Friday, September 20, 2013

Reading on an iPod Found to Help Those with Dyslexia and More on Struggling Readers

As educators, we're always looking for ways to help our students. Some of us work with students who have trouble reading due to dyslexia, and some of us know friends and family members with this reading condition. I came across this study that I thought was worth sharing. Although the subjects in the study were high school students in Massachusetts, it would be interesting to find out if iPods help both younger students and even adults who suffer from reading issues related to their dyslexia. You can read the study at this site. You can also download the article or print it, if you prefer. Click on the article's title to access the article online.


What is some research you know of or observations you have made as an educator to help those who are struggling readers? Did you find the article helpful?

If you work with students with Down Syndrome, you might want to check the blog of Kathleen Whitbread, a special education professor at the Univeristy of Saint Joseph, CT. You can access her blog here, and let us know what you think of the information she provides.



On a more informal scale, I found this article that challenges the way many teachers conduct read-alouds in their classroom. The article offers two alternatives: Echo Reading and Choral Reading. You can find the article by clicking on the headline below.



As a teacher, do you agree with the methods suggested? Do you agree that the more conventional methods of read-alouds are not effective? As a student and former high school teachers who worked with struggling readers, I recall the method outlined as the conventional read-aloud method. I envisioned students figuring out ahead what they would be called upon to read and watching them skim to their sections and not paying attention to other readers. What about you?

3 comments:

  1. These are great articles to support literacy instruction in the classroom for students with special needs. My school has two students with Down Syndrome in second and third grade so I will be sharing this blog with them. I also agree with the article on read alouds and round robin reading. I remember being a student in 6th grade and doing exactly what the article stated-calculating my paragraph and skimming ahead to practice reading it, not listening to anything being read aloud. I have also witnessed some of my own students tuning out when another classmate is reading.

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  2. I found this article helpful and I think there should be more devices available for students who may have trouble reading. It makes sense that students have an easier time reading when the lines are shorter and it would be worth a try for struggling readers. I have also found how easy it could be for students to tune out while classmates are reading their section of a text, therefore what I have done in the past is break the students up so each group of students is responsible for a specific section (jig saw). This gives the students a chance to really focus one part of the reading and then they are responsible for sharing their new learning with the rest of the class.

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  3. I am really interested in learning about using technology to help students with special needs in the classrooms. I will be looking more into this. Thanks for sharing!- Christina Vann

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