The Science of Reading
In the past years, we have heard from the reading experts in a new body of research, called the ‘Science of Reading’. Experts in the field of education have studied how reading skills develop. It is now widely accepted that teaching reading involves both word recognition (decoding, fluency) and reading comprehension and that it must be explicitly taught!
“Learning to read is almost a miraculous story filled with many developmental processes that come together.” — Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Reader, Come Home
Dr. Stanislas Dehaene has helped us understand that learning to read is not a natural process. We are born with the brain wiring to speak and understand language but learning to read requires new brain rewiring. Many parts of the brain must work together, to uncover the code of letters, sounds and meaning.
Dr. Louisa Moats and Dr. Maryanne Wolf, among others have been advocating for structured literacy in teaching reading.
“Reading and language arts instruction must include deliberate, systematic, and explicit teaching of word recognition and must develop students’ subject-matter knowledge, vocabulary, sentence comprehension, and familiarity with the language in written texts.” Dr. Louisa Moats, Reading is Rocket Science, 2020
Gough & Tunmer (1986) proposed the widely accepted view that reading comprehension(RC) has two basic components: word-level decoding ability(D) and listening/oral language comprehension(LC) ability. It is called the ‘Simple View of Reading’
Decoding (D) x Language Comprehension (LC) = Reading Comprehension (RC)
Based on the science of reading, the 2000 National Reading Panel Report identified five essential components for reading success – comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, phonics, phonemic awareness.
Scarborough’s Rope Model (2001) demonstrates that skilled reading depends on the integration of the decoding/word recognition skills for the development of automaticity (fluency), which is the hallmark of a skilled reader. The five strands of language comprehension plus the three strands of word recognition are braided together for students to become a confident and competent reader.
In 2022, OHRC’s Right to Read Inquiry concluded that we must remove any barriers that limit students’ opportunities to learn and succeed. Researchers agree that intervention, along with explicit and systematic instruction, is key to success.
At GeerLINKS, we are proud to say that our newly updated NILD Educational Therapy® and Rx for Reading® programs support reading success and are accredited by the International Dyslexia Association.
All of our therapists at GeerLINKS are trained in the science of reading and teach reading explicity and systematically.
Let’s chat! We are ready to help your child achieve the skill of reading and boost their confidence!
