Learning to read with speed and accuracy is the most important skill that a learner can pick up during their schooling. It is the foundation of future learning, as it will allow the learner to share in the information that others have written down. The ultimate goal of reading instructions is to prepare children for the complex task of reading complicated material silently, at a reasonably fast rate, and understanding the details of the message that the author presents.
Over the past 15 years, CAMI has carved out a niche in the market as the leaders in Computer Aided Instruction for mathematics. When CAMI turned their focus to reading difficulties, it was discovered that traditional reading programms fell short, because they did not have the provisions to communicate clearly. Over the years, reading instructions were first based on Webster‘‘s "Blue-backed speller", then on Phonics and Phonetics, and lately, on "whole language" instruction.
The ability to read is based on a phonemic awareness (being able to separate and blend sounds in words) and alphabet code knowledge (knowing the correspondence between the symbols and the sounds), coupled with comprehension.
It is important to realise that the sounds in a language has existed long before the letters. The written symbols in our language were invented in order to represent the sounds that we have been making for centuries. In other words, the sound that you hear and learn at mother‘‘s knee is the real language and the written word is just an attempt to reflect the spoken word. This knowledge is the magic key to the understanding of reading difficulties.
An early start (age 5) at learning to read is one of the determinants of future reading success and a good reading program should therefore introduce reading as soon as possible. However, before the learner is able to perform the simple act of decoding words such as “catastrophe”, the child must have some important
pre-reading skills. The sub-skills necessary for reading are:
· The ability to scan text from left to right.
· The ability to match visual symbols to auditory sounds.
· The ability to blend discrete sounds into words.
· The ability to segment sounds in words.
· The ability to understand that sometimes two or more letters can represent a sound.
· The ability to understand that a sound can be generated in more than one way. |
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As an example, we will find ourselves slowing down and going through the six decoding steps if we write, "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones" in a more complex form: “People domicile in vitreous constructions of dubious tangibility should on no account employ petrified formations as missiles.”
In transition from reading the words out loudly to silent reading, a number of reading difficulties were noted. Learners tend to move the head from side to side, lip movement indicates that words are silently pronounced, words are read one at a time, the child returns to words that have been read before and mental retention is low due to a lack of concentration.
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When we read, the brain only assimilates the information where the eyes fixate. The reading speed of any learner would therefore double if we can train the eyes to fixate on two words instead of one. Speed reading techniques therefore concentrate on the broadening of the eye span and minimising the number of eye fixations per line.
Regression to earlier read words is done due a lack of concentration or a lack of understanding of the read words. It is therefore essential to read with understanding and to continuously add new words to the vocabulary.
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With the above design criteria in mind, CAMI designed a reading system that would enhance the reading efforts of the learner and to focus on the development of new reading techniques.
The CAMI Reader has been designed around a sophisticated text editor that can change any text into a reading piece for learners. Because this is an open text editor, it allows anyone the freedom to prepare any text for reading purposes. This feature alone is a major benefit for two reasons: Reading texts tend to become stale over time. With an open editor, the user can type (or scan) the newspaper report of last night‘‘s cricket match and place it into the editor for preparation as a reading text.
Secondly, the requirements of education dictate that reading should become integrated with the other learning areas. What better source then of new reading material? By simply using texts from the other learning areas as reading pieces, the learner would receive a double benefit: increased reading skills as well as an increased understanding of the subject matter.
These reading passages are then presented on a number of different reading platforms in order to measure the reading speed, to assist with the training of the eye to move from left to right and to the elimination of regression. Comprehension tests can be selected at will at the end of each of these reading exercises. Advanced reading techniques include flash cards, spelling, eye fixation exercises and speed reading techniques. |
