Introduction

Clinical remedial programs to treat severe dyslexia require spelling mastery of the word. Most remedial approaches require writing with words learned. This is the strength of Language Experience Approach (LEA), which becomes important in teaching these students. Remedial reading may be described as the spelling route to reading. Exercises that engage the student in these activities ensure that students know the meaning and spelling of the word, and it is documented in assessments.

Well-researched techniques for the remediation of reading deficits are recommended. It is important to match techniques to a student's strengths. One remediation plan is not optimal for every dyslexic student because of the four global patterns of processing difficulties and individual variances. These variations include different characteristics not mentioned in the four global patterns due to documented research over the last 30 years.

As remedial plans are formulated for each student, a framework is developed to document how well the remedial plan illustrates positive results in the different literary tasks. This framework affords the student the opportunity to practice all literary tasks necessary for growth. The framework is authentic based on an LEA format. This becomes evident upon examination of exemplary remediation procedures for dyslexia. These procedures are termed clinical remediation because they are often individualized or very small group instruction. LEA or an adaptation of LEA becomes the standard for this documentation.

When something stated in a respected journal but not well-researched yields desired results, and the instructor notices something that might help a student, they should try it. Techniques originate this way, not in a vacuum. Being knowledgeable about perceptual processing abilities for reading and the techniques in place is a solid foundation for capitalizing on new techniques.

Remedial Programs for Specific Perceptual Processing Deficits

Two main areas comprise decoding deficits: lack of success in decoding and lack of lexical knowledge. These deficits reflect a lack of both phonological processing and morphological knowledge about word structure. Deficits in decoding may be from several different perceptual processing deficits. They occur with problems in auditory or visual processing or both, and possibly sensory integration. Lack of morphological knowledge results in students needing overt, explicit, and direct teaching.

Introduction

Several approaches in early childhood programs have embraced the concept of wholistic learning. A program is considered wholistic when it attempts to enhance the whole child in every developmental aspect as the child matures. Individual aspects of this development are not separated but overtly encouraged by student exploration and through teacher guidance. The connection between sensory-motor development, cognition, and literary abilities is strong. Several developmental programs for early childhood attempt to build background experiences that not only coordinate sensory-motor development but also enhance the child's ability to draw on this development as literary abilities evolve. Cognition is reinforced as the child internalizes these abilities and makes decisions for future actions. These programs recognize the importance of developing the whole child, taking into consideration the environment and the uniqueness of individual growth patterns, rather than compartmentalizing these as discrete subjects. This chapter develops the foundation of this type of teaching and describes early programs for wholistic comprehensive instruction for reading.

Types of cognition

Many researchers have developed theories for cognition that provide a look at different abilities and sub-abilities in the individual. Some are discrete, some are developmental for the child, and some are maturational through adulthood. It is worth considering these foundational theories that explain the areas of the brain involved and delineate the stages of growth. Wechsler's research in the area of verbal and nonverbal cognition allows us to understand anatomically where certain functions of cognition take place. In the left hemisphere of the brain, verbal information is learned, processed, and expressed. The left hemisphere processes in a linear, analytical manner and is sequentially oriented for processing. It is the seat of most language processing. The right hemisphere is functionalized for dreaming, intuition, visuospatial processing, quantitative thinking, and gestalt thinking.

There are four distinct hierarchical stages of cognition. Schema is considered the fundamental representation of a witnessed event or object. Symbol is a contrived mental representation standing for an event or an object. A concept is a representation of multiple events or objects. Rule pertains to a predictable relationship between multiple concepts.

Introduction

The term literacy includes technology, which embraces the proficient use of available digital hardware and software (Williams et al. 2012). There are numerous technology software applications used today in schools. For instance, many classrooms have interactive whiteboards, computers, and online communication available (Gunaydin & Karamete 2016). Additionally, teachers and students may have handheld devices and smartphones at school or at home. According to Leu et al. (2004), the new technologies of this century need to be discovered and examined because everything that is read today is not textbook based.

Technology and LEA

Technology can be used to motivate and enhance the reading and writing process. One example of technology engagement is the introduction of the Language Experience Approach (LEA) writing of stories with a three-step approach: whole class application, small group application, and an individual application in the same manner as previously discussed in Chapter 1.

Whole Class Application

For example, for a whole class application, wordless picture books are projected on classroom screens for all the students to see. These books are employed as a stimulus for writing LEA student-generated stories that describe the events in the story. The teacher uses an interactive whiteboard to write the sentences the students create to describe the scenes in the wordless picture book. Important vocabulary words are colorhighlighted or underlined by the students. Punctuation can be bolded so that when the text is read aloud, students who have difficulty with punctuation can be visually aided to recognize where to stop, where to pause, etc. The teacher reads the LEA story to the whole class from the interactive whiteboard while the students watch and listen to the teacher's intonation and prosody. The students check if the recorded ideas are stated appropriately.

When student-generated stories are written on the interactive white board, a large size font should be employed while composing so that all students in the room can see. The teacher may place the student's initials beside the sentence that each student generated for the group story.

The advantage of using a computer to copy the stories is that the story can be printed when the exercise is finished, and each student can have a copy to take home and practice reading. Students use the copy in the classroom the next day to reread the story.

This book considers Russell Stauffer's Language Experience Approach (LEA) in detail. An approach must be judged by its impact on student learning and not on the age of conception. Here, we explore the nature of wholistic teaching in early childhood and beyond. The developmental maturation is explained for each different language task.

