How can comprehension be improved in a LD student struggling in 4th grade? The issue seems to be described as problems or slowness in ….analysizing, reasoning, higher level thinking skills and handling multiple pieces of information at the same time. The comprehension of grade level test questions and similar independent work requires prompting and handholding to guide or assist the student to a successful result. With help process and processing goes forward with success…without the help the LD student is not able to function at grade level.
This student reads at grade level, spells well, seems to not have ADD and has a past K-1 history of auditory processing delays and vision issues that have been remediated.
What programs, processes or remediation approaches can help?
Reading comprehension activities online
I don’t have a feel for where the kid is struggling with the comprehension… but there are some reading comprehension ideas and activities on my website at http://www.resourceroom.net
Re: How Can Independent Comprehension Be Improved
You can also look for a tutor experienced in the Lindamood-Bell “Visualizing and Verbalizing” program. It’s designed for individuals like your child. LMB ahs regional centers throughout the USA. If you’re lucky enough to live near one, you might look into enrolling your child there for a period of 6 weeks. Many people do this over the summertime. However, it’s also possible to use a tutor (like myself) who’s been trained in the program.
The V&V program improves comprehension by training individuals to visualize what they’re reading. It uses what are called “structure words” as a means of organizing one’s thoughts. People whose difficulty lies primarily with organizing their thoughts around a topic are helped by this method as are people whose primary problem is lack of visualizing or its opposite - visualizing so much that they get lost in the details.
ADD/ADHD people have the difficulty of inability to concentrate. They often fall into the category of too much detail. They also frequently don’t visualize because they’re so scattered that they’re not attending to encode the material in the first place. So of course, the inattention issue has to be addressed along with the comprehension training. I’ve learned to request that an ADD/ADHD child be also receiving therapy for their inattention before I begin tutoring them in V&V because if they can’t concentrate on the program in the first place, they’ll get little out of it.
One more thing…this kiddo could be ADD-Inattentive. Kids that have CAPD can also have co-morbidity with ADD-Inattentive. I would definitely look into all the options. Is she on the case load of an SLP? What is her vocabulary like? Her comprehension can only rise to the height of her vocabulary so increase the vocabulary accompanied by visualizing and verbalizing techniques. Just because a kid can read well doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems with understanding language. I would venture to say that her Auditory processing problems are still there and they didn’t go away. Provide many opportunities for her to talk and explore the vocabulary words, have her draw pictures to remember what the words mean. Have her use them in sentences, use lots of questioning and socratic style teaching with lots of questions and responses accompanied by reflective listening. With these skills and lots of organizing and structure and your kiddo should make progress..