Tag Archives: Reading Strips

Reading Strips: A Solution for Common Reading Difficulties

Reading strips are a simple yet effective solution designed to help individuals overcome common challenges, improving focus and comprehension. These tools enhance visual tracking, minimize distractions, and make reading smoother for people of all ages, leading to greater confidence and a love for learning.

The following are some benefits of using reading strips to overcome reading difficulties:

Enhances Visual Tracking – One of the primary benefits of reading strips is their ability to assist with visual tracking. By highlighting one line of text at a time, reading strips guide the eyes smoothly across the page, reducing the chances of skipping lines or rereading the same text. This focused approach helps readers stay on track and maintain a steady flow, which is beneficial for those who struggle with following dense or closely spaced text.

Improves Focus – Enhanced focus and visual guidance result in improved comprehension. When distractions are minimized and the reading flow is consistent, readers can concentrate better on understanding the material. By narrowing the visual field, these tools support better focus, especially for individuals who find it difficult to stay attentive while reading lengthy passages.

Boosts Comprehension – Improved focus and visual guidance lead to better comprehension. When distractions are reduced and the reading flow is steady, readers can dedicate their attention to understanding the material. This makes reading strips an effective tool for improving comprehension, especially for students or individuals working through complex texts.

Reduces Eye Strain – Extended reading sessions with small fonts or overwhelming blocks of text can lead to eye strain. Reading strips ease this strain by simplifying the reading process. By providing a clear, highlighted path, they reduce the effort required to track and process text, making reading less tiring and more comfortable over time.

Supports All Age Groups – Reading strips are versatile tools that cater to a wide range of age groups. Young children learning to read can use them to build focus and accuracy, while older students and adults can rely on them to manage specific reading difficulties. Their simplicity and effectiveness make them suitable for readers at all levels, addressing diverse needs without requiring specialized training.

Portable and Easy to Use – The convenience of reading strips adds to their appeal. Lightweight and compact, they can be easily carried to school, work, or any other location where reading is required. Their design makes them user-friendly, requiring no prior setup or adjustments. This portability ensures that readers can access support whenever and wherever they need it.

For more information about reading strips for simplifying reading, visit 2533 Sutton Lane, Aurora, IL 60502-9461, or call 1-630-236-5592. You can also browse the reading tools at www.see-n-read.com or connect on Facebook.

Eye Tracking And Reading Comprehension

Eye tracking problems in children can be detected at an early stage if parents and teachers monitor their reading skills. If your child is not able to read the words in the correct order, omits or adds his own words and reads very slowly, he is most likely suffering from eye tracking issue. Poor visual skills can eventually hamper reading comprehension as the child is unable to understand the meaning of sentences while reading on his own.

Steps that can improve eye tracking and consequently develop better comprehension skills:

  • Utilize Reading Strips: One of the best tools that can be used to improve eye tracking is reading strips. These strips have a clear as well as translucent window which allows a person to read without distraction and also improves their hand-eye coordination. Continuous use of reading strips promotes fluency and increases reading comprehension skills.
  • Read Aloud: Another important exercise that can improve eye tracking is reading aloud. Ask your child to speak out instead of reading quietly. This practice coaxes the eyes and brain to work together. This leads to increased concentration and enhanced reading skills. However, reading aloud needs to be done on a regular basis in order to get the best results.
  • Perform Visual Tracking Activities: In order to improve the eye tracking skills of your child you may ask him to practice some simple techniques at home. For instance, you may encourage the child to keep staring at a single object without making any eye movement. This will help you to evaluate the time he is able to concentrate without any disruption. Adding similar exercises in your child’s daily routine can bring in positive results.
  • Vision Therapy: This therapy helps to resolve problems associated with reading, learning and comprehension. Designed according to individual requirements, these techniques involve vision exercises that change the way a child processes visual information. Vision therapy needs to be performed consistently so as to bring out best outcome.

In addition to the above mentioned tools, there are many other activities that can enhance eye tracking skills in kids. These include drawing or painting pictures, solving puzzles and mazes, performing dot-to-dot pictures, etc. You can sit with your child and see how well he manages to perform these activities. Be patient and help him wherever you can to build his confidence.

See-N-Read Reading Tools help to improve comprehension skills in children. For further details about the reading tools, visit http://www.see-n-read.com/ or call at (630) 236 – 5592.

