Reading

Mapping Information

Visually mapping information is a scaffolding technique that supports pattern recognition, information organization, and memory. Tools found in programs like WORD and Adobe Reader include highlighters, comments, stamps, and font attributes. For more information on how learning disabilities can affect different cognitive processes see the NICHCY brief on Reading and Learning Disabilities.

Mapping strategies may need to be customized to specific student needs, though most strategies work with most students.

1. Scaffold connections by color coding connections to self (past experience, prior knowledge), media (familiar books, songs, movies, articles), and events (familiar people, issues, news).
2. Scaffold organization by color coding people, places, dates, and vocabulary.
3. Scaffold ideas by color coding connections to senses (I can taste, smell, visualize, etc.). www.scholastic.com . handout
4. Instant scaffold ideas: Google a topic and look at the cached page, or use the FireFox add-on HighlightAll (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4240) where you can click on any word on a web page and all occurrences are highlighted.
5. Active Reading Strategies (download the manual) . http://www.savvyknowledge.com/products/great_teacher/greatteacher.html . excellent resource of strategies for students to use to visually organize text

Programs such as WORD, Nisus Writer Express (Mac) from Nisus, Adobe Reader, Skim (Mac) from SourceForge, FoxitReader (Win) from FoxitSoftware, Adobe Reader, and the Talking Word Processor include highlight and comment tools that are useful for visually mapping text. The Find/Replace tool in WORD is useful for finding all occurrences of a word or phrase and highlighting it. Also look at the Auto Summarize tool in Microsoft WORD and the Talking Word Processor; great for making quick summaries.

Reading Software

Many students benefit greatly from being able to practice an instructional activity repeatedly. Having a variety of reading software available also benefits students who have problems engaging in instruction by giving them choice in their learning activities.

1. Meville to Weville . http://www.donjohnston.com/products/access_solutions/
   software/meville_to_weville/index.html . early communication and literacy development
2. Earobics - http://www.earobics.com . targets phonemic awareness and phonics. there are versions for young children and teens
3. Sound Reading Solutions - http://www.soundreading.com . targets phonemic awareness, phonics, and early reading with versions for children and teens
4. Simon S.I.O. http://www.donjohnston.com/products/simon_sio/index.html . training in phonics and reading
5. Soliloquy - http://www.soliloquylearning.com . listens to students as they read and provides correction and support when they have problems
6. Start to Finish Books . http://www.donjohnston.com/products/start_to_finish/index.html . provides high interest topics on a variety of reading levels to support fluency, comprehension, and critical thinking. includes printed and electronic versions of each book
7. Scholastic Read 180 . http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/read180/ . a reading intervention program based on extensive research
8. Thinking Reader - http://www.tomsnyder.com . embeds reading comprehension strategies around core literature titles

Online Books & Reading Support

1. LeapFrog Talking Books . highly popular LeapFrog products. talking books are easy to carry around and use by children and students
2. StarFall . the ABCs of getting ready to read. extensive materials and resources for early literacy development
3. Timmy Books . from Riverdeep . these are digital books from the Travel the World with Timmy program. students can make choices to customize each book, hear the book, and print a paper copy out
   1. Timmy in Argentina (Win . Mac9)
   2. Timmy in Japan (Win . Mac9)
   3. Timmy in Kenya (Win)
4. My Friend (Win . Mac9) . from Riverdeep . activities targeting the use of adjectives
5. BookBox . inexpensive digital books in a wide variety of languages. many of the books can be read in one language with subtitles in a different language
6. Book Builder . http://bookbuilder.cast.org/ . from CAST . create UDL based digital books
7. StoryPlace - Children's Digital Library . the children's digital library. includes a spanish version
8. Tumble Books . digital books with text to speech and adjustable font sizes in the Readables
9. News-2-You Newspaper . graphic enhanced newspapers. online samples include regular, high, and spanish
10. Communicate: In Print 2 - A desk top publishing tool for creating graphic enhanced reading material.
11. PowerPoint Books/Region 2 Digital Library . large collection of PowerPoint books created by teachers and therapists
12. Baen Free Library . free online library of a collection of digital books
13. MagicKeys . children's online storybooks
14. ReadingAtoZ . online reading program
15. America Reads . a great guide for paraprofessionals and volunteers in helping students learn to read

Higher Order Thinking Scaffolds

Use graphic organizers to support reading comprehension by providing visual scaffolds for thinking processes like story plot, character analysis, event timelines, compare/contrast, concept maps, brainstorming, and information synthesis. Graphic organizers can also be used to help keep students on task and scaffold longer periods of engagement. For ideas, see the Computer Based Study Strategies at http://cbss.uoregon.edu/ . Tools include:

1. Graphic Organizers - http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html?s2 . free online source of printable graphic organizers in a wide variety of cognitive supports
2. bubbl.us - http://www.bubbl.us/ . free online mapping software. very basic, simple, and works
3. Mindomo - http://www.mindomo.com/index.php . free online mind mapping software. supports additional graphics and shapes
4. cMap - http://cmap.ihmc.us . free concept mapping software for Mac and Windows
5. FreeMind (Win . Mac) - http://freemind.sourceforge.net . free mind mapping software. requires Java runtime
6. Inspiration (Win . Mac) & Kidspiration (Win . Mac) - http://www.inspiration.com . commercial concept mapping with extensive image libraries and writing support tools
7. WordMenu (Win . Mac) - http://www.wordmenu.com/ . a text based visual organization of words by subject matter. 14 day trial