THEORETICAL BASIS FOR READING COMPREHENSION INTERVENTION This strength-based, language comprehension and reading comprehension program I created, in collaboration with Brand- Jaws Web Application Development (www.brandjaws.com), is a web-supported application built upon two separate theories: The Simple View of Reading (Hoover & Gough, 1990) and the Dual Coding Theory (Sadoski, 2005). THE SIMPLE VIEW OF READING The Simple View of Reading explains reading compre- hension as an equation. The product of word decoding and language comprehension equals reading comprehension. That is, word decoding X (times) language comprehension = reading comprehension (see Fig.1). Word decoding is defined as the ability to read words by either sounding out and blending the sounds together (phonics-based approach to reading) or reading the word as a whole chunk (sight word approach to reading). Language comprehension or listening comprehen- sion is the ability to understand spoken language. If we apply this equation to the profile of a child on the autism spectrum with hyperlexia we can see that their word decoding is a strength (we can give this a 1). However, their language comprehension is a challenge (we can give this a 0). This leads to the product of 0 or poor reading comprehension (e.g., 1 x 0 = 0, see Fig. 1)
grades 1 and 2 and reading comprehension deficits might only become apparent when children begin reading to learn by grade 3. It also makes sense that reading comprehension challenges aren’t addressed with 2- to 5-year-olds as this is also not a typical profile. However, it’s critical that we begin to understand how to focus on reading comprehension for these young children, not only to support reading comprehension, but to develop their language comprehension, vocabulary development and academic skills in parallel with word reading. It is equally important to leverage these formative preschool years by targeting skills that the child with autism and hyper- lexia requires (reading comprehension and language compre- hension) not that they have already acquired (word reading). Studies have found that the word reading advantage of chil- dren on the autism spectrum with hyperlexia declines with age and is on par with their peers by age 10 (Grigorenko et al., 2002; Newman, et al., 2007). It has been proposed that the reason for this decline in word reading may be the result of a lack of appropriate support. That is, without appropriate support for reading comprehension, the child may lose interest in simply reading words. From this perspective, it is essential to practice reading comprehension skills early and often to sustain their love of reading and to promote the richness of understanding written text. SUPPORTING READING COMPREHENSION The question is, how can we support a child’s reading comprehension at the first signs of early word reading, maybe even as young as 2 or 3 years of age? As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I saw older children (ages 7 years and beyond) on the autism spectrum with hyperlexia. These children had already been reading for some time, often as long as 5 years or more. Yet their reading comprehension and their language skills remained a weakness, despite their strength in early word reading. Clearly, for children on the autism spectrum with hyperlexia, reading comprehension and language skills don’t just develop on their own from reading lots of words. As such, children on the autism spectrum with hyperlexia need support to develop their reading comprehension and their associated language skills. Strength-based approaches to intervention focus on a child’s strength to improve their areas of challenge. Using this type of approach, we can use their strength in word reading to support their reading comprehension and language comprehension. In addition, by targeting the child’s strength in word reading, we make their special interest the focus of intervention. The child is then more engaged, making it easier to work on their chal- lenges, like reading comprehension and language skills.
Simple View of Reading as applied to Hyperlexia
=
X
Word Reading
Reading Comprehension
Language Comprehension
1
0
0
Figure 1:The Simple View of Reading applied to Hyperlexia.
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