The Incredible Benefits of Word-Level Reading Practice
Why do people with dyslexia need word-level reading practice? The reasons for word-level practice go right to the heart of the challenges caused by dyslexia. When they encounter a new word, all readers go through a process of decoding that word to figure it out. However, with repeated exposure that word becomes one that is recognized instantaneously without needing to go through the decoding step.
Why We Spend Time on Word-Level Reading Practice in Intervention
1. Number of repetitions needed
The big difference between a typically developing reader and a struggling reader is how many repetitions it takes to happen.
- For a typically developing reader, that newly decoded word may become a word instantly recognized on sight in 4 to 14 repetitions. These are the students who will encounter a new word and know it thoroughly by the end of a story. These are also the children who can master spelling words week after week just by completing classroom activities. A struggling reader may require significantly more exposures to a word before achieving that same type of automaticity. It is not unusual for a reader to require 14-40 exposures to a word before truly building automatic recognition.
- For a student with dyslexia or other learning disability, that number is more likely between 40 and 200 times. Even after being able to read a word automatically, many students still struggle to recall the correct spelling of the word.
2. The nature of the English languge
The nature of the English language is one of the factors that makes so much repetition necessary. Some languages have close correspondence between sounds and spelling. English has a deep or opaque orthography. Spelling of words in English is based not only on sounds but also on morphology and meaning. While it is well known that people with dyslexia struggle with phonological processing, research has shown that deficits in processing the orthography (spelling patterns) of English are as large as phonological deficits.
Students with reading difficulties are much slower to build accurate representations of words in their brains. Readers with dyslexia move more slowly in the full alphabetic and consolidated alphabetic stages. We tend to see repeated sounding out of words you might expect to have been fully orthographically mapped. However, these students have not yet developed a stable pattern of word recognition.
Learn more! Read, Why We Code Words.
3. Visual Crowding
Another factor that makes word practice vital for students with dyslexia is the challenge these students have with visual crowding. Spotting letter sequences and word patterns in a block of text is significantly more challenging for students with dyslexia. They frequently have difficulty with incorporating letters of words on either side. Features of nearby words get mixed up with features of the target word. This is one reason why students with dyslexia can have difficulty with visual overwhelm on a busy page of text and tend to prefer more white space on the page.
Practicing word reading in isolation eliminates this crowding problem while students are developing and mastering their phonics skills. It also supports them while working to build an accurate orthographic map of the target words. Reading words in list form with ample white space, on word cards, or on cards as part of a game, gives students these crucial repetitions without visual distractions. Our goal is fluent and accurate recognition of words and fluent and accurate production of spelling sequences.
How We Study Word-Level Reading in an OG Lesson
Word study through explicit orthographic mapping activities helps students develop a stable understanding of how individual words are spelled. This promotes faster word recognition, increased fluency, and increased accuracy. The student with an excellent sight vocabulary, but weak spelling may be in need of more explicit orthographic mapping work to solidify their recognition of a stable spelling.
The Orton Gillingham lesson sequence lends itself to abundant word-level practice. In addition to word-level practice of learned words, we also incorporate word-level practice of words using the new phonemic concept, and word-level practice of review words including previously taught concepts.
As Orton-Gillingham practitioners, we include opportunities for more exposure and practice by:
- reading word lists multiple times
- incorporating games
- sending home games for additional practice
In the encoding part of the OG lesson, we also make sure to incorporate practice at the word level for both new and review concepts.
However, we don’t stop at the word level. Orton Gillingham lessons also incorporate reading words at the phrase or sentence level and as part of continuous text. This gives students the vital practice of using their developing word representations in context.
For more information, check out my video on YouTube, Looking Closer at Word Lists!
Bonus Tip! One way we can support students in making the step to working with words in the context of a larger piece of writing is by having them highlight specific spelling patterns or words. Different colors can be used for irregular learned words. This practice can help them combat the effects of crowding while their model of the word is not fully developed.
Decodable Word Lists and Sentences for Word-Level Reading Practice
Have you been struggling to find decodable word lists and sentences for your Orton-Gillingham lessons? This Orton-Gillingham Level 1-5 bundle is a collection of my five leveled words and sentences packs. They are perfect for use in your Orton-Gillingham lesson plans and dyslexia intervention.
Beyond the Word List!
Beyond The Word List guides you to take a critical look at your word lists and carefully plan activities your students will love. This simple yet effective training will equip you with the training and the tools you need, provide you with a roadmap of ideas to guide you along the way and show you easy, low-prep examples to boost any word list into a language-building powerhouse.
What does the 3-day challenge look like? This is a fully asynchronous and virtual training. You can complete the 3-day challenge at your convenience. Day 1 is where your training kicks off. On day 2, you’ll watch the activities in action. And, on day 3 you’ll put what you’ve learned into practice by trying the activities yourself.
Join the 3-day challenge, here! Or, become a yearly member of the Building Readers for Life Academy to join in on all of our challenges!
