What do good readers do?

I think this picture really illustrates what we are aiming for when we teach a child who is experiencing difficulties with reading. As an experienced private tutor of children with dyslexia and other ‘special needs’ , I often find that the student doesn’t do one or more of the above. One of the main ones which is missing is the making ‘brain movies’ while reading. If you ask a struggling reader whether they do this, most ( but not all) will say that they don’t. The students who have the most difficulty with reading seem to lack this ability. This is an area which has been researched by others, including N Bell ( 1991) who believe this is an important aspect of reading comprehension.  I have found that for students who have difficulty in reading comprehension, making a visual mind map which mirrors what they are reading can help them.

Recent research has pointed out how important questioning is, which also links in with critical thinking. By asking questions ( what will happen next, what has just happened, what do I think of hero / heroine?) you are engaging with the text you are reading. A lot of the teenagers I work with really struggle with the idea of questioning and they often don’t do this. It is really important that we ensure they know about questioning rather than assume that they are doing this.

Inference is another difficult area. Often students can pinpoint information which is ‘right there’ but cannot ‘read between the lines’. As above, it is important that a struggling reader knows how to do this – look for clues in the text and then think about their reaction to this information. What do they think the writer means? Is there a particular tone being used in the writing which changes the meaning of what the actual words say? This is a difficult area but one which all struggling readers need encouragement in.