Reading Strategies Students with ID - 1 © Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D. - www.OPDT-Johnson.com NINE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING READING TO STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D. I am the author of, 10 Essential Instructional Elements For Students With Reading Difficulties: A Brain-Friendly Approach, published by Corwin Press (2016). *Video mini-lectures and references contained below. The nine research-based described below are appropriate and effective for use with students with intellectual disabilities are described here. Each should be adopted and adapted to meet the particular needs of the students with whom one is working, one’s teaching situation, and one’s individual teaching style and philosophy. • Scaffolded oral reading. Scaffolded oral reading (ScORe) is a technique that enables students to successfully engage with text that is at their instructional level. It is a variation of the neurological impress method (Flood, Lapp, & Fisher, 2005; Oladele, 2013). Here the teacher and the student read the text together out loud. The teacher acts as a scaffold by reading a millisecond ahead of the student in order to maintain a steady, comfortable pace. If a student pauses or stumbles, the teacher keeps reading. The teacher should not stop to let the student sound out the word. The student learns to relay on the teacher’s voice to act as a scaffold in identifying words during the process of reading. During ScORe the teacher reads using a quiet voice, providing just enough support to keep the pace moving. If the student seems to be reading fluently, the teacher provides less scaffolding by sounding out just the beginning parts of some words or by dropping out completely in places. The goal is to act as a scaffold to enable students to read at a reasonable pace without frustrating them or having to stop to figure out any of the words. This also allows students to enjoy reading the book while lessening the cognitive demands on working memory used to identify words. In small group, this becomes a form of choral reading. Just like ScORe that is done individually, the teacher should point at the words as they are being read and keep the pace moving. As well, ScORe should be used with all the activities below. • Language experience activities. It is recommended that each session start with a language experience activity (LEA) (McCormick, 2007; Lipson & Wixon, 2009). Here students dictate a story to the teacher. The teacher records what students say. (This can be done individually or in small group.) Students should be able to see what is being written as the teacher is writing. A computer screen, smart board, poster paper, or a notebook can be used here. These stories should be a minimum of five sentences and put in paragraph form. To begin the LEA, the teacher usually asks students to describe something that has occurred or is occurring in their lives. The resulting story enables students to practice reading