Volume

l,

lssue 9

VOCAB BOOSTS ENGAGEMENT LEVELS

BY: NIKI

BERRINGTOh{

ln order for any student to be

able to acUvely engage with
the text and, in turn, fully cotrF
prehend and understand a
tex[ a student must frrst have
a strong foundation of vocaF
ulary. Students with Attention
D efi cit/ Hyperactive D iso rder
{ADHD} are likely to struggle

while reading because they

usually become off task quite
easily, which leads to them not
being able to process the information tully {George 2O I O}.
ln order to strengthen these
students' reading comprehension levelt we must first
strengthen their word recogniUon abilities. lf we strengthen

our studen8 with ADHD's word

recognition skills, then they will
not only be reading more fluently, but they will also be able to
focus rnore on the content of the
text instead of focusing on de
coding the individual words.
When discussing word recognition, George {2OlOl says, "lf their
sight word recognition is irnproved, they may engage in the
text for longer, as more attention
will be able to be spent on ur?'
derstanding the texf' (p.26l.
Since sight words are found in
almost any text that our students
will come acrost it is extremely
important for them to quickly
recognize them. 'The ability to
read words by sight is deemed
to be an essential component in
the overall skitl of reading and
this can occur with practice,
however an awareness of phonemes and a sound knowledge
of alphabetic principles is frrst
required if sight word recognition is to be developed" fGeorge

Inside this issue:

2010, p-28f . These skills can be
developed through short daily
practice sessions and the use of Vocab Boosts Engagement
graphic organizers to aid in the
further development of the
students' word recognition skills.
Ostoits figqg|statet
'Vocabulary words can be
Obituary: Old Teaching
learned using the Fernald kines- Ways Expire
thetic method, in which the
student says the word, sees it
written by the teacher, traces
the word with a frnder, writes
the word frorn memory, sees the
word again, and reads the word
aloLrd" [p. l )- This method of
learning and reinforcing vocaf
ularyr involves many of Marzano's six steps, which are extremely helptul in helping our
students with ADHD practice
their word recognition skills.
Word recognition is a key factor
for our students, especially
those with ADHD, to grasp in
order to further enhance their
reading abilities.

THE OPTIMAL STIMULATION THEORY

BY: JANIE LAYNE
Comprehension refers to a
student's ability to understand and interpret read
material, This pillar of reacl-.
ing is often introduced following the child's develop
ment of phonemic aware

nest phonics, and fluenry.

According to Beike and Zentall
(2O I 21, " ...reading comprehen
sion requires sufficient activa'
tion to focus and sustain attention and efforfl' {p. I l. Because
of this relationship, students

with attention-.defi citl

hyperactivity disorder (ADH D)
often have diffrculty develop
ing comprehension as they
struggle with maintaining
concentration and stimulation,...(continued on p. Zl

Pncr

THE TITERACY POST

THE OPTIMAL STIMULATION THEORY

(CONITI}.{{.IED FROM P. 1)

characteristics correlate with in-

Consequently, it is important for

teachers to optirnize student's arous-

creased student interest and atten-

al and attention to texl One method to use for increasing student

attention is noveltlr {or originality} of

texl

Recently, researchers have

discovered that studenB with
ADHD benefit frorn stories with
unique features, including unusual
characterg plo$ and/ar setting.
Other criteria considered "novel"
include stories with surprisingness,
incong ruityr, vividnest and intensity
{Beike and

zentall,2ol2l.

Such

"The biggest challenge to teaching ADD

ADHD students...X keeping them engaged in

reading long enough to promote underst*din7
of the

tion, increasing the opportunities for

comprehension to develop further.
In addition to novelty, ostoits {1999lsuggests interaction of texg to increase comprehension rates. This
interaction may include students
actually writing in books, journalg
and/or cloze patterns in order for
students to maintain accountability
for their actions while securing content knowledge. Ostoits also promotes student stimulation through
graphics {like graphic organizers and
drawingf , comprehension activities,
and student discussion. According
to ostoits, the "biggest challenge to
teachin

g ADD/ ADH

keeping them engaged in reading long

enough to promote understanding of
the text" (1999, p. I l. As teacherg it is
important to take this challenge and
work even harder to increasing student
motivation and stimulation for increased comprehension levels in developing readers.

D students,..is

tert."

Ostoi*, 1999, p.

DEAR MISS LITERACY,

I arn a first year reading teacher for
fourth grade. I absolutely love teaching
literacy; however, I have recently felt
"stuck" trytng to teach some of my students the skills they should have developed in earlier grades. This particular
group of students has been diagnosed
with ADHD due to inabilities to stay on
task Overall, they dernonstrate basic
phonemic awareness and phonics but
have notyet grasped an understanding
of fluenry and proso{y. This difficulty
expressing written language results in
rnuch slower reading rates than others
in the class. I feel like a broken record
saying, "Read with o(pression" or "No
robot voices." I know they arejust as
ochausted with it as I arn, but ljust
want thern to "get iL" What can I do to
strengthen their early fluenry skills
while also mastering their vocabulary
and comprehension skills needed for