The “Language” Barrier: Why Students Struggle to Read Correctly and What You Can Do To Help

When a child has difficulty reading, it’s important to understand that it isn’t necessarily because they’re not reading fast enough or they’re having a hard time discerning the meaning of the words. Oftentimes, issues develop with the physical act of reading itself. Kids can have a hard time staying on the proper line as their eyes move across a paragraph (thus changing the order of the words), or may accidentally switch words around in their heads.

This “Language” barrier (that is to say, a barrier not with any particular idea, but with language as a form of visual communication) is very real and is affecting millions of kids right now.

The Language Barrier: Facts and Figures

According to one study, more than $2 billion is spent every year to help students who are forced to repeat their current grade for no other reason than that they have a reading problem. A distressing fact from the National Research Council’s Committee on Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children is that the education of an estimated 25 to 40 percent of kids in the United States is in danger because, for a variety of reasons, they find reading too difficult.

According to a report commissioned by the National Institutes of Health, up to 10 percent of people across the country of all ages have these types of specific, brain-based reading difficulties – including those who are characterized as having average or above average intelligence. 

It’s particularly important to address this situation in young children because taking corrective measures while someone is still in their formative years has a profound positive impact on the rest of their lives.

Finding a Solution

Addressing this issue requires a certain change in perspective. A student who is struggling to read correctly for these types of reasons does not have a problem to be “fixed” or “eliminated”. They have a problem that must be solved. It’s about finding a solution to the issue, which is why assistive devices like those available from See-N-Read® Learning Tools are so essential.

At their core, the learning tools from See-N-Read® are designed to give readers the ability to support the cognitive and visual skills required to not only read faster and more effectively, but to also process and remember that information more easily. They don’t address the symptoms a person may be experiencing, but instead offer a solution by way of improved and supported fluency – that is, the ability for a person to read text at a natural, accurate pace.

The See-N-Read® reading strip, for just one example, uses a clear strip to essentially “highlight” a full line of text on a page WITHOUT visually blocking other lines that may be valuable for context. The text is essentially emphasized, allowing a reader with difficulties to focus on the current line while still improving fluency and overall comprehension.

When students suffer from reading difficulties, it can be overwhelming for everyone involved – from parents to teachers to, most importantly, the students themselves. Teachers who utilize research-based, classroom-tested products to students that support natural reading processes will improve student performance in multiple subject areas. Such research-based tools offer functional solutions that create an environment where students can truly flourish.

The Benefits Of Reading Strips For Students

When reading any given content, our eyes must make small stops after a few words along the sentence. However, struggling readers tend to make many more stops, thereby, reducing their reading speed and inhibiting comprehension.  Contrasting font and background colors can make it difficult for them to focus and track smooth line transitions. Reading strips are practical assistive tools that can help students to better visualize, concentrate and retain the information they read. They are usually a ruler sized strips with a transparent shaded cut-out window that is placed over the text being read.

See-N-Read Reading Tools are research based and classroom tested products designed to improve reading skills for children of all age groups. The reading strip helps students to control their eye movements while reading and avoiding problems like skipping words and sentences, repeatedly reading same sentences, losing concentration, swapping letters and reading too close to the page.

How Do Reading Strips Work?

Place the reading strip, ReadBar™, on the page and read the sentence through the cut-out window. Move the strip down the page as you read to maintain concentration and track upcoming information. The transparent shaded portion filters out distractions without blocking the entire reading context.

The reading strips offered by See-N-Read Reading Tools can be easily used with all types of reading material. The ReadBar™ fits almost all commonly used font sizes. The tool is also available for on-screen reading of documents, spreadsheets and standardized tests. The reading strip comes in two different sizes – Book (to be used with small books) and Document (to be used with large books and printed documents).

Benefits Of Reading Strips

  • The clear reading strip helps the readers to keep their eyes focused on a single sentence to control visual field.
  • It controls eye movement for a smooth transition from left to right and top to bottom, without losing place while changing lines.
  • The reading strip also supports chunking reading strategy, allowing the readers to view the content in larger ‘chunks’ for better comprehension and information retention.
  • Having a controlled visual field helps to reduce pattern glare, prevent word or line skipping and increase reading speed as well as fluency.

For more information about the benefits of reading strips offered by See-N-Read Reading Tools, feel free to call at (630) 236 – 5592 or visit 2533 Sutton Lane, Aurora, IL 60502.