While reading a newsletter from my Alma Mater, the University of Michigan, I found a Dyslexia website with strategies for supporting reading comprehension. The skills mentioned are useful for all our students, including those using various forms of assistive technology (AT) to communicate. Think about the basics of the storytelling process and use the AT to increase the student’s access to the information and engage with the story.

Preview Help the student look for clues in the title and/or picture to determine the content of the story.  

Q: What do you think this story is about?

Review the Big Picture Many students get lost in the details as they work so hard to read the words. Stop frequently and provide a recap of the information that has been read. Do this jointly with the student so they are actively participating. 

Q: Tell me about the story? 

 Prediction After you have reviewed the story, this is the perfect time to predict what may happen. Predicting is a great task as you are not quizzing the student to get one specific answer but allowing the student to take the information they have heard and process it into their own ending. You may even want to add your prediction.

Q: What do you think will happen next?

Active Reading There are many ways to enjoy a story. Read it, have someone read it to you, or have it read in a text-to-speech or audiobook format. To incorporate many different language learning opportunities into one book, make sure that books being presented in an oral format are also provided in a visual format for the student to follow along with. Presentation of the material in multiple modalities aids in the retention of information.

 Interesting For increased engagement from a student who is struggling with language comprehension difficulties, the story must be something they want to hear.

 For more information, visit http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/

Have Fun and Enjoy the Story