them to focus more on the important content when they are able to sustain attention.
  • Ask For Predictions: When reading a passage with the child, frequently ask him to predict what would happen next. For this, he will need to interlink the storyline and character to frame the plot for the story. It does not matter if the predictions are correct or not. Making predictions will encourage him to stay attentive throughout and you can also assess his comprehension skills.
  • Let Them Subvocalize: In contrast to reading silently, allowing children to read aloud can also help with comprehension. Reading in mind can be troublesome for children with ADHD. Subvocalizing allows them to input auditory signals into their minds which, in turn, help them to stay focused on the material being read.

See-N-Read Reading Tools can help to improve comprehension skills in students with ADHD. For more information, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Teacher’s Guide To Improving Reading Comprehension In Students

2 Comments

Developing reading comprehension skills involves a lot of practice. Though the basic elements of reading, word recognition, phonetic awareness and fluency, can be easily mastered, comprehension is essential to understand any given content. It allows students to read actively, understand what is happening, predict what might occur, relate to characters and apply the learnt knowledge into real life experiences.

Here are some tips that can help teachers improve reading comprehension in students:

  • Utilize Different Reading Materials: By utilizing different mediums, such as books, magazines, audio-visual presentations, CDs, etc., children will find multiple ways to gain insights into the content. Make them read the content along with an audio version of the book. This will help them to see the words while learning their correct pronunciation and usage through the recording.
  • Generalize The Information: After the students have read a given material, you can hold discussions where they can talk over the format of the content, the characters, the message the writer wanted to convey etc. This way, the students will be better able to relate the content with the real-life situations and, thus, learn the material better.
  • Focus On Difficult Words: As students go about reading a content, ask them to note down the words they are not able to understand. Subsequently, you can hold a classroom discussion so that each student can clear his doubts and understand the meaning as well as usage of the difficult words. You can also put up a chart in the classroom in which all these words and their meaning can be noted to be used for future references.
  • Define A Purpose: Any given text may contain information that is not related to the essence of the content. Finding the main idea in the content is important to maintain focus and concentration. Teachers should brief the students beforehand regarding what the content is all about. Ask questions after every paragraph to make sure that the students are able to classify relevant information from the rest.
  • Take Notes: Encourage students to write down or highlight the information they find to be important in the passage. This way, they will be able to memorize what they have read and quickly go through it whenever needed.

See-N-Read Reading Tools are designed to improve reading comprehension in students of all age groups. The research based tools can help students find the main idea and gain a better understanding of the reading material. For more information, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Improving Reading Comprehension In Students With Dyslexia

2 Comments

Students with dyslexia often tend to lay focus on identifying the pronunciation and spelling of unfamiliar words. This leads to them failing to comprehend the meaning of what they read. Dyslexia can not only lower a child’s performance in school but also cause problems throughout his life. Some of these can be loss of interest in studies, poor academic vocabulary and difficulty in getting a job.

However, certain strategies, when correctly utilized by teachers and parents, can help to improve reading comprehension in students with dyslexia.

  • Summarize: While reading, make sure you stop the child after every section to determine what all he has gathered out of it. Ask him what the paragraph was all about, what the main idea was and what could happen next. You should also make him highlight the important points that need to be remembered. By summarizing any information, students will be able to know if they have been able to understand or they need to re-read the content.
  • Use Graphic Illustrations: Students with dyslexia may face problems in organizing the information that they read. This may be due to the added concentration on comprehending the differences between letters and words. Using pictures, visual illustrations or graphic representations can be helpful in overcoming this problem. For instance, teachers can depict information through flow charts, time lines and other diagrammatical formations. They should let students be an active participant and put up or answer questions related to the content.
  • Hold Discussions: Organizing group discussions in the classroom setting can also help to improve comprehension skills. Talking about a recently read piece of information, sharing views and listening to others, promotes a better understanding of the content. Students may also feel comfortable while asking questions and sharing what they have not understood in such an informal setting.
  • Encourage Questioning: Putting up and answering questions about any information helps in gaining insights and making predictions about the upcoming set of events. The teacher can frame the questions himself or encourage the students to do so. These can be answered either during or after the information has been read.
  • Use Previous Knowledge: When reading,students face difficulty in linking the current piece of information with their existing knowledge to make it more meaningful. Before starting to read the content, teachers can make them familiar with the difficult words and any related information that they have read in the past.

 

See-N-Read Reading Tools are research-based products aimed at helping students improve their reading comprehension skills. For more information, you can call us at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Tools To Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension

Leave a comment

The ability to comprehend and remember reading material is extremely important for students to be successful. Improving reading comprehension can help a reader connect better with the information given on a page and apply to his existing knowledge.

Here are some useful tools to improve student’s reading comprehension skills:

  • Pre-Reading Tasks: Before beginning to read the text, students must be asked to take a brief review of what the topic discusses. They must be encouraged to recollect as much information as they can about it along with any related topics that they may have read in the past. Reading comprehension is closely associated with prior knowledge. As students are likely to frame a reference for the content that they are about to read it is useful to remember previous reads. You should make notes of the information that they are able to gather.
  • Learn New Vocabulary Words: As they go about reading the passage, make a list of unfamiliar or complex words. Allow them to refer to the dictionary to search for meanings of all these words. Writing down the definitions will also make them memorize better than by typing or simply reading.  
  • Set A Purpose For Reading: Students must also have a clear idea about the actual purpose of reading the text. For this, they need to read the questions given at the end of the passage. It will allow them to focus on the answers of those questions as they read.
  • Generate Questions: By asking questions relevant to the text, students tend to have a better understanding of the entire concept. Generate questions that require them to combine different segments of the passage in order to frame the answer. For instance, students can be asked what the main idea of the passage is, who the key characters are, what the theme is and what is likely to occur next.
  • Story Retelling: Reading comprehension can also be improved by asking students to recite a rough draft of the story to partners. Through this, they can frame the passage in their own words and relate them to their knowledge. Restating also helps to improve their recall memory of the information.

 

For more tips on how to improve reading comprehension, you can contact See-N-Read Reading Tools at (630) 236 – 5592.