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- Reading is the product of decoding and comprehension.
- Good reading comprehension requires automaticity, relevant vocabulary, background knowledge, and the use of comprehension strategies.
- Literacy is the ability to read and write in ways that enable communication, enhance understanding of ideas, and enrich lives.
- Literacy development is the result of the combination of an individualīs developmental processes, learning experiences, and life experiences.
- Emergent literacy is the developmental process of literacy acquisition lasting from birth until letter-sound associations are used to sound out words. It involves oral language development and learning about the functions of print.
- Oral language development is influenced by innate cognitive abilities, health issues, rate of overall development, and types of language experiences.
- Activities associated with emergent literacy should be maintained until a person makes the transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."
- During the logographic phase, the associations between printed symbols and words are based on visual cues, and there is a lack of understanding that letters represent the sounds in words.
- During the transitional-alphabetic phase, the associations between letter-names and letter-sounds are beginning to be made, although there is still a limited ability to use letter-sound association to decode words.
- Alphabetic decoding requires using letter sounds to sound out words.
- Orthographic word recognition is the immediate recognition of specific letter patterns and words.
- Early identification and screening programs screen for hearing and language impairments and developmental delays; provide lists of community resources; and monitor programs or interventions.
- Young children need to SEE language, HEAR language, and USE language to have the language experiences which will help them enjoy learning to read.
- Basal reading programs are valuable for guiding instructional decisions, but do not sufficiently emphasize skills for students with disabilities.
- The 1st grade reading experience should include lots of reading opportunities and practice with sight word recognition of frequent words; invented spelling should be encouraged and conventional spelling should be taught.
- During the 2nd and 3rd grade reading experience, reading and spelling instruction should be provided to strengthen an understanding of the alphabetic principle and should be sensitive to the studentīs reading level.
- During the 4th grade reading experience, students have to read content words not in speaking vocabularies, read science and social studies, and be evaluated on what was learned from their readings.
- Independent reading is for exploratory and fun reading, while instructional reading is for topics and units being studied.
- Some characteristics of effective interventions are the integration of the intervention program, professional development, the allocation of sufficient time for implementation, and increase in the amount of time students are engaged for reading activities.
- An intervention is effective when there is explicit, systematic instruction in reading and spelling skills, when high quality materials are used, and when assessment is on-going.
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