Four Overlooked Reasons Children Struggle with Reading Comprehension
I see more and more kids in special education, and so few ever exiting, that I have to wonder whether what we are doing is working. One reason so many kids end up in special ed is difficulty reading. This is one area I KNOW we can do better.
Many Kids End Up in Special Ed Because of Reading Difficulties–Do They Need to?
The special education category of disability that continues to lead the way with the highest percentage of students is SLD or specific learning disability with 32% of the children in special education given this classification, considerably higher than autism (13%) and speech or language impairment (19%) (NCES report 2022-2023)
Many of the children in this disability category struggle to read, write, and develop math skills.
Reading comprehension is a foundational skill that underlies a lot of the needs we see in this SLD category.
I can’t help but wonder if the reason this disability category is so large is because we don’t know how to effectively support these children through these developmental processes. All of these learning needs can have numerous root causes.
Far too often, I see canned, cookie-cutter approaches being implemented for each area of need. Reading problems? We do this! Reading comprehension deficits? We do that! Math difficulties? We do this.
How is this approach working for us?
I’d argue it’s not. We see more and more children identified each year with very few kids ever “graduating” from special education.
I’ve been told before, “Well, they have a disability and will always have a disability, and may never get better at these skills.”
I refuse that premise with every fiber of my being. Neuroscience tells us that the brain can change if we give it the right sensory experiences.
4 Overlooked Reading Needs that Neuroscience Helps Us Understand
Neuroscience shows us time and time again that the brain is incredibly malleable. We just have to provide it with the right stimuli and the right amount of repetition.
Determining what the right stimuli are begins with a thorough assessment that gets to the root cause of a child’s learning need. SLD is not a root cause diagnosis, nor is dyslexia, dysgraphia or any other dys-word. We must look beyond the label and examine the cognitive processes necessary to develop those skills.
Oral Language Comprehension Need
Understanding spoken (oral) language is the precursor to understanding written language. Oral language comprehension is also called receptive language, and is a skill necessary for reading comprehension.
2. Executive Function Need
Executive function plays a large role in reading comprehension, especially the skills of attention, working memory, and self-monitoring. If children struggle to pay attention to and retain the information read (working memory), they will struggle to comprehend it. Also, if they are unable to catch their mistakes (self-monitoring), they may read the words wrong and then incorrectly comprehend it.
3. Phonological Processing Need
Our phonological processing is the cognitive skill that allows us to decode or sound out words. If a child cannot sound out words, they simply cannot read them. If they cannot read them, they cannot comprehend them.
4. Lexical Reading Route Processing Need
The lexical route for reading in the brain bypasses phonological processing. In doing so, it provides reading automaticity. When this route is not strong enough, a child's reading is typically slow and laborious, and the child's energy and attention is often solely focused on decoding. As a result, they are not focused on extracting meaning from the text. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time–decoding or comprehension. This is why the lexical route that yields reading automaticity is so important. It frees up cognitive capacity for comprehension.
As we can see, there are many reasons a child might struggle with reading comprehension. Not all of those reasons require special education to address them. Determining the root cause is the key to providing effective intervention. Best practice in education would support all of these needs throughout instruction. First, we must understand cognition. We must be providing our educators with cognitive-based education, not just cookie-cutter curriculums.
I’m all about finding the root cause of a child’s learning needs, and understanding executive function is so often the key. Want to learn more?
Check out my book,The Seeds of Learning: A Cognitive Processing Model for Speech, Language, Literacy, and Executive Functioning.
I offer my keystone course–the Executive Function Roots–twice a year in my Seeds of Learning® community of practice. Sign up to get a notification next time enrollment opens!