fourth grade?
Sincerely,
Stuck in Fluenry

Dear Stuck n Fluency,

Your concern for your fourth graders is
natural and valid; however, it is irn
portant to not get frustrated with your
students. According to Jacobson, [$/an,
et al (2Ol I ), their lack of early fluency
skills may be linked to their diagnosis of
ADHD which coincides with poor
working mernory and processing
speeds. This isjust one obstacle in reaG
ing development, so do not let it hinder
your instruction or enthusiasm. Continue to encourage your struggling rea6
ers to enhance prosody while also

providing them with opportunities to

strengthen their skills in the before during, and after stages of reading. As
suggested by ostoits { 19991, strategies
like K\I/L Chars and Readers'Theatre
are extremely advantageous in accessing prior knowledge and confrdence
that is beneficial in developing fluenry.
AIso, make sure to set aside time for
Silent Sustained Reading {SSRI so students can develop their own voices
while finding meanin g in the text. lf
possible, avoid confining these students
to a specific area and allow tolerable

movement so students can exert their

focus and energies to the task at hand
{Ostoits, 19991, Consider bookrnarK to
guide students' concentrationt too. ln
terms of reading material, avoid overly
long stories with multiple interuptions
due to their unpredictable structure.
Studenb with ADHD may easily be distracted with this structure, resulting in
Iess rnotivation and confidence to read.
I assure you that your efforts are not
worthless; repetition is essential. As
your students continue to build fluency
skills, their vocabulary and cornprehension will follow through direct and indirect reading instruction. I understand
the first year is always difficult for new
teachers, butjust think of how rewarG
ing it will be to see these students finally
"get it" after all their hard work.
Best,

Miss Literacy

BY: JA].JIE LAYI.JE

Pecs

THE LTTERACY POST

LALIGH A LITTLE
(ALtttr-I, '{sfR. l{tot4 AI't0

I.ffiKE$

cARu

O{ER, TO\IR REFTffT

FUS btE THINK 'tcrl

crru$ 8E 0q${G gErIEg

$IT

Calvin and Hobbes, October I B, lg9q

..lou

LlKf To
REAO A$TD '{CA} l-lKE TO
rEARN- Ktl$l lOU Do,

h{ll1 t*$T

I'l[AH, T0tl\E REIO t{Ent

DIN$SE\IR ENOK E{Eft.

HRITTEH. $$'fcrt'IE
TEART-IED A LOT. RIGIIT ?
RtAStlG Ar.lD lARillt{g

50 Hlt {

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.{0{, LIKE

sqlaoLT

ftNt

UKE stt{trrt"

Although the comic above is quite humoroug it provides teachers with a very simple yet easily missed,
concept. Students. especially those with ADHD. beneftt ftom reading about relatable content ln addition to novelty {as noted earlierf, students'stimulation increases with subjects connected to their prior
knowledge. Students not only feel confident but engaged with the subject at hand: thus, increasing
reading development. lt is our mission as teachers to prevent Calvin's in the classroom.

OLD TEACHIJ.,IG WAYS EXPIRE, I\TEW ONES ON THE

BY: I{IKI BERRINGTONI

It is an extremely sad day for the old

school ways of teaching students

with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive

Disorder {ADHD}, Not only were
these rnethods found dead on arrival, but they were proven to be ineffective when teaching most
ADHD students. However sad it
may be that these teaching methods are beginning to die off slowly,
we are reassured with the arrival of
rnany new and effective ways to
teach reading to this group of students, Ostoits (19q9) says that allowing students who need to
'fiddle'to move around the room
and confer with their peers on
what is being read is a good way
for these students to not only get
their wiggles out but aid in compre-

hension. Since our students with

ADHD tend to have the inability to sit
still while listening to sorneone read,
allowing them to sit on the floor and
draw orjot down notes about what
they are listening to can help them
focus more intently on the text.
Ostoits (19991 refers to this as "draw
what they see" when they are being
read to (p. I ). Now that it is wellknown that these students need
some sort of movement to help them
focus, teachers should have their students in frequent discussion about
what is being read to provide enough
interaction and movernent to keep
them fully engaged (ostoirs, 19991.
However ftustrating or upsetting it

RISE

may be that the traditional methods of

classroom management in reading are
dying out. it is exciting to see all of the
new methods that are surfacing.

REFERENCES
Beike S. & Zentall, S. (2012). The snake raised its head: Content novelty alters the reading performance of studenb at risk for reading disabilities and ADHD. Journat of Educational Psycholo
914 to4 (3t,. s29-s4o.
George, V. J. {2OlO). The eff*tiveness of precision teaching when working with children wittT attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Retrieved from the Universi$r of Waikato.
Jacobson, L A., Ryan, M-, Martio R. 8., Ewery J., Mostofrky, S. H., Dencfla, M. B., & Mahone, E. M.
I2Al ll- V7orking memory influences processing speed and reading fluenry in ADHD. Child
Neuropqrchologlt, I 431, zOq -224. doi:l O. I 080/49297 O49.2O I O.5322O4.

Il999l- Reading strategies for students with ADD and ADHD in the inclusive classroom. Preventing School Failure 4431, 129.

Ostoits, J.

Wattersor; B.ll989, October lB)- Calwnand Hobbes [Cartoon]. Retrieved fromhttp://

w\,,vw. reemst. com/caMn_and_hobbes/stripsearch?
q:report+card&search:normal&starF0&details: I 43 I .