My child is struggling 
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We know from research that there are specific strategies that are effective in addressing passive reading unfortunately, comprehension instruction is promoted far less than is instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency.
Skip Stahl:
What we've been working on to address this problem is what we call the Thinking Reader approach, a research-based means of teaching effective reading strategies. One outgrowth of our research has been a program currently in use for grades six, seven and eight, simply called Thinking Reader, which is being marketed by Tom Snyder software, part of Scholastic. This particular program includes nine of the most popular core reading curriculum titles currently in use for those grades Tuck Everlasting, A Wrinkle in Time, and Dragonwings, for example. I think it's also important to point out that this particular program is only one instance of how the Thinking Reader approach can be used; here at CAST we currently have five or six other projects underway to apply these techniques across the grade ranges.
This particular application of the Thinking Reader approach is based on what's known as "Reciprocal Teaching," an approach originally developed in the mid-1980s by Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Ann L. Brown to help students learn to read strategically and to teach them how to understand what they read. The text is presented in blocks, what we call idea units, of around one to three pages of text. Students are asked to summarize the text they've read; the teacher helps them, through dialogue, to clarify points that they don't understand; they're asked to predict what will happen next in the story; they're asked to formulate questions about the text; and we've also added techniques for story visualization and for helping students express their personal reactions to the story.
With the Thinking Reader program that's currently on the market, students are also reading books at grade level, the same texts as their peers are reading. The software provides support for the reading that allows them to get through books they might not be able to get through otherwise, and there isn't the stigma having to carry around and read a book written for a younger audience.
Do you see this as a way to help educate special needs students in a general education setting, and a way to help decrease their isolation from the student population at large?
Bart Pisha:
Absolutely. A major concern about the inclusion of special needs students in a general education setting has been that teachers would somehow have to "dumb down" the curriculum in order to make it accessible to these students. The Thinking Reader approach is precisely the opposite of that. The materials the special needs students are studying are exactly the same as those being studied by the other students, with the software providing scaffolds and supports that help the student get to and understand what they're reading. As the students grow more experienced and more confident, they can leave those supports behind and can become increasingly independent. And all of this can be done without holding back the others in the class the level of challenge can be set to the needs of each student, and if the student is capable, he or she can simply read the book in the conventional manner.
One of the ways I like to characterize our approach is comparing it to elevators you see in modern buildings. The control panel has buttons with floor numbers and next to each button is the floor number written in Braille. When I walk into the elevator, as a sighted person I punch a button and go to my floor the Braille numbers don't interfere in any way with my use of the elevator. But because this feature has been added to the control panel, blind people can use the elevator too, something that would be almost impossible if the Braille wasn't there. With Thinking Reader the teacher and student can negotiate the level of challenge and if the program offers supports that the student doesn't need, they can simply be turned off.
Assistive technologies and other types of infrastructure and systems designed for special needs students are often criticized as stigmatizing. Is there some truth to this, and have you found that the stigma of being a special needs student is a significant hurdle to their learning?
Bart Pisha:
I'm dyslexic and my early educational career was pretty much a disaster. I graduated high school in the mid-1960s, and the idea of someone being dyslexic and of learning disabilities in general was very young and hadn't made it to my school district. The hardest thing for me was people telling me that I was lazy and that I wasn't trying, so I know a bit about what it means to be stigmatized because of a learning problem.
Much of the literature on assistive technologies points out that an appalling number of these technologies aren't used by the people they're intended for because of the stigma attached. I remember hearing Mel Levine speak maybe twenty years ago, saying "The number one job of every adolescent in school is to get through the day without being humiliated." Being different, being singled out can be a very big deal for young kids.
Add to this, while our focus in the Thinking Reader project is on struggling readers, we also understand that the curriculum has to address everyone. The goals of learning are the same for everyone, the trick is to design something that's flexible enough so that everyone can use it to achieve those goals. Something that would be well and universally designed would, in our view, have affordances that would benefit all learners, including not just the special needs group, but also those who might be considered exceptionally able students. We're trying to create something that will not only teach the basics and help put special needs students on the same footing as their peers where possible, but which will also provide enrichment and challenges beyond the basics and provide a framework for students to follow up on more complex ideas simply because they find them interesting.
Skip Stahl:
And the technologies of the last twenty or so years, particularly computer technology, have been very important in finding ways to make this happen. It's also helping to lessen the stigma that might have previously been attached to using an assistive technology. Technologies that a student with learning disabilities might have previously used, and which would have been considered an assistive technology, are increasingly coming packaged as something that everyone is using a word processor with a spell checker, a portable MP3 player with an audio book on the hard drive, a PDA or a talking pocket dictionary. None of those are going to be marketed specifically as AT, yet each of those is a conveyance for some type of assistive technology. I honestly can't think of an LD-specific assistive technology right now that doesn't also have a wide application in the culture at large.
Bart Pisha, Ph.D., is Director of Research at CAST, bringing to his work a unique combination of teaching, scholarship and research that combines effective instructional methods with contemporary electronic media to improve instruction for all students. Dr. Pisha received his master's degree from Goddard College and his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before joining CAST in 1993, he taught in public elementary schools and at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has held teaching fellowships in reading instruction, research methodology and statistics at Harvard. Dr. Pisha also has a documented learning disability and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Dyslexia Association.
William (Skip) Stahl is the Director of CAST's Universal Learning Center and one of the founders of CAST. For ten years, Mr. Stahl directed CAST's professional development program and has extensive experience providing professional development on technology applications in education. This includes the establishment of statewide initiatives in Maine, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana and Ohio. Mr. Stahl holds a B.A. in English Literature from Bard College and an M.S from Bank Street College of Education. Nationally recognized for his training efforts using the CAST-developed Universal Design for Learning model, Mr. Stahl has helped numerous school districts and state education agencies develop proactive strategies for using technology to meet the needs of all learners.
For more information, visit CAST.org.
