Problem/Solution
Shared by Beth Goodenough
South CarolinaSchool for the Deaf and the Blind
Problem: Reading Comprehension
As a teacher for Multihandicapped Hearing Impaired students I have been presented numerous times over the years with students who have a fantastic reading vocabulary. These students, however, have shown great difficulty comprehending what they are reading. Vocabulary is essential for reading and comprehension is for understanding. Without comprehension skills students suffer academically in all subject areas.
Solution: Increase Comprehension Skills
When students enter my classroom I give them a simple WH test to see if they are able to categorize the vocabulary words related to Who, What, When and Where. (The vocabulary words will involve words related the mentioned categories) When the students are unable to do this the solution is very simple. Stop, back up. Take the words that students are able to read and place them on index cards. Also, so place the words Who, What, When and Where on index cards. Using these 4 basic cards, have the students explain what each represents. For example, Who represents people. Once an understanding is gained for each you can start introducing their vocabulary words.
Choose a few of their vocabulary cards that represent these WH words. Have the students group them accordingly. I have found that this skill will take some time for true understanding. When students are successful with this activity, I take it a step further. The students and I, working together, develop simple sentences using their vocabulary words. Once sentences are developed I ask them WH questions about the sentences they read. For independent work, I often give the students typed sentences and question requesting those capable write their answers. You could consider this the beginning of comprehension. As student become confident in their 1 sentence and question series, I add a second sentence with questions, eventually working up to short paragraphs with WH questions. This teaching method can be used in all subject areas to build comprehension in Science and Social Studies etc. Because the teacher is breaking the reading material into smaller segments it is time consuming, yet very beneficial for students with comprehension difficulty.
I have found that student frustration has decreased as their reading comprehension increases. Some students have been able to raise their reading level on the district test my school uses by one grade level in a year. Student confidence increases, their interest in books increases and their self-confidence increases ALL of which has an impact on their learning.
Resources are hard to find when dealing with comprehension skill at a basic level that are age appropriate, yet I have found that the company REMEDIA Publications has a wide variety of reading materials. I often have my students morning work consisting of reading and questions from materials I have gotten from this company. They have a web site ( which you can view samples of some of their products. For older students they offer a vide variety of High Interest/ Low Readability materials. Another web site available is which offers printable books at all reading levels.