Controversies over the best way to teach word recognition in beginning reading instruction have raged for generations. The goal has been to acquire automatic skills for recoding written language into speech. At this time, a popular theory suggests that phonics is better than the look-and-say method; however the evidence does not support this…

The effectiveness of providing tactile-kinesthetic sensory input during reading instruction was investigated in a sample of 60 kinesthetic-preferring first-grade pupils. Children were randomly assigned to a method which was predominantly visual, predominantly auditory, or predominantly kinesthetic. Each child received three 20-minute, individual…

A review of the research indicates that Fernald's technique (VAKT) for learning to read and spell is effective in some, but not all, instances. (MKM)

Strategies are suggested to assist students with reading comprehension difficulties. Strategies include: (1) developing appropriate background through discussion of story concepts, brainstorming, conceptual webbing, and kinesthetic or tactile experiences; (2) asking students to predict what will happen; (3) reciprocal questioning between students…

An exploratory study to discover the relationships between preferred learning modalities and differentiated presentations of reading tasks was conducted in a low socioeconomic, predominantly Puerto Rican public school in New York City, with 106 first-grade children as subjects. Preferred learning modality (auditory, visual, or kinesthetic) was…

Filling a crucial gap in the literature, this immensely practical volume presents innovative tools for helping K-3 students significantly increase their ability to make meaning from texts. The focus is on teaching the comprehension processes employed by expert readers, using a carefully sequenced combination of whole-class activities, specially…

Research on an experimental application in classroom settings of a new method for the teaching of reading, the Ball-Stick-Bird method, is described in this report. The Ball-Stick-Bird method is a code-emphasis approach developed by Rene Fuller. In this system, each letter of the alphabet is taught on the basis of its distinctive features. Capital…

Reading teachers should choose activities and experiences for the classroom that are central to reading. Although a sense of security surrounds the teaching of testable finite reading skills, it is necessary to choose language arts experiences that are not so readily evaluated but still are basic to reading. Listening instruction can facilitate…

In the Neurological Impress Method (NIM) for helping children with reading problems, the teacher and student read aloud together while the child points with an index finger to the words that are being spoken. The system thus provides visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile input for learners. A review of the scant information on NIM reported in…

This software product teaches reading skills beyond simple word recognition. The accompanying twelve printed lesson plans are designed to complement the reading skills with other methods and areas of emphasis including kinesthetic learning, listening skills, decision making skills, syntactic understanding, word analysis, dictionary skills, and…

This software product uses word and picture association, matching, fill in the blank, and sentence construction that focus on making the user (K-3 students) a competent whole sentence reader in English or Spanish. The accompanying printed lesson plans are designed to complement the reading skills with other methods and areas of emphasis including…

The study investigated the effectiveness of an ecological inventory and screen writing for the acquisition of reading words for secondary-aged moderately mentally handicapped students. The study utilized an ecological inventory model which is an adult-referenced curriculum based on adult tasks and local resources and environments, rather than on…

Deficiencies in spelling ability are present in varying degrees among elementary and secondary school students. Often these deficiencies are accompanied by related reading difficulties. As a means of combating spelling difficulties and thereby also of combating reading difficulties, it is suggested that the visual-auditory-kinesthetic-tactile…

The relative effectiveness of 3 instructional procedures (sight word, fading, tactile-kinesthetic) in teaching 32 students (age 9-20) with moderate to severe mental retardation to read a series of monosyllabic words was investigated. No one experimental condition was superior to the others, and no skill acquisition differences were found in…

The effectiveness of three instructional approaches was investigated in a study of how best to facilitate vocabulary acquisition. The three approaches were (1) the cognitive approach, a method employing dictionary worksheets and patterned after the most commonly used method of teaching vocabulary; (2) the affective approach, which urged students…