27/02/2015
Parent Workshop
How children learn to read & why
so many students find it difficult
“A summary of current research and practical
suggestions to help your child succeed. ”
www.barkerinstitute.com.au
@barkerinstitute
#barkerinstitute
No need to take extensive notes!
Dr. Bartek Rajkowski, PhD
Speech & Language Pathologist
Director, Adelaide Speech Pathology Services
Managing Director, ReadingDoctor Software
Introduction…a bit about me
Speech & Language Pathologist / Principal Clinician
Adelaide Speech Pathology Services
I will give all slide handouts and documents to
Dr. Brad Merrick from the Barker Institute
•  Special interest in
literacy difficulties
•  Private practice since 2001
a link will be emailed to you after the workshop.
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
Advocate for kids with reading
difficulties!
1
27/02/2015
Introduction
Doctorate completed in 2012
Introduction…a bit about me
•  Frustrated with lack of quality research based computer
programmes for literacy improvement
•  Interested in relationship between speech, language, auditory
processing and literacy
•  Most educational software developers have a lack of
understanding of the mechanisms of learning and the
process of learning to read
•  Thesis “A Multisensory Model of Phonological Representations:
Implications for Dyslexia and Auditory Processing Disorder.”
•  Lack of Australian software!
•  Investigating the mechanisms of word storage in the brain
Session Outline
1.  The Reading Process:
•  How do children learn to read?
2. Reading Impairment:
•  Why do some students struggle with reading?
3. Research-based Teaching of Reading:
First! Become familiar with the core
concepts involved in learning to read so
you can best help your child!
•  Key features and demonstration of my teaching tools
4. Teaching reading in Australia:
•  Where we are now? How can we improve?
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
2
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
How do children learn to read?
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
Phonemes, letters and graphemes
The written representation of English is based on sounds
Teaching sounds, letters and graphemes: The WORD BURGER!
•  English has 40-45 sounds, or PHONEMES
phone = sound
•  Sounds are represented by abstract squiggles (LETTERS)
•  Individual letters or groups of letters which represent single sounds
in English are called GRAPHEMES graph = picture
Phonemes (Sounds)
Graphemes (Letter-Sound Patterns)
Letters
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
3
27/02/2015
Phonemes, letters and graphemes
Phonemes, letters and graphemes
Teaching sounds, letters and graphemes: The WORD BURGER!
Teaching sounds, letters and graphemes: The WORD BURGER!
Phonemes, letters and graphemes
The Reading Process
2 Types of Words
Try identifying the different parts of these
‘wordburgers’:
pot
spoon
ship
eight
stick
apart
think
computer
REGULAR WORDS
Word pot big stop lost split think chips Graphemes (Visual) “p” + “o” + “t” “b” + “i” + “g” “s” + “t” + “o” + “p” “l” + “o” + “s” + “t” “s” + “p” + “l” + “i” + “t” “th” + “i” + “n” + “k” “ch” + “i” + “p” + “s” Phonemes (Sounds) /p/ + /Å/ + /t/ /b/ + /ˆ/ + /g/ /s/ + /t/ + /Å/ + /p/ /l/ + /Å/ + /s/ + /t/ /s/ + /p/ + /l/ + /ˆ/ + /t/ /†/ + /ˆ/ + /n/ + /k/ /tß/ + /ˆ/ + /p/ + /s/ •  Consistent sound-symbol patterns
•  Around 80% of words
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
4
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
IRREGULAR WORDS
REGULAR WORDS
Learnt through phonological (phono + logic) + visual skills:
Children need to form a connection between the visual representations
of sounds (graphemes) and phonemes (sounds)
Children need to understand the relationship between spoken and
written language to DECODE unfamiliar words
Word a do is be of his you Phonemes (Sounds) /√ / /d / + /u/ /ˆ/ + /z/ /b/ + /i/ /Å/ + /v/ /h/ + /ˆ/ + /z/ /j/ + /u/ Irregular because “a” usually says /æ/ “o” usually says /Å/ “s” usually says /s/ “e” usually says /e/ “f” usually says /f/ “s” usually says /s/ “ou” usually says /a¨/ •  Inconsistent sound-symbol patterns
•  Around 20% of words
•  Many high frequency words are irregular
The Reading Process
IRREGULAR WORDS
Learnt through visual + phonological skills:
Learn to distinguish regular vs. irregular words
Tool I use: Word Builder for iPad (Alternative =
grapheme cards or Jolly Phonics magnets
from SPELD)
•  Research suggests irregular word knowledge is
related to reading experience
(Sprenger-Charolles & Serniclaes, 2006)
•  “Whole word” learning: visual memorisation of
letter order and word shape (e.g. ‘Yacht’)
•  Some parts of irregular words are usually
regular e.g. “Yacht”
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
• 
Make words from letter-sound patterns
• 
See, hear and play with sounds in words
• 
If you can’t make the word with graphemes, it’s
irregular!
