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Washington, November 2 (ANI): Variation in words may help early readers learn better, a new study has indicated.

Many educators have long believed that when words differ on only one sound, early readers can learn the rules of phonics by focusing on what is different between the words. This is thought to be a critical gateway to reading words and sentences.

But scientists at the University of Iowa are turning that thinking on its head.

A recent study shows that certain kinds of variation in words may help early readers learn better.

When children see the same phonics regularities, embedded in words with more variation, they may learn these crucial early reading skills better.

What might appear to make learning a more difficult task - learning about letter-sound relationships from words with more variation - actually leads to better learning.

Doctoral student Keith Apfelbaum and associate professors Bob McMurray and Eliot Hazeltine of the Department of Psychology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) studied 224 first-grade students in the West Des Moines, Iowa school system over a period of three months. The group used a version of an online supplementary curriculum called Access Code.

Access Code was developed by Foundations in Learning, a company founded by Carolyn Brown and Jerry Zimmermann.

Brown and Zimmermann earned their doctorates from and are now adjunct faculty in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, also in CLAS.

Based on the Varied Practice Model, which helps children master early reading skills like phonics, the research team used Access Code to conduct the study directly in the classroom.

During the study, one group of students learned using lists of words with a small, less variable set of consonants, such as maid, mad, paid, and pad. This is close to traditional phonics instruction, which uses similar words to help illustrate the rules and, presumably, simplify the problem for learners.

A second group of students learned using a list of words that was more variable, such as bait, sad, hair, and gap, but which embodied the same rules.

After three or four days of training on phonics skills, partaking in activities such as spelling and matching letters, the students from both groups were tested to see if they could read words that they had never seen before, read novel non-words, and apply their newly-learned skills to tasks they hadn't done before.

One career mentor of mine (and multi-millionaire) said that an inviolable part of his day was reading. He spends at least 1 hour per day – every work day – just reading.
He explained this reading may be books or articles in his industry, it might be mindset and self-improvement topics, or it might be just learning more about what is going on in the world (to understand how it affects his industry).
But whatever the topic, this daily practice was something he never missed – he felt this time was vitally important.
Now, I’ll be honest. I don’t usually spend a full hour reading industry, self-improvement, skill building or other professional works each day, but the idea has stayed with me.
He believed it so important to keep learning, to stay on top of his profession and to learn SOMETHING each and every day – whether it was specific work skills or just general mindset information – that he set aside time each day to do so, and never missed it.
He said it was the ONE thing he did every day.
This man is an entrepreneur – he owns his own company. So he understands the importance of focusing on revenue-generating actions. He has to take solid action toward building his business, and yet continual learning is something he credited with his success.
As I mentioned last week, he truly takes to heart my message of backing up and making sure to see the big picture.
However, I think it is more than just the reading that was important; it is the mindset behind the practice, as well as the discipline, that made the action so important.
Continual Learning

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/10/19/aurelia-flores-reading-as-part-your-daily-practice/#ixzz29lr8lzS6

We asked you how to fix the economy and were flooded with responses. We'll be running these in the coming days. To contribute to the debate hit the green button below.

In spite of higher unemployment there is a shortage of skilled workers.

In spite of a fabulous boom, 1/8 th of Australia's citizens live below the poverty line.

About 70 per cent of New Zealanders and Australians cannot read with understanding beyond a reading age of 9-10.

As one must have a memory of language to read with comprehension, 45 per cent of Aucklanders are from a non-English speaking background and have low English language skills.

Many of these people will never have the opportunity to learn to read fluently and remember what they were reading about.

In addition, one person in six has an Auditory Processing Disorder caused by New Zealand's notoriously low housing standards (glue ear), or genetics.

At present teachers assess letters, words and basic comprehension. Reading is really "metacognition" - the synthesising of listening, speaking and reading.

There are no schools in New Zealand which effectively co-ordinate literacy and linguistics. I know because, as a relieving teacher, I went into most of Auckland's schools.

However, new theory and practice has been developed by