Executive Summary Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children Catherine E. Snow, M. Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin, Editors Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, National Research Council (1998) Abstracted by Steve Colson The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked the National Academy of Sciences to establish a committee to examine the prevention of reading difficulties. This article is the executive summary from that committee and includes a discussion about how reading and reading instruction is conceptualized and then a lengthy set of recommendations. The recommendations address promoting literacy development in preschool and kindergarten, education and professional development for all involved in literacy instruction, teaching reading to speakers of other languages, ensuring adequate resources to meet children's needs, and addressing the needs of children with persistent reading difficulties. Adequate initial reading instruction requires that children use reading to obtain meaning from print; have frequent and intensive opportunities to read; be exposed to frequent, regular spelling-sound relationships; learn about the nature of the alphabetic writing system; and understand the structure of spoken words. After these initial skills are mastered adequate progress in reading depends on other skills. These include having a working understanding of how sounds are represented alphabetically, sufficient practice in reading to achieve fluency with different kinds of texts, and sufficient background knowledge and vocabulary to render written texts meaningful and interesting. Students also need procedures for monitoring comprehension and continued interest and motivation to read for a variety of purposes. Reading is acquired in a fairly predictable way by students with adequate language skills and literacy opportunities at home and who attend schools that provide effective reading instruction. Children without these advantages are at risk along with those who fail to understand the idea that written spellings systematically represent spoken words. Additionally, failure to transfer the comprehension skills of spoken language to reading, failure to acquire strategies specific to reading, and the absence or loss of an initial motivation to read or a failure to develop a mature appreciation of the rewards of reading can cause serious delays. Recommendations for first to third grades include explicit instruction and practice in phonics, sight words, common spelling conventions, fluency, and less reliance on context and picture as tools. Frequent assessment of these skills will permit timely and effective instructional modifications. Students should be encouraged to write with particular emphasis on focused instruction and practice in spelling. Time, materials, and resources should be provided to support daily independent reading opportunities at school and at home. Early childhood centers should not try to replicate the formal reading instruction provided in schools. They should provide relevant clinical experiences during preservice education with ongoing feedback and guidance, using mentors for beginning teachers. They should think of staff development as an ongoing process with career-long self-examination and reflection. Children with persistent reading difficulties need reading specialists and special educators who can communicate and collaborate with the classroom teachers about helping these students. These specialists need a firm foundation about reading research and development. Additionally guidelines are mentioned about the appropriate and inappropriate use of reading tutors. This article is a fine summary to the entire document produced by the committee. Although future research will no doubt shed new light on reading acquisition and teaching, current understanding offers valuable insight for teachers, students and their parents.

Beginning Word Reading