5
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
A Dual Route Model of Reading Aloud
Coltheart et al., (2001)
Familiar words
are instantly
recognised
Letter-sound knowledge
facilitates the decoding of
unfamiliar words
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh
uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is
taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The
rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed
ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
Ceehiro.
A = Whole word recognition (lexical) route
B = Phonological decoding (non-lexical) route
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
A Dual Route Model of Reading Aloud
(Coltheart et al., 2001)
sploorther
Familiar words
are instantly
recognised
Letter-sound knowledge
facilitates the decoding of
unfamiliar words
A = Whole word recognition (lexical) route
B = Phonological decoding (non-lexical) route
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
6
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
sploorther
The Reading Process
sploorther
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
The Reading Process
sploorther
The Reading Process
sploorther
7
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
sploorther
Background
The Reading Process
What about real words?
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
The Reading Process
Try some
nonwords!
Background
The Reading Process
Rhinotillexomania
8
27/02/2015
Background
The Reading Process
Rhinotillexomania
The Reading Process
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Compulsive nose picking
The Reading Process
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
The fear of long words
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
9
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
BASE
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
PREFIXES
BASE
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
PREFIXES
BASE
SUFFIXES
10
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
PREFIXES
BASE
SUFFIXES
The Reading Process
antidisestablishmentarianism
PREFIXES
Background
BASE
SUFFIXES
The Reading Process
Knowledge of morphemes helps with
understanding meaning + reading & spelling
antidisestablishmentarianism
PREFIXES
BASE
What about spelling?
SUFFIXES
Opposition to the withdrawal of state
recognition of the Anglican Church
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
11
27/02/2015
The Reading Process
The Reading Process
A Dual Route Model of Reading Aloud
(Coltheart et al., 2001)
DECODING
NEW WORD
Familiar words
are instantly
recognised
NEW WORD
Letter-sound knowledge
facilitates the decoding of
unfamiliar words
A = Whole word recognition (lexical) route
B = Phonological decoding (non-lexical) route
Good Decoding = Effective Self Teaching
(Share, 1995)
Reading Impairment
The Problem
Reading Impairment
16%
• 
Approximately
of Australian children have significant
difficulties learning to read (Westwood, 2001).
• 
Poor reading ability has been associated with
• school failure
• unemployment
• welfare dependency
• criminal behaviour
• mental illness
(Shapiro, 2001).
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
12
27/02/2015
Reading Impairment
The Problem
Reading Impairment
The Problem
2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
In Australia, billions of dollars have been spent on
programs aimed at improving the literacy of school
children in the last decade alone.
•  year four reading standards in 45 countries
•  Australia ranked 27th
•  substantially lower level than 21 countries including the US,
England, Canada
And yet...
•  worst out of all English-speaking countries
http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2011/
Why do some students
struggle to read?
2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
13
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Three types of reading difficulties
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
1. Dyslexia
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
Research into dyslexia has revealed much
about how we all learn to read and which
skills are important for reading and
spelling acquisition…
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
True or False?
Dyslexia is a disorder in which people reverse letters/words and letters
‘jump around on the page’, making reading difficult
14
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
What is Dyslexia?
True or False?
True or False?
Dyslexia is a disorder in which people reverse letters/words and letters
‘jump around on the page’, making reading difficult
Dyslexia is a visual disorder
False
Letter and word reversals are found in normally developing children
Some people with severe dyslexia do not reverse letters/words
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
What is Dyslexia?
