According to research, an effective reading program must identify several key aspects of reading. Essential components include phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and alphabetic code. A Toronto tutor supports dyslexic students in improving their reading skills using the Orton-Gillingham approach. This blog post will share important reading components that can improve the reading skills of struggling readers.
How does a Toronto tutor support dyslexic students?
1. Phonemic awareness and letter knowledge
Phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge are both crucial for early reading and spelling success. These skills form the foundation for learning an alphabetic writing system. Dyslexic children with poor phonemic awareness are likely to become poor readers. Explicit instruction in sound recognition, matching, segmentation, and blending, when connected with sound-symbol association, improves reading and spelling.
2. Phonics and decoding
Beyond phoneme awareness and letter knowledge, understanding sound-symbol associations is crucial for improving reading skills. Phonics knowledge is essential for accurate and fluent word recognition. The ability to read words significantly contributes to overall reading success, even for older readers. Skilled readers do not rely primarily on context to identify new words. When students encounter an unfamiliar word, an Orton-Gillingham tutor helps them in decoding it, pronouncing it, and then understanding its meaning. The context of the passage helps a reader grasp the meaning of a word after it has been decoded.
3. Reading fluency
Toronto tutors support struggling readers to read fluently using different techniques. When dyslexic students find it difficult to decode, reading fluency is compromised and they read inaccurately. Structured literacy masters one skill with reading fluency before moving further. Accuracy is a top priority because if a dyslexic child isn’t able to read accurately, they can’t read fluently. Through systematic phonics, accurate reading is developed first.
4. Vocabulary instruction
Understanding the meaning of each word in a text is called vocabulary. Reading comprehension relies on vocabulary development. When tutors provide tutoring in Toronto to dyslexic students, they develop students’ vocabulary skills through direct and indirect methods of teaching.
5. Text comprehension
Understanding the related text is called comprehension. Achieving reading comprehension is impossible without recognizing the importance of vocabulary development and instruction. It is an active process necessitating a mindful interaction between the reader and the text. Additionally, preparing teachers to effectively help students develop and utilize reading comprehension strategies is crucial for student achievement in this area.
6. Multisensory instruction
Multisensory instruction improves the brain’s ability to process information using different learning senses simultaneously. By involving visual aids, tactile elements, auditory cues, and movement-based activities, tutors can create a personalized learning experience for dyslexic students. This approach promotes better understanding, memory encoding, and retrieval of information.
7. Systematic instruction
A planned sequence for instruction is referred to as systematic instruction. This plan is strategic and designed prior to lessons and activities being developed. Lessons build on previously taught lessons, progressing from simple to complex, with simple, concise student objectives that are driven by ongoing progress and assessment.
8. Explicit instruction
According to research, explicit instruction is an effective teaching approach for dyslexic students with reading difficulties. The tutor will begin by presenting a lesson that demonstrates the target concept and modeling it for the student. Next, the tutor will guide the student through the lesson, working together, and finally, the student will be asked to complete the task independently.
9. Diagnostic teaching
The tutor must be skilled at providing individualized instruction, which is considered diagnostic teaching. This type of instruction should meet the specific needs of each student. It is based on thorough and ongoing assessment, both informally and formally. The material being taught should be learned to the point of automaticity. Automaticity is crucial for freeing up the student’s attention and cognitive resources for better comprehension and expression.
These are 9 components of effective reading instruction, which are used by our tutors at Class in Session. We ensure to provide effective reading plans to struggling readers. If your dyslexic child finds it difficult to read, you can receive support from our tutors.