Reading comprehension for special needs is a modified way of reading to accommodate the specific needs of a child who may suffer from a language impairment. In conjunction with an audiologist, occupational therapist

Occupational therapist

An occupational therapist is trained in the practice of occupational therapy. The role of an occupational therapist is to work with a client to help them achieve a fulfilled and satisfied state in life through the use of "purposeful activity or interventions designed to achieve functional...

, and special education

Special education

Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...

 teachers, a team of caregivers can coordinate special reading comprehension assistance based on a child's particular special needs.

Background

Reading is the process of retrieving and comprehending some form of stored information or ideas. Reading to young children is a recommended way to instill language, expression, and to promote comprehension of text.

Language impairments

A language impairment is a learning disorder characterized by an impairment in the comprehension and use of oral and/or written language which significantly interferes with communication and academic achievement, while a speech impairment is an impairment in speech production which significantly interferes with the student's communication and learning (e.g., articulation

Manner of articulation

In linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants, even though the movement of the articulars will also greatly alter the resonant properties of the...

, and/or phonological, disorder, apraxia

Apraxia

Apraxia is a disorder caused by damage to specific areas of the cerebrum. Apraxia is characterized by loss of the ability to execute or carry out learned purposeful movements, despite having the desire and the physical ability to perform the movements...

, dysfluency/stuttering, dysarthria

Dysarthria

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes...

, voice and resonance

Resonance

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...

. However, speech and language impairments can also occur independently.

Accommodations and modifications

In order to complement a child's learning experience, caregivers can modify their reading technique in ways that may promote learning. These are things that one should be aware of when facilitating reading comprehension for children with special needs:

• "finger following" - reading by pointing to the word and reading it aloud.
• Finger following involves using a preset list of words the child is to learn.
• If the child is a new reader, start with "And."
• Read the sentence out loud moving your finger under each word.
• Isolate the word you want the child to read by moving your finger back and forth under it - but do not say the word.
• Pause and wait for the child to say the word.
• The "talk aloud" method - readers are asked to "think aloud" as they read, to determine what inference
  Inference
  Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true. The conclusion drawn is also called an idiomatic. The laws of valid inference are studied in the field of logic.Human inference Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions...
  
  s they are drawing from a text.
• Break up long sentences.
• Reduce difficult vocabulary load.
• Reduce concept density.
• When using a pronoun be sure that the antecedent is very clear.
• Do not omit words such as: "that" where such words will clarify a sentence connection.
• Stay with simple co-ordinating conjunctions (e.g., but, so, for, and) and avoid less common transitional words (e.g., however, as a consequence, nevertheless, although).
• Keep cause-and-effect expressions in a very simple in form.
• Keep conditional expressions which influence the meaning of a statement to a minimum (such as; if, when, assuming that, suppose, provided that, etc.). If there is no other way to avoid using a difficult word, include a brief explanation in parentheses, however keep parenthetical explanations to a minimum.
• If an important basic or technical word is to be taught: Make meaning and application absolutely clear.
• Use context as a memory aid.
• For a new term, repeat the word numerous times in a variety of contexts.
• Passive voice verbs. Negative forms of verbs and other expressions of negation.
• Too many modifying forms, such as prepositional phrases, relative clauses. (If a relative clause must be used, the relative pronoun [who, which, that, where, etc.] should be next to the word to which it refers). *Stylistic embellishments, such as rhetorical inversions.
• Colloquial and idiomatic expressions. Cut wordiness while retaining simple English. Avoid the use of idioms.

External links

*Special Reads for Special Needs, unique reading materials designed for children and young adults with Down's Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, FAS and other disabilities, for quick and effective development of reading skills.

• Special Education Resources on the Internet SERI a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education.
• SNOW designed to serve as a resource centre for teachers dealing with special needs students.
• literacyonline.org
• Poverty, Racism and Literacy. ERIC Digest.
• Literacy Interventions in Low Resource Environments: An International Perspective. ERIC Digest.
• Literacy in SIL - Promotes literacy in minority languages.
• REAL: Youth to Youth - Supports literacy in rural India.
• Computer program for teaching literacy
• Illiteracy in the Arab world
• Teaching children with special needs how to read to read

• Symbol World - On-line magazine using symbols for the reading impaired
• Various software for special needs — to increase reading comprehension
• Communication and language development
• Whole language approach
• Ontario Ministry of Education – Province-wide standards for special education - Ontario, Canada

^ Anderson, Mark, The WordPen Learning System, Spring 2004