Visual Prompts and Checklists
Remembering things that have been said to you is not a reliable way for some of us to recall important elements of a task. Words disappear! Visual prompts support with this. Picture prompts are better so as not to make the task too difficult with the addition of words. Pictures and symbols communicate more quickly and easily than written words.
Visual Prompts in Action
Jack was always missing spaces between words in his written work. His teacher printed a large visual prompt to support him. After a couple of sessions, he began to use spaces without having to be reminded by his teacher. He still used his visual prompt for some time after this to help him remember to use spaces between words.
There are lots of free downloadable visual prompts including support for leaving spaces between words.
Getting to Know New Texts
When approaching a new reading text, your child can lack fluency and have difficulty with the context. This means that they may not be able to predict unknown words or use a variety of cues. This can be down to reliance on phonics when reading, difficulties with speech and language or lack of exposure to vocabulary. Aim to spend some time before any reading activity cueing your child into the text context. This could include reading and discussing the title, thought-storming associations and possible meanings, analysing pictures and sub-headings and, making predictions as to what the text will contain. It is useful to look at the illustrations from beginning to end to see the ‘whole story’ and provide context. All of these will ensure that your child has some clues about the text before reading it and they will then be more able to use a variety of cues and strategies when reading.
Getting to Know New Texts in Action
Julie enjoys stories but relies on decoding unfamiliar words as her only strategy. This is affecting her fluency and comprehension, particularly with a new text. Once Julie is more familiar with the content, she is able to answer questions and use contextual cues to support her reading. Julie was taught to look at the title and front cover, then look through the illustrations in order from beginning to end before attempting to read the book. She then spent a few minutes with an adult discussing predictions and tricky vocabulary. Julie has found that this increases her ability to understand what she reads and that she is reading more fluently.
The following website offers tips and advice for reading with children of a variety of ages:
Sequencing Images
The ability to sequence events in text is important in developing your child’s understanding of what they are reading. Sequencing refers to the identification of the parts of a story, such as the beginning, middle and end. It also means being able to retell the events of a story in the correct order. This supports understanding and the ability to place the details of events within some larger context such as the beginning, middle and end of a story. Ordering of events in a story along with connecting words such as, ‘then, later’ and ‘afterwards’ supports children to be able to think of a text in pieces rather than one large chunk. Sequencing is a skill that can be incorporated into any subject area.
Sequencing Images in Action
Katie was having difficulties retelling a story. She tended to start with the end, possibly because it was the part of the story that she had read or heard most recently. Practising sequencing the key events within a story helped her to understand what she had read. She was helped to recognise the important parts of the story and so was able to retell the story. This also helped Katie when writing stories as she had been given opportunities to investigate and examine the make-up of a story.
Sequencing activities can be found on the following website.
Vocabulary/Word Banks Organised by Linked Concepts
Vocabulary banks are a helpful way to scaffold you child’s learning. Many children and young people need over-exposure to individual words, as well as the context for their use. Word banks, organised by concept development, can be helpful for children who need support in understanding links and connections within a subject. In order for a child to effectively learn vocabulary they also need to learn the relationship between the spoken and the written word as well as the concepts they represent.
Did you know you can make your own word banks online? Just search for blank or editable word banks.
Vocabulary Banks in Action
Hassan found science confusing. There were lots of words used where he only had an approximate understanding of their use and this made it difficult to link concepts together. He was given the opportunity to make vocabulary banks for the science topic vocabulary that he encountered difficulties with. This strategy allowed him to learn new vocabulary and concepts by using a format to create flashcards. These flashcards enabled Hassan to research the meaning of the word, make links through visual cues and find other words linked to the concept.
Personalised Dictionaries
Your child is encouraged to take control of their own learning through the development of their own dictionary. This could help them with learning new vocabulary, to help them learn the spelling of a word or both. Your child can choose which words to add. These may be ones that they recognise that they find difficult.
Personalised Dictionaries in Actions
Jake found remembering topic vocabulary challenging. He was encouraged to keep a record of new words that he had learnt. Jake wrote the words in his dictionary under each of topic headings and drew pictures where they might help him to remember what the words meant. It took time for Jake to build up his dictionary and sometimes needed reminders to use his dictionary. It soon became something that he could use independently.
Marking for Success
Some children can become very demotivated when marking spellings or having them corrected in their writing. Marking for success is a positive method of correcting spellings. Tick every letter that is correct in a word and leave the incorrect letters blank.
Your child will respond well when they see the ticks and they realise that the whole word is not wrong. Often, they can also self-correct the spelling themselves.
Marking for Success in Action
Keshia is having difficulties spelling high frequency words and often spells them incorrectly in her independent writing. In spelling tests, Keshia mostly spells them correctly but the teacher feels this is not transferred into her independent writing. Instead of highlighting every incorrect spelling in a piece of writing, the class teacher chose to target three words that Keshia spelt correctly in previous tests. She highlights the chosen words and then ticks the correct letters, marking for success. Keshia then returns to the piece and independently attempts to correct the spelling. If she is unable to do this, the teacher supports her, or she uses a dictionary.
Cloze Procedures
Cloze procedures are reading comprehension activities where blank spaces in a text are filled in. A passage of text has missing words that need to be filled in from a list of words. Your child must think about what word fits in a blank space, so the passage makes sense. Your child will learn about a topic whilst being helped with their reading. An example of this can be seen below.
My name is Neptune I am ______ in colour I’m the ______ planet from the sun I have too many storms in my atmosphere and I’m the furthest planet from the_____.
In this case the answers wold be Neptune, furthest, sun.
Cloze Procedures in Action
Jen and Clare were several lessons into their science topic on space and had already been supported with pictures to help them learn new vocabulary about space. They were given a cloze procedure which missed out some of the names of the planets and used their pictures to discuss possibilities and fill the gaps.
Cloze procedure resources can be found at the following site:
Wider Lines/Squares
Some children might find it extremely difficult to keep within the lines on narrow lined paper or small squared paper. Where possible, give your child the option of wide lined paper or larger squares. This can have a very positive impact on handwriting and presentation of work and on your child’s self-esteem.
Did you know that wide lined paper can be printed directly from the internet? Just search for ‘wide line paper’.
Wider Lines/Squares in Action
Despite forming letters correctly, Ali’s handwriting is large and therefore her presentation can look quite messy. The teacher has tried plain paper, but without the organisation of lines, one of her work merges into another. Using wider lines and larger squares, means that Ali is supported to have more space for her writing. This means that her work appears neater and Ali and the teacher can read back what she has written. She now enjoys sharing her work with others.
Checking Text Readability
Readability needs to be considered when giving your child a book to read. Readability means how easily a reader can understand their book. For example, if your child makes more than 5 errors when they are reading a piece of roughly 100 words, their understanding of what they have read is likely to be not enough. Reading accuracy is how accurately your child can read the passages in their book. Your child may be reading the words in their book accurately but may need support in understanding what they have read. We need to think of this when helping children choose books.
Checking Text Readability in Action
During independent reading time, Zain always seemed quite distracted and appeared to change his book frequently. He would not talk about his book or complete his book reviews. During one session, the class teacher sat with Zain to read with him and found that he was choosing books that were too hard. The teacher chose a different book and asked Zain to read short passages. They found one that he enjoyed, where he made less than 5 errors on the first page [roughly 100 words] and he was able to read confidently. Zain read the whole book independently and was keen to share his thoughts on it with the teacher. Zain was taught to check each book he chose to see whether he made more than five errors on the first page.