True or False?
True or False?
Dyslexia is a visual disorder
Dyslexia affects more boys than girls
False
Research suggests the reading difficulties in individuals with dyslexia are
caused by subtle language processing problems (more on that later)
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
15
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
What is Dyslexia?
True or False?
True or False?
Dyslexia affects more boys than girls
People with dyslexia have average / above average IQ
False
More boys are referred for assessment, but the two genders are affected
equally as frequently
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
True or False?
People with dyslexia have average / above average IQ
False
So what is
Dyslexia?
The difficulties experienced by people with dyslexia are not closely
related to IQ – IQ discrepancy is no longer a required factor for diagnosis
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
16
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is Dyslexia?
What is Dyslexia?
Specific learning disability characterised by difficulties in
accurate and fluent word reading and spelling
Occurs across a continuum of severity & intellectual abilities
(Lyon, Shaywitz, and Shaywitz, 2003; Rose, 2009)
•  Often unexpected in relation to other cognitive
abilities
Neurologically based with a hereditary component
•  Not due to lack of opportunity
Prevalence rates range from 5 to 17.5%
(Snowling, 2001)
(Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2005)
•  Not due to laziness
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is the core deficit in dyslexia?
Why do some students struggle to read?
E.g. My PhD study: Comparison of single word reading ability in
children with dyslexia vs children with APD vs control participants…
•  Significant differences between mean scores for the CON and DYS groups as well as
between the CON and APD groups
Decoding difficulties
..which stem from an impairment in the ability to map the
written representations of the language onto its sound
structure.
(Brkanac et al., 2008)
Kids in the APD and DYS groups
demonstrated a significant relative
weakness in reading non-words
compared with the CONTROL
group.
Figure 1 Mean scores (words correctly read out of a maximum of 30) for regular, irregular and non-word reading for the three groups.
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
17
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is the core deficit in dyslexia?
Weaknesses in phonological processing skills
What causes decoding
difficulties?
= weakness in the ability to use the sound structure of a language in
order to process information
(Simpson, 2000, Foy & Mann, 2001; Griffiths & Snowling, 2001; Swan & Goswami, 1997;
Hulme & Snowling, 2001; Griffiths & Snowling, 2002; Ramus, 2001).
Phonological
Processing
Difficulties
Poor
Decoding
Skills
Unable to
Self-Teach
New Words
Poor
reading and
spelling
ability
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What is the core deficit in dyslexia?
What is the core deficit in dyslexia?
Phonological processing skills: 3 MAIN AREAS OF DIFFICULTY
Phonological processing skills
1. Phonological awareness
Ability to identify, reflect upon and manipulate the sound units of a
language.
• E.g. breaking words into syllables, detecting rhyme
2. Phonological memory
Process of temporarily coding and processing information in shortterm memory.
• E.g. Memory for digits, non-word repetition
** Phonemic awareness **
Awareness of individual phonemes
Gives children an advantage in learning to read the printed form of
language (Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1999)
• E.g. elision, blending, segmentation, spoonerisms
3. Rapid naming
Ability to name a limited set of items such as objects, colours,
numbers or letters as quickly as possible.
• E.g. Speed of naming objects, colours, letters
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
(for a review, see Wagner et al., 1999)
18
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Rapid naming example…
Why do some students struggle to read?
What causes phonological processing
difficulties?
Phonological deficit hypothesis
-Phonological processing taps into the strength of phonological
representations (e.g. Thomson & Goswami, 2009; Snowling, Bishop, & Stothard, 2000).
Phonological representations (PRs)
= neurological information regarding the sound structure of language
weaker, or ‘less specific’ in individuals with dyslexia
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
What causes weaker PRs? 2 Theories…
What causes weaker PRs? 2 Theories…
1. The segmentation
2. Auditory
hypothesis
As vocabulary size grows during language acquisition in childhood:
•  phonological representations become more refined, becoming
better at representing and detecting subtle differences between
words (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005)
•  eventually, high quality phonological representations that reflect
the exact phonemic structure of language are formed (Fowler,
perceptual deficits
Difficulties with the perception of auditory signals may cause weak PRs
(Benasich, Thomas, Choudhury, & Leppänen, 2002; Laasonen, Tomma-Halme, Lahti-Nuuttila,
Service, & Virsu, 2000; Tallal, 1980, 1999)
e.g.
