Reading Comprehension and Moderate to Severe Hearing Loss

Irena - posted on 10/21/2009

Well, I know many children have difficulty with reading comprehension whether they have special needs or not (especially at that age when reading is relatively amateur). When I taught third grade, many children had difficulty in this area to begin with. We would use sticky notes to keep trying of what we were absorbing. In other words-breaking up the paragraph. Model for her how you would read one or two sentences. Then, on a sticky note or to the side, write in your own words a thought about what you learned from the paragraph so far. Then repeat every couple of sentences. Then we would go back and talk about what the "entire" paragraph was trying to tell us. Then, look at the questions. Just practicing how to re-read and look for the answers back in the reading is a skill. In time, she will get it:)

An important note**Make sure she is reading on-level. If the material is frustrating her, it may be too hard for her to read, and therefore impossible to comprehend. Ask her teacher what her reading level is currently or DRA score.

Also, the library is a great resource for workbooks you can copy or take home to practice with her, strategies for comprehension can be found at any learning center or teacher supply store, or Walmart for a few dollars. Try reading her favorite book and asking her questions with something she is familiar with.

See if she understands what a specific paragraph is talking about. If she is still have difficulty, talk to your child's teacher about getting her tested for a learning disability. Hope this helps!

Lisa - posted on 10/16/2009

There could be a number of factors playing here. If you read to her and then ask the questions is she able to answer them? If so she could have a reading disability. If she can't answer them then it's likely she's not focusing. My son has severe learning disabilities that up to this time have prevented him from learning to read (he's a high school sophomore), but his comprehension for what is read to him has always been very high. When he was in day care, before starting kindergarten, his day care mom said she just couldn't get him to sit during circle time and didn't think he was paying attention at all, until the day she was getting after him for not following directions and sitting criss cross applesauce while she read the story at which point he repeated the story to her almost word for word. But if she made him sit and listen he couldn't remember any of it. We figured out then and there that his hands needed to be occupied for his brain to work. At one time we considered teaching him to read braille but it was poopooed by the educational experts so of course the school district wouldn't go for it. I wish I had pushed it. I might not have a 16 year old (almost) who reads barely at a first grade level and doesn't comprehend that, but can 'write' the most amazing stories. He records his stories and then they are transcribed by either me or his 1:1.