Introduction

From upper elementary school through middle and secondary school, deficits in comprehension and vocabulary impede students’ progress more than in lower elementary school. Students with deficits in these areas cannot keep up with the volume of information. Comprehension and vocabulary are basic building blocks for understanding the English language. Teachers have little time to improve these skills and the content to be taught. Verbal expression and memory deficits exacerbate the problems. It is difficult to speak and/or write about these abilities independently because they are intricately intertwined. One cannot speak of meaningful writing without acknowledging that vocabulary and memory for facts and incidentals are pertinent to thought processes involved with writing.

Comprehension and vocabulary go together in a combined fashion for these students. Research emphasizes the powerful, lasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension (Cunningham & Stanovich 1997). Reading fluency will not get a student anywhere if word meaning is unknown. Comprehension depends on an accurate understanding of word meanings and the ability to infer meaning from unknown words (Roberts et al. 2008).

Other abilities are involved with written expression such as spelling, punctuation, and grammar, that impact writing and are treated in other chapters. The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is foundational to the student's instruction, assessment, and growth in these areas. It is a culminating activity for assessment and an instructional activity as these abilities are developed.

Comprehension

Some students may have slight, central auditory processing problems and were unsuccessful in a phonic-based program. Comorbid sensory integration problems or other deficit may hinder success in learning to read. Students who are not experiencing failure in other classes, may not be noticed or chosen for evaluation. Other reasons that students may not succeed in reading are emotional distress, moving often, or other events.

Multiple exposure/multiple context strategy

Little research is available on low-level readers for comprehension development. Most literature addresses strengthening comprehension for grade-level readers who are not strong in comprehension. Two older studies investigated the multiple exposure/ multiple context (ME/MC) strategy (McCormick 1994).

Historical Moments in English Language Learners’ Research

In the United States, research on English language learners (ELLs) has increased substantially since the turn of the century, including research on language and literacy development, instructional interventions, and educational assessments (Santi et al. 2019). A substantial body of research on ELLs has been published since the report of the National Literacy Panel (August et al. 2009). However, concerning the issue of ELL students with disabilities and the challenge of identification, little data has been collected. Historically, ELLs were overlooked for disability services due to the belief that their achievement difficulties are grounded in language proficiency issues that will be resolved with time, or they may be overrepresented because of inaccurate measures and/or poor identification procedures (Abedi 2006; Artiles et al. 2005). According to Santi et al. (2019), ELLs are at risk for impaired reading and language development for reasons other than the existence of disabilities, including socioeconomic disadvantage and poor instruction in one or both languages. Morgan et al. (2015) found that racial, ethnic, and language minority elementary and middle school students are less likely than similar white, English-monolingual students to be identified as having disabilities and are disproportionately underrepresented in special education. This study also reported that language-minority children were less likely to be identified with a learning disorder or language impairments.

Throughout the history of teaching English as a second language (ESL), instructors required that learners learn the language through memorization and repetition of the second language (L2) structures without exposing them to real-life situations that created another challenge for learners. These practices were unsuccessful in promoting ELLs’ capacity when communicating in different situations using the target language. Thus, incorporating new trends in English language teaching (ELT) through integrating meaningful materials and authentic tasks that represent real-world situations encourages the competencies of ELLs to transfer the language they are learning to situations beyond the classroom.

Research into applied linguistics and second language acquisition has also played an essential role in constructing and modifying different approaches and methods for ELT for the purpose of guiding ELLs to communicate effectively (Celce-Murcia 2001). Raising English language teachers’ awareness of how these approaches, methods, and strategies have evolved facilitates their ability to make well-informed teaching decisions.

Historical Aspects

Accurate English spelling occurred when Gutenburg invented the printing press (Gutenburg 1439), as spelling was standardized because the printing press demanded that word spellings were consistent. Derivations of foreign words retained their spelling and did not exhibit different phonemes as pronunciation changed. Conspire and conspiracy retained the spelling of the root though pronunciation changed. English has many words with this phenomenon, which gives meaning constancy to the derivatives.