•  Rapid temporal auditory processing deficit (RTAPD) hypothesis
(Tallal, 1980)
1991; Walley, Metsala, & Garlock, 2003 for a review)
• 
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
Deficit in the processing of rapidly changing acoustic spectra in at least a
sub-population of individuals with dyslexia
19
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
Do individuals with dyslexia have other
deficits?
Do individuals with dyslexia have other
deficits?
Language Difficulties
? Visual processing
Often (not always) weaker. Some also have SLI (Specific Language Impairment)
(e.g. Iles et al., 2000, Goulandris et al., 1998, Lovegrove, 1996 for a review)
Speech deficits
(e.g. Fawcett & Nicolson 2002; Ramus et al., 2003; Heilman et al., 1996; de Gelder &
Vroomen, 1998)
Articulatory awareness
Lack of evidence demonstrating support for a specific
visual or orthographic CAUSAL deficit in developmental
forms of dyslexia
(e.g. Harm & Seidenberg, 2001; Sprenger-Charolles & Serniclaes, 2006).
Understanding of and ability to reflect on articulatory gestures
(e.g. Griffiths & Frith 2002)
Why do some students struggle to read?
“Numerous studies have shown that children with dyslexia or related
learning disabilities have the same visual function and ocular health as
children without such conditions. Specifically, subtle eye or visual
problems, including visual perceptual disorders, refractive error,
abnormal focusing, jerky eye movements, binocular dysfunction or
crossed eyes, do not cause dyslexia” *
Why do some students struggle to read?
2. The poor
comprehender
Joint policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (2009)(p.
839).
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
20
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
The reading ability spectrum
+
Why do some students struggle to read?
The reading ability spectrum
Decoding/Phonological skills
-
+
+
Decoding/Phonological skills
-
Language Skills
+
Language Skills
DYSLEXIC
-
-
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
The reading ability spectrum
+
The reading ability spectrum
Decoding/Phonological skills
+
POOR COMPREHENDER
Decoding/Phonological skills
POOR COMPREHENDER
-
+
Language Skills
-
+
Language Skills
DYSLEXIC
-
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
MIXED READING DIFFICULTY:
DYSLEXIC + POOR
COMPREHENDER
DYSLEXIC
-
21
27/02/2015
Why do some students struggle to read?
Why do some students struggle to read?
The reading ability spectrum
+
POOR COMPREHENDER
Decoding/Phonological skills
STRONG READER
-
+
3. The instructional
casualty
Language Skills
MIXED READING DIFFICULTY:
DYSLEXIC + POOR
COMPREHENDER
DYSLEXIC
-
Implications of research: How to help!
Example of a highly skilled reader
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
Key features of a research based
approach to the teaching of reading
22
27/02/2015
Implications of research
Implications of research
Effective reading instruction has five main components or ‘big ideas’:
Most important skills predictive of reading ability:
•  Phonemic awareness
•  Phonics
DECODING SKILLS
•  Fluency
•  Vocabulary
•  Phonological Processing, esp. Phonemic Awareness
+
and
•  Comprehension
•  Grapheme Knowledge
LANGUAGE (LISTENING COMPREHENSION) SKILLS!
“The best way to teach these skills is through explicit instruction by
clearly explaining, demonstrating and guiding students to develop these
skills.”
Buckingham, J., Wheldall, K., & Beaman-Wheldall, R. (2013). Why Jaydon can't read: The triumph of
ideology over evidence in teaching reading. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and Ideas, 29(3), 21.
3. TEACH what the student is capable of
learning based on what they already know
2. Provide
A few phonemic awareness tips…
SCAFFOLDING
linking old info with
new
1. ESTABLISH
What the student knows
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
23
27/02/2015
Teach phonemic awareness
Teach phonemic awareness
Bartek’s tips for teaching phonemic awareness:
Bartek’s tips for teaching phonemic awareness:
• Use visual cues!
• Improve your own phonemic awareness first, or
you’ll confuse your kids!
