This article by Dave Edyburn was very interesting since it surrounded a topic that I am truly passionate about...literacy and how to support readers who struggle.
The purpose of this article was to "highlight issues associated with reading deficiencies in the general education classroom, beyond grade 3, and ways in which technology can facilitate learning from text and subsequently enhance learning."
While I read this article, many thoughts the author stated about reading and assistive technology resonated with me. He posed many thought provoking questions that I truly appreciated because they really made me stop and reflect about my own teaching practices over the years when supporting struggling readers in my classroom. I found myself scribbling notes and names of students along side the margins of the text that I presently support throughout my school. Students I know who struggle with reading and am in the process of deciding how best to support them.
One question that echoed for me was..."How do we decide if the best course of action is remediation (i.e., additional instruction time, different instructional approaches) verses compensation (i.e., recognizing that remediation has failed and that compensatory approaches are needed to produce the desired level of performance)?"
This particular question is one that I have spent time pondering since it is a legitimate question I have repeatedly considered when working with students who struggle; both past and present. I have been in the moment where I have felt 'at a loss' with a particular student and unsure of what to do next to support him/her. "Do I continue with remediation or request assistive technology support?" After reading this article, I am confident with the decisions I have made for different students over the past 12 years teaching...which was continue to support the student with where they are with their reading BUT provide them with what they need to support them with the task of reading text to learn new concepts and information. More often than not, the support was assistive technology; laptops with software programming like Kurzweil and WordQ to assist with reading tasks and at present, we are implementing iPads with appropriate apps as opposed to laptops. Very exciting!!!
The balance scale regarding the amount of time teachers should devote to remediation strategies for instruction verses compensatory strategies was very interesting. The scale was not balanced. It was suggested that 30% of the time be devoted to instruction and 70% be devoted to compensation including assistive technology. For me, this made sense especially after reading another question that resonated with me which was..."Is the core task learning to read or reading to learn? And if I can't read, which task takes priority?"
This question lead nicely into the advanced model for making decisions about text adaptations designed by Dyck and Pemberton. I really liked this model because it provides options for teachers when making decisions about their readers who struggle. These options make teachers reflect upon their students' strengths and areas of need as a reader and which of the following reading routes to take. Do you....1. bypass reading, 2. decrease reading, 3. support reading, 4. organize reading
or 5. guide reading.
Well, "If a child has repeatedly failed to read and understand printed text, how much failure data do we need before we have enough evidence that the child can't perform the task? When do we intervene? And, what do we do?" Critical decisions must be made for students we teach on a daily basis. Like Edyburn, I too feel that assistive technology should be implemented to support students, especially since ample research has shown that assistive technology enhances student performance and supports them on their educational journey of reaching their maximum potential. It helps them with a wide variety of tasks which enables them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
I'll finish this post with a quote by Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Estrada. He said...If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.
I wholeheartedly agree!!!
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