Spelling has an unusual place in the school curriculum. In the early days of the United States, spelling and orthography were subjects taught just as reading. Accurate spelling was considered a mark of an educated person. Spelling was taught with a linguistic approach for decades. As reading instruction became more phonetic, spelling maintained the linguistic approach. This was a wise decision, as language components of spelling are more linguistic than phonetic. Classes for spelling are vanishing from curriculums in the United States. Some school systems across the states do not teach formal spelling because of technological advances in computers and spell-checking algorithms. Adequate instruction is not available for students who need it. This led to many teachers who are poor spellers. Today, there appears to be a general professional bias that spelling is not that important, which is a detriment to the students of this country. The absence of spelling instruction causes a conundrum for students in special education as the DSM-V manual (Tobin & House 2016) requires Individual Educational Plans to provide for it. The federal mandate demands that special education teachers must devise goals for it. Poor spelling ability affects the quality of academic schoolwork across the upper grades. According to Moats et al. (2006), poor spellers use fewer words and have lower-quality compositions. Older methods of teaching spelling considered rote memorization to be the most expedient.

Research demonstrates that spelling is a complex linguistic ability. From the latter half of the twentieth century to the present, spelling has been recognized as a language ability connected to reading ability. Diagnosing a student with spelling deficiency is a finer diagnosis of reading problems than diagnosing reading errors. Spelling tells one exactly what the student knows about language constructions. Most remedial reading techniques consider a word mastered when it is reproduced accurately in writing.

Introduction: Physical, Environmental, and Anatomical Foundations of Speech

Social interaction is necessary for the development of language to proceed normally. Studies conducted by sociologists over hundreds of years show that social interaction is necessary for average to superior language development. A second important factor is intact sensory processing in the developing child. A child with a learning disorder may not only be affected in speech development but also early cognition. A child born lacking visual sequential memory abilities from birth on until school age will not remember the sequence of things taking place in their environment. When this situation is recognized by an adult(s), teaching can take place to aid this child in forming memories of action sequences. Memory of their early childhood will not match that of their siblings or parents, affecting cognition of their early world. Another facet of speech development is anatomical, and speech anomalies occur with cleft palates, harelip, and other anomalies of the throat and mouth articulators. Many can be corrected surgically, but some will leave a small speech impediment. It is the goal of this chapter to present the normal rudimentary learning that must take place for competence in speech to form.

Prenatal development

Emergent literacy begins in the womb (Broemmel et al. 2015). Two predominant factors impact the future production of the native language: the sounds and prosody. Chinese and English differ in prosody effect on the developing infant (Zhou et al. 2012). Developing infants hear the sounds of language for half of the gestation period and develop motor skills. The ability to suck a finger is noticeable on many sonograms as well as the infant's ability to scurry from the sonogram. Upon birth, the infant distinguishes human sounds from sounds of the environment. There is a degree of rudimentary knowledge in the womb. The fluid environment has some effect on sound quality. Infants recognize their mother's voice and process phrasing and prosody even though the words are not yet intelligible.

Vision, unlike the auditory channel that matures around the age of eight, continues to mature until about age 16 (Nelson 2001). The newborn infant has seeing ability, but it is not clear. Large items of black and white contrast are the best (Schlesinger 2001).

Remediation of Mild Reading Deficits

Mild deficits in reading are usually treated in the classroom during the lesson. The first four approaches are ordinarily classroom approaches. There could be a student who is given individual instruction with the program the class is using. This is advised when a student processes slower than normal but achieves with personal instruction. Read Naturally is an individualized program where a student works individually with a teacher. Some approaches are primarily used for beginning-level students, though they may be used with older students.

Language Experience Approach

Language Experience Approach (LEA) may be the first choice with slow readers or readers who appear to agonize over every word. LEA affords an opportunity to observe exactly what the problem(s) may be and use the natural language of the student in remediation. It may accompany the main classroom approach or be used as a standalone approach. All of the literacy tasks can be observed: phonetic ability, documenting the spelling stage, decoding strategies, and the internalization of language structure (see Chapter 1). Analytic phonic instruction can take place with the dictated words of the sentences for the student to apply the English sound system to their known words. The instructor points out similarities and differences in the letter construction of the words dictated. These phonic elements are noted and written down by the instructor. At a later date, they would be reviewed, and words of similar constructions would be presented for word study. A second word bank is constructed for each student containing phonic elements mastered. Since the sentences come from the student's vocabulary, cognition, and sight word acquisition, knowledge is being enhanced for word meaning. This is an essential point as young children grasp first-level concepts readily, such as peaches and pears are different (Piaget 1997). They cannot distinguish between different pears or different types of peaches. Words or signs are acquired from social surroundings and are shared socially (Stauffer & Sharp 1965). The sharing of dictated sentences is a socially directed activity and develops higher cognition. Students hear different concepts, broadening their perspective. As the instructor continues with LEA, more words, more phonic elements, and higher level cognition are developed in the students’ repertoires.