• Phoneme identification
• Learn to pronounce phonemes correctly!
• Phoneme manipulation
• Use Word Builder for visual cues if needed
Implications of research
Phonics
“Systematic phonics instruction is critical
if children are to be taught to read well, whether or not
they experience reading difficulties.”
- Australian Government National Inquiry into the
Teaching of Literacy 2005*
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
24
27/02/2015
Implications of research
Implications of research
“…phonics is an essential methodology in teaching
children to read. The present debate revolves around
the status of phonics within early teaching of reading
and the type of phonics programme that should be
used”.
“The Panel's findings demonstrate
that learning phonics skills is critical for positive reading
development”.
- National Reading Panel 2000 (US)*
- House of Commons Select Committee on the
Teaching of Reading 2004 (UK)*
Implications of research
Phonics is most effectively taught by the
Teach synthetic phonics
‘synthetic’ approach
Recommended
Synthetic Phonics Programs
•  highly structured, sequential, explicit
For the classroom:
Jolly Phonics
For intervention:
Multilit / Minilit
I also like:
Ultimate Phonics
•  teaches beginning and remedial readers how to construct
words from the smallest language ‘building blocks’ of
letters and letter combinations, and their corresponding
sounds
•  implicit or incidental teaching of phonics is not effective
evidence-based reading instruction
Buckingham, J., Wheldall, K., & Beaman-Wheldall, R. (2013). Why Jaydon can't read: The triumph of
ideology over evidence in teaching reading. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and Ideas, 29(3), 21.
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
http://spencerlearning.com/
Get Reading Right
www.getreadingright.com.au
Great info re: synthetic phonics at www.spelfabet.com.au
25
27/02/2015
Teach synthetic phonics
The key features of a synthetic phonics approach:
1.  Grapheme/phoneme (letter/sound) correspondences
(the alphabetic principle) in a clearly defined, incremental
sequence.
- Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading, Final Report, Sir Jim Rose, March 2006,
Department for Education and Skills, (DfES), London, England
Teach synthetic phonics
The key features of a synthetic phonics approach:
3. To apply the skills of
segmenting words into their
constituent phonemes for
spelling.
Teach synthetic phonics
The key features of a synthetic phonics approach:
2. To apply the highly important
skill of blending
(synthesizing) phonemes in order,
all through a word to read it.
- Independent Review of the Teaching of Early
Reading, Final Report, Sir Jim Rose, March
2006, Department for Education and Skills,
(DfES), London, England
Teach synthetic phonics
The key features of a synthetic phonics approach:
4. In addition, there should be
direct teaching of words which
are not phonically regular, such
as ‘the’ and ‘was’, but which occur
frequently in children’s reading.
- Independent Review of the Teaching of Early
Reading, Final Report, Sir Jim Rose, March
2006, Department for Education and Skills,
(DfES), London, England
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
26
27/02/2015
Where are we now?
The way reading is taught in most Australian schools is not
consistent with the latest in reading research:
Teaching reading in Australia
Where are we now?
“...the Whole Language approach to the teaching of reading,
currently the most widely used approach to the teaching of
reading in Australian schools is not in the best interests of
students, especially those students who are having difficulty
learning to read.”
Coltheart, M., & Prior, M. (2006), p. 4
Where are we now?
Summary
Dyslexia is
“The highly robust scientific evidence on
reading instruction has yet to influence
classroom teaching in Australia”
Buckingham, J., Wheldall, K., & Beaman-Wheldall, R. (2013). Why
Jaydon can't read: The triumph of ideology over evidence in teaching
reading. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and Ideas, 29(3), 21.
Australian students, teachers
and parents deserve better!
-  A learning difficulty affecting reading (& spelling) skills
associated with phonological processing & decoding
difficulties.
Reading remediation and reading instruction should include:
-  Phonological, especially phonemic awareness instruction
-  Letter-sound (grapheme) knowledge instruction
-  Explicit teaching of high frequency, irregular words
+ Vocabulary / language / comprehension / fluency!
USE A SYNTHETIC PHONICS APPROACH!
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
27
27/02/2015
THANKS!
(c) 2015 Bartek Rajkowski, PhD.
28