By: Jill H. Allor, Patricia G. Mathes, Tammi Champlin, and Jennifer P. Cheatham
Abstract: Teaching students with intellectual disabilities (ID) to read is extremely challenging. Fortunately, the outlook for students with ID is improving because we now know much more about how to teach reading to students who struggle, including those with ID. The central theme of this article is that reading instruction for students with ID must be a carefully orchestrated integration of key skills and strategies that are explicitly linked to meaning. Organized according to the major components of reading instruction, including (a) oral language and vocabulary, (b) phonological awareness, (c) phonics and word recognition, (d) fluency, and (e) comprehension, this article describes key techniques used in research examining effective methods for teaching students with ID to read. We provide specific examples from our research study describing how these skills are being taught to students with ID.
Abstract: Teaching students with intellectual disabilities (ID) to read is extremely challenging. Fortunately, the outlook for students with ID is improving because we now know much more about how to teach reading to students who struggle, including those with ID. The central theme of this article is that reading instruction for students with ID must be a carefully orchestrated integration of key skills and strategies that are explicitly linked to meaning. Organized according to the major components of reading instruction, including (a) oral language and vocabulary, (b) phonological awareness, (c) phonics and word recognition, (d) fluency, and (e) comprehension, this article describes key techniques used in research examining effective methods for teaching students with ID to read. We provide specific examples from our research study describing how these skills are being taught to students with ID.