Introduction

There are many strong programs and approaches to develop reading skills in the primary grades of today's schools. This chapter reexamines the structure, merits, and caveats of the Language Experience Approach (LEA). We are sensitive to the fact that many professionals consider LEA to be an older approach and used only as a beginning reading program. A major thrust of this chapter is to open up the possibilities LEA might have for different student types at different grade levels. Many “older approaches” are still very much in vogue today, as they are solid teaching approaches that have brought results over decades. LEA originated almost 100 years ago (Davidson 1999). Huey described the concepts behind the theory as early as 1908. Since then, LEA has been adapted, modified, researched, refined, and successfully used to educate children at all levels. The overall theme is that LEA is a multifaceted, reliable, wholistic, and successful instructional method for the teaching of reading and language arts.

The Background for the Language Experience Approach (LEA) and a Description of LEA

Children learn to speak in an unorganized way with little direction except for modeling from parents, caretakers, and others. They begin to write with marks and letters in the same unorganized way. They model what they see. The next natural progression is reading. The child comes to school to learn to read and knows some letters, but anything else about reading is an unorganized set of information. They may know intonation, how to hold a book, and that reading contains either a story or information. This is the extent most children know about reading when they begin preschool or kindergarten. By first grade, they are supposed to be in the first primer level for reading. Traditional phonics instruction is the most prevalent way that reading is taught. This compartmentalizes reading from the other language tasks. The phonic approach is considered just one part of literacy and does not wholly relate to what children know about the literacy tasks of speaking, writing, reading, and spelling. LEA, as designed by Russell Stauffer (1970, Figure 1.1), emphasizes learning to read as part of the literacy tasks involved with writing, speaking, listening, spelling, and reading.

Introduction

Writing is the highest and most inclusive of all literacy skills. It involves everything in this chapter along with grammatical rules, cohesive devices, and lexical and transition ties. It becomes more involved because of aspects of logical thinking and text organization. When problems exist that indicate cognitive processing deficits, the teacher must be prepared to use different techniques to modify and strengthen these deficits. Being a good reader does not necessarily result in a good writer. There is also an emotional component to writing as many students are resistant to writing or readily express that they are not good at it. They want to minimize writing with contrivances such as bullets and bare-bones outlines. The most expedient way to minimize the skill acquisitions necessary for good writing and reduce the emotional component is through Language Experience Approach (LEA). When a student begins to write at the primary level and this experience is regularly encountered throughout the grades, writing becomes easier for students.

One detriment rarely spoken of is the reluctance of teachers to teach about writing in secondary school, yet the expectation is that students should know how to write. When surveys are taken of lower school teachers, results indicate that they also carry an aversion to spending time on writing. Students may tell you only one teacher really taught them about writing in their school career. Colleges and universities have writing labs for these students.

Most mechanical errors result from specific cognitive deficits. We do not speak in sentences with punctuation but rather in run-on sentences unless we have prepared a speech ahead of time. Our knowledge of speech is not that helpful for writing. We must acquire and produce the rules applicable to the formulation of ideas within sentences. It will not be automatic and when deficits occur in this ability, it affects the assigning of appropriate punctuation.

Medical Paradigm IV

Medical Paradigm IV (defined in Chapter 8) is articulo-graphic dyslexia. This mechanism is an interference with written language, articulation, and graphomotor dyscoordination syndrome (Mattis et al. 1975). Students can read silently but not orally because of problems in enunciating and blending phonemes. They mispronounce and misspeak words because they lack smooth coordination of speech musculature, are prone to omit letters, syllables, and words, and perseverate on other letters.

Introduction

A discussion of reading in the primary grades begins with how the student learns to read words. After learning to read and understand words, the student progresses to reading and understanding phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.

There are different approaches to teaching, including the synthetic and analytic phonics methodologies, sight word methods, and language approaches. Normally, the best way to teach young students is to use a combination of methods because one method will not reach all students in the classroom. However, the Language Experience Approach (LEA) is a strong self-contained method that employs elements of other approaches and can easily be combined with other methods.

