Science of Reading Buzz

I'm sure you've been hearing a lot about the Science of Reading. If you've been on the Orton Gillingham train, you're on the right track. Unfortunately, if you're still using those three cueing systems (Meaning, Structure, & Visual), they have never been research-based and are detrimental to our young readers. I was fooled too! I had to throw away my "Eagle Eye" cutesy reading cueing characters. But now, armed with the Science of Reading, we can truly empower our young readers with evidence-based strategies for success.

So what is the Science of Reading, and how will it impact reading instruction? The Science of Reading is an interdisciplinary field of research that aims to understand how people learn to read and how reading difficulties can be addressed. It draws on insights from cognitive psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and education to provide evidence-based strategies for teaching reading effectively. In short, it encompasses all the things that, over the years, you have actually found work for your students! Click this link for The Science of Reading Cheat Sheet.

1. Phonological Awareness: One of the foundational principles of reading is phonological awareness. This involves the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken language. Children with strong phonological awareness skills tend to become better readers.

2. Phonics: Phonics instruction involves teaching the relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters or letter combinations) in written language. This systematic approach helps students decode words by sounding them out.

3. Orthographic Awareness: Understanding the rules and patterns of spelling and the relationship between sounds and letters is essential for efficient reading. Orthographic awareness involves recognizing common spelling patterns and irregularities in words.

4. Vocabulary Development: A rich vocabulary is crucial for comprehension. Readers need to understand the meaning of words encountered in text to make sense of what they are reading. Vocabulary development is an ongoing process.

5. Fluency: Reading fluency is the ability to read text smoothly and accurately with appropriate expression. Fluent readers can focus on comprehension rather than struggling to decode words. Repeated and practice reading can help develop fluency.

6. Comprehension Strategies: Readers must be able to understand and interpret the meaning of the text. Comprehension strategies include making predictions, summarizing, asking questions, and making connections to prior knowledge.

7. Morphology: Morphology is the study of word structure and the meaningful units within words (morphemes). Understanding how words are built from smaller meaningful units can aid in reading and vocabulary development.

8. Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules governing the structure of sentences and how words are arranged to convey meaning. Understanding sentence structure helps in comprehension.

9. Cognitive Processes: Reading involves various cognitive processes, including attention, memory, and inference making. These processes play a role in understanding and retaining information from text.

10. Brain Research: Neuroscience has contributed significantly to the Science of Reading. Studies using brain imaging techniques have helped identify specific brain regions and networks involved in reading and dyslexia, shedding light on the neural basis of reading.

11. Individual Differences: Recognizing that readers may have different needs and abilities, the Science of Reading emphasizes the importance of personalized instruction and early identification of reading difficulties, such as dyslexia.

12. Evidence-Based Instruction: The Science of Reading emphasizes evidence-based instructional methods. This means that teaching strategies and interventions are based on research findings and have been shown to be effective in improving reading skills. Learn all about this research in https://amzn.to/3KUdM4H and use this workbook to assess your students https://amzn.to/3qTksZM .

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The Science of Reading has had a profound impact on my reading instruction. Early intervention and evidence-based practices have made my students proficient readers instead of great guessers!