What skills does my child need to acquire to learn to read proficiently? Do you have a list of the skills students need to develop to become skilled readers?
Proficient reading is a complex learned skill requiring the mastery, integration and application of numerous subskills and knowledge. It involves both 1) establishing a foundation of phonologic processing of print and 2) developing higher level or advanced skills.
Correct phonologic processing of print is the essential foundation for proficient reading. To become a skilled reader, the student must convert print to sound and build ‘proficient reader’ neural processing pathways. To establish correct phonologic processing, the student needs to master, integrate and apply skills and knowledge in phonemic awareness, knowledge of the complete phonemic code, smooth blending, proper directional tracking and attention to detail. The student also needs to practice to become proficient at these foundational skills.
Obviously skilled reading is more complex than correct phonologic processing. Correct phonologic processing provides the essential foundational process of accurate and effortless decoding. Skilled or proficient reading requires additional higher level skills. After foundational skills are established it is equally important to help the student develop advanced or higher level skills including handling multisyllable words, building fluency, expanding vocabulary knowledge, and developing comprehension skills and strategies.
The most effective and efficient method of insuring your student becomes a skilled reader is to intentionally and directly teach all necessary skills in a complete and systematic manner. Parents and teachers can use targeted instruction and activities to directly teach necessary skills, intentionally build correct phonologic processing pathways, and develop higher level advanced skills.
For additional information and details on the specific skills, please see the articles.
A visual overview of the skills necessary for skilled reading is located at Overview and Visual Representation of the Process of Proficient Reading
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Additional information, articles and resources on teaching students to read proficiently is located on the Free Reading Information page of the Right Track Reading website.
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This information was written by Miscese Gagen a mother with a passion for teaching children to read proficiently by using effective methods. She is also a successful reading tutor and author of the reading instructional programs Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons. The purpose of this information is to empower parents and teachers with information on teaching children how to read. We CAN improve reading proficiency, one student at a time! Additional information is located at www.righttrackreading.com ~ Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007 Miscese R. Gagen