Stages and Phases of Reading Development

There are several models of how students develop the ability to read (Ehri & McCormick 1998; Chall 1993; Gough et al. 1992; Gunning 2010). The Phase Model contends that as children mature in their reading proficiency, the way they approach reading changes. Tracey and Morrow (2012) state that it is natural to assume that children pass through reading stages because reading is ongoing, continuous, and gradual in development. Stage Model proposes that the strategies increase in number and quality, but are refined as children progress. According to Ehri (1998), these phases in the Stage Model are the pre-alphabetic or logographic phrase, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, consolidated alphabetic, and automatic phase. Ehri and McCormick (1998) indicate that these stages can overlap.

Pre-alphabetic or logographic stage

A preschool or kindergarten student or a severely challenged reader can be in the prealphabetic phase (Ehri & McCormick 1998). In this phase, the student may have limited alphabetic knowledge and cannot decode or use analogy. The pre-alphabetic phase is sometimes called the logographic phase because readers connect visual features of words such as the print styles, shape, or length. The student may pretend to read using visual cues such as pictures to tell the story.

To promote the pre-alphabetic phase, the student should be given opportunities to print and name uppercase and lowercase letters. Alphabet instruction (including mnemonics and alliteration to support memory) and phonemic awareness activities (including listening and sound manipulation plus blending and segmenting) should be provided including opportunities to write with invented spelling.

Introduction

Learning takes place in the central nervous system, and brain architecture allows us to master a myriad of tasks over a lifetime. It is helpful for instructors to understand where skill mastery is in the brain. This is where the interface of special education techniques for teaching students with reading challenges comes into play. The brain organization in each student becomes an area of inquiry. Instructors must know what processing areas could be causing a problem and be familiar with approaches and techniques that address the specific problem. It is not a situation of instructors having a “pet” program they feel is the best for all cases of dyslexia. Rather instructors need to identify possible areas causing the problem and choose programs or parts of programs that have the potential to remediate reading difficulties. Some approaches explained in this chapter are controversial and are included because controversy can indicate that an approach may be successful for some individuals but not the majority. Teachers in the classroom are meeting the expectations of reading success for every student so we do not want to exclude approaches that bring success to an individual student.

Place of assessment

Kindergarten and primary-grade students usually only receive authentic assessments. Teacher observation and benchmarks for progress are the basis for determining a developmental lag. Because of the time windows for certain abilities to develop, it is difficult to make judgments. Given time, the student may mature out of a perceived deficit. Usually, formal assessment and labeling do not take place until third grade. This is where Response to Intervention (RTI) is helpful. Young students are exposed to other methods of teaching reading, which may be a better match for them and allow them to succeed. If no progress is observed, this becomes documentation for further study. Informal assessment may ascertain a perceptual problem. Often, tests such as the Slosson Intelligence Test, the Wepman Auditory Perception Assessment, and an informal writing test are given to test the child for average intelligence and performance level. Teachers administer these tests, not school psychologists. If developmental lags are observed one of two things may happen.

Introduction

The ancient history of writing development is interesting. It is a history of developmental spelling that every child goes through today when first learning to write words. Ancient language relied on pictograms or pictorial markings to indicate a subject and sequence of activities. The earliest writings only contained consonants for the words. These are the hard sounds of the language, no matter what the language may be. The next progression was the inclusion of vowels in syllable writing. The writing depicted parts of the word, not the whole word. As the vowels of the language stabilized, each whole individual word was depicted. This progression is seen in the dawn of the history of writing. As each child prepares to write words for the first time, we see this historical progression all over again, referred to as developmental spelling. This chapter outlines the maturation of the hand to accurately use a writing tool and produce cursive or manuscript.

When we speak of writing, it was previously assumed we meant cursive writing. In today's world, most people think only of manuscript because that is all they ever saw when they were in school. In some areas of the country, there is a debate about whether or not to teach cursive, whereas in other areas, it is an accepted fact that manuscript is best. There should be no debate because each, in its own way, has value. In this chapter, the value of each will be explained, relating the absolute need for cursive and the practicality of manuscript in certain instances.

Development of motor skills for handwriting and printing

To produce the marks of writing, a child goes through another developmental sequence. We notice that the newborn infant's hand has a very firm grasp, which at times is hard to pry open. It is a reflex when the palm is touched that becomes refined in its movements as the child matures and intentional grasping and touching are established (see Chapter 2). Though this appears firmly established, there is still more development in the hand for mature writing to take place. Parents are the first to notice some of the attributes of using a writing tool.