Theme One: Child Development and Wholistic Teaching

The first theme of shared information is child development and wholistic instruction. Both language arts instruction with researched language arts materials and with LEA, as either ancillary or solo instruction, have a place in the language arts curriculum. LEA is presented as a wholistic program of teaching beginning reading which includes all of the prime tenets of being geared to the development of the whole child in the literary tasks. When it is used as the main method of beginning reading instruction, it is more than adequate to offer everything necessary for success. If used as an ancillary program for beginning reading, it covers all the necessary items that enable the child to develop in a wholistic manner in the literary tasks. When used in the upper grades, it has the potential to aid student development in a myriad of ways needed for mature readers. Teaching literacy skills is a well-researched topic. There have been years of research on how to teach them, what to teach, and when to introduce them. In addition, many different techniques and strategies are available to teachers. Many research journal articles describe what works for different students. Assessment is also a wellstudied topic. Tests for different skills and students have been developed, offering grade levels, age levels, and standardized scoring. All of this attests to the scientific legwork that has been accomplished over the years that provides the field of education a strong background for enhancing developmental skills needed for beginning literacy tasks, choosing the correct methodology, and appropriately assessing progress.

Theme Two: Using LEA as a Stand-alone Approach or an Integrated Approach

Stauffer's conceptualization of LEA emphasizes early reading instruction, though he also has a protocol for struggling readers. One of the most essential points of LEA is that it enhances the ability for instruction to take place in a relaxed and natural setting whereby the students use what they know as a foundation for instruction.

Appendix A (Chapter 1)

A1 Stauffer's rational

• 1. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening occur in context with purposeful communication.

• 2. The interests, curiosities, culture, capacity, precepts, and concepts of each individual are used.

• 3. Use of word recognition and word identification is developed in a meaningful context ensuring the use of meaning clues.

• 4. Reading skills taught are assimilated and used.

• 5. Individual interests and understandings are extended and refined.

• 6. Appreciation of the value and uses of reading is afforded.

LEA is a total language arts approach relying heavily upon dictated stories, word banks, and creative writing. LEA is a comprehensive methodology that can be used to teach literacy.

A2 Wells (1979) list of essentials

• 1. They do not direct what the children say.

• 2. They are collaborative constructors of meaning.

• 3. They are attentive listeners.

• 4. Make attempts to use verbal and nonverbal cues to understand the child.

• 5. Help children extend their responses so that knowledge of the world and linguistic ability are fostered.

A3 Remedial approaches require a student to write the word from memory to consider it mastered

• 1. The Fernald method

• 2. Oton–Gillingham and its offshoots

  • a. Recipe for Reading

  • b. Slingerland Approach

  • c. Herman-Lexia

• 3. Reading Recovery

• 4. Words Their Way

• 5. Blau and Blau

• 6. Spalding

Appendix B (Chapter 2)

B1 Otis media

This condition is caused by fluid buildup in the middle ear, which obliterates some of the sound of speech for the young child. It interferes with the progression in which speech sounds are learned. These children learn to speak normally but do not really hear all of the speech sounds (American Academy of Pediatrics 2004). It may be caused by an allergic condition or a progression of ear infections. Treatment may contain both medicine and tubes placed in the ears of some children.

B2 Irregular speech

Since the window is quite large for speech to develop, it is difficult for parents to process if their child exhibits irregular speech. Another complicating factor is that not every child fits the normal developmental pattern, but they speak quite well and do not appear to have any problems with speech as they mature. But there are some blatant signs that all might not be progressing smoothly.

Introduction

Two reading issues that exist in middle to secondary schools that impact a student's academic achievement are vocabulary development and comprehension ability. The Language Experience Approach (LEA) can be utilized to enhance both factors for lower-achieving students. Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) indicate the powerful and lasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on student's reading comprehension. Rasinski and Padak (2004) indicate fluency will get a student nowhere without knowing the meaning of words. Comprehension depends on the accurate understanding of the meaning of words and the ability to infer the meaning of unknown words encountered in reading (Roberts et al. 2008). These statements need little explanation. A word caller or a reader with limited vocabulary knowledge will not be the most successful student. Additionally, the student must have the ability to retain and retrieve the meaning of vocabulary words to fully comprehend the text during reading and for successful completion of assessments.

The use of visual literacy aids such as graphic organizers for developing comprehension and ready recall aids in building comprehension (Kim et al. 2004). Visual displays of information help students organize thoughts and aid in the recall of information. Sadoski and Paivio (2013) corroborate these findings and propose that information is stored in two different codes, verbal and visual. With these points in mind, strategies developed utilizing both vocabulary development and visual displays of information are embedded in LEA to aid students experiencing these problems.

Teaching the literacy process in secondary education involves using methods that can support student development and reading to learn in different curricular areas. Expository or informational text style and structure are sometimes more difficult for students to follow than story structure. Because the vocabulary in informational texts is particular to a specific field, it tends to be more abstract and the sentence structure is more elaborate. Imagery is often lacking and needs to be supplied by the reader.

Teaching Academic Vocabulary

Research has shown that gaps in reading achievement are often associated with gaps in vocabulary knowledge (Scott et al. 2003; Watts 1995). Developing language skills is not a focus in most secondary schools. Scott et al. (2003) observed 23 ethnically diverse classrooms and found that only 6% of school time was concentrated on vocabulary development, and in core academic subject areas, only 1.4% of instructional time was spent expanding vocabulary.