Sound Reading Newsletter
Understanding Reading Problems

Are the reading problems of a primary student markedly different from the reading problem of a teenager or a college student? Not really.

Research shows that teens and adults who struggle with print have small glitches in their auditory skills that usually date back to childhood. Auditory problems hindered them from turning printed text into meaningful spoken word as well as from developing phonemic awareness and learning to read. These auditory issues are diverse and can range from discrimination and memory problems to difficulties filtering out background noise.

The good news is that there are many powerful methods that will easily fix auditory/reading issues. One of these methods is used by Sound Reading - developing phonemic awareness. Most people think that phonemic awareness is a skill only utilized by younger students in kindergarten or first grade. However, actually almost every teen and adult with a reading problem has a weakness in phonemic awareness.

In fact, older students need much stronger phonemic awareness than first graders. Mastering more advanced levels of English takes more advanced levels of phonemic awareness. Younger students are trying to master The Cat and the Hat with simple syllable words and simple vowels. Older students are trying to keep up with complex chapter books with consonant blends and complex vowels. The transition from simple words, like those found in The Cat and the Hat, to more complex words happens around 3rd or 4th grade, which is why many students hit a roadblock and start to struggle with reading at this age.

The Problem with Phonics

Phonics, with its intense focus on letters and printed words, is not auditory therapy. Phonics teaches students to associate a letter with a sound while phonemic awareness, on the other hand, teaches students to associate a sound with a letter. These two methods seem similar however phonemic awareness starts teaching a student with what they already know, the sounds of English, rather than what they don’t know, the letters associated with those sounds.

The difference between phonics and phonemic awareness is explained in more depth in the article “Problem Learning Phonics? Don’t Teach More Phonics!” I recently presented at the Council of Exceptional Children. If you would like a copy you can e-mail me at bruce@soundreading.com or if you want someone to explain it to you give us a call toll free at 1-800-801-1954.

What about Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is largely listening comprehension. Whether someone reads to us or we read to ourselves it is listening that is the key to understanding print. Our brains don’t have specific reading comprehension areas and Wernicke’s area, which allows us to understand speech, also allows us to understand written words.

Reading comprehension is limited by the same factors that limit listening comprehension. Words must be decoded accurately, whether they are spoken or read and one mistake in decoding can ruin a sentence’s meaning. Words must be read with some fluency, or comprehension suffers. For example, students who read at 100 words per minute or more have much better comprehension than those who read at less than 80 words per minute. Words must be read automatically or your brain can’t remember what you’re reading. We actually barely pay attention to saying the words when we read or speak because we are focusing instead on the meaning of the words, or reading comprehension. Automaticity, being able to read the words automatically, allows students to apply reading comprehension strategies.