Research has indicated that a large percentage of primary-grade students who struggle in reading have not achieved full competency in the foundational reading competencies (word recognition and fluency). In this article, the author argues that more intensive instruction of the foundational competencies is needed and proposes a simple lesson…

The purpose of this article is to describe a strategy called the Poetry Academy used to boost reading skills in elementary school students. The Poetry Academy paired struggling readers with a community volunteer to read poetry on a weekly schedule to practice fluency, work on word recognition abilities, and build confidence. A research study took…

Offers strategies to use when students are not able to achieve a high level of accuracy in story reading. (FL)

Concludes that training in the use of dictionary pronunciations as a means of instructing retarded readers might be more effective if combined with oral reading practice. (RW)

Suggests that automaticity in decoding, a prerequisite for skilled reading, results from direct instruction in decoding skills and extended practice in comfortable reading materials. (ARH)

Discusses the use of analogy strategies, which involve comparing word parts to other known words, to teach reading. Reports on a study that showed positive effects from teaching analogy strategies to second-grade students and to learning disabled fifth-grade students. (FL)

Envisioning oneself as a competent reader is an important first step to reading well. This article describes an intervention that employs drawings coupled with teacher-student dialogue, which sets the stage for strategy learning as a key to word-solving. A process for the interventionist, Title I or any teacher working with students who find…

Describes how the author worked with one struggling reader to help him learn to make balanced and consistent use of different cues for word identification (graphophonic cues, how words look, grammatical appropriateness of words, sentence meaning, or background knowledge). (SR)

Reports that teaching educable mentally handicapped children to compare unknown words to words they already have in their sight vocabularies seems to improve their reading abilities. (FL)

Argues that encouraging poor readers to correct their miscues helps them to improve their skills in reading for meaning. Proposes a four-step procedure to encourage corrections. (FL)

Shows that fingerspelling makes learning the task of separating the word into its parts fun as well as easier for some students. (FL)

Reports on a study in which a seven-year-old girl was trained to focus on individual words in learning to read. (FL)

Refutes the notion that remedial readers are unable to use context clues, arguing that poor readers simply have difficulty with automatic word identification. Suggests three approaches to heighten students' sensitivity to the use of context clues. (MM)

Compares the Edison Responsive Environment (ERE) type of programmed instruction and a non-automated, multimedia instructional system. (RW)

Presents three principles for working with poor readers in the upper elementary grades: (1) bring the class together as a literate community; (2) integrate reading and writing instruction; and (3) provide instruction on specific skills. Describes how one teacher, through application of these principles, helped a student overcome his reading…