I am involved with a student who is able to answer comprehension questions at a 7th grade level but can read at only a 1st grade level. That is to say that he scores at the 1st grade level on multiple reading tests (IRI’s and isolated word lists), yet when asked questions about a story he has read aloud or silently, he is able to do so at a grade appropriate level (he’s in 7th grade). Even though he’ll substitute words in the reading passage (e.g., kids for children, Indians for Islanders) while reading, he seems to be able to make sense of the story and adequately answer both factual and inferential questions regarding the passage. Has anyone else seen this profile? What are some explanations? More importantly, what are the implications for instruction?
Re: Instructional implications and strategies
Yes, I have seen this same profile in my 13 year old 8th grader. He too has a low reading level with high comprehension. When he reads he does that same substituition thing. So does my 9 year old PDD-NOS son. The 13 year old has ADHD, inattentive type and CAPD along with receptive/expressive language disorder. Despite their difficulties they have tons of backround knowledge and use this to their advantage when reading a narrative. But like Robin says their “tricks” do not work for text book items. Hope this helps.
Agree -- common profile
Ditto to everything Robin said. Try that Science book trick.
These kids are very, very bright but generally in middle school those strategies stop working so they don’t make it to college. WHich sucks.
more thoughts on this common profile
If this student is like many I’ve dealt with, he is also very social and good company, and you want to help him.
Also if he’s like many I’ve dealt with, he really can not read at all. Most likely he is doing a “Clever Hans”.
For those who haven’t studied this, Clever Hans was a genius horse. He could do all sorts of arithmetic, tapping out numbers with his hoof. And the trainer wasn’t cheating; he could do it for visioting scientists when the trainer wasn’t around. Finally a new scientist tried a better controlled experiment; he arranged all the people to be behind a full curtain where the horse couldn’t see them at all. And Clever Hans just kept eating hay. It turns out that Hans — who was indeed a brilliant horse — had figured out the little signals people make when they are counting, tapping a finger or nodding the head or moving their lips; and when they stopped, he stopped. He couldn’t do arithmetic at all, but he sure could read people.
Your student is very likely the same — he can’t read books at all, but boy, can he read you. He knows your signals, what answer you expect, how to get you to give him a hint, and so on.
To prove this to yourself, do the Clever Hans disproof — record your questions on tape, set up a videotape, and leave the room. You will be shocked how little the poor kid can do. Then videotape yourself asking him the same questions and see how much “help” he gets out of you.
BUT — he doesn’t think of this as cheating! He is doing exactly what his so-called “whole language” class taught him, using all the skills at his disposal. Unfortunately, he has had eight years of training in how to be a con artist, and it isn’t his fault.
If you want to teach him to use his good intelligence for creative ends instead of con artistry, you’ll have to watch out and be very firm on making him do for himself. It isn’t always easy or fun, but it is what is needed.
I am going to guess that he has very strong vocabulary and abstract reasoning skill- and that is what is allowing him to make meaningful substitutions as he reads. It is not a particularly unusual profile- LD students are remarkable at using their strengths to work things through. He is doing the synonym and analogy thing as he goes. Pretty amazing isn’t it?
I am also guessing that your IRI is narrative text? I would suggest that you assess him with expository text- preferably something where his background knowledge is somewhat limited. Narrative text- fiction etc- does not place the mental demands on a reader relative to comprehension that more information oriented text does. Especially kiddoes with strong reasoning skills. You may find that his performance changes somewhat whaen he is required to read for information- such as a seventh grade biology text. Substitutions don’t work as well in this situation and a greater degree of accuracy is called for- so many of those science words look alike! Anyway- try it and let us know.
Relative to services, I would think he still needs to work on word attack- but he is the one you have to convince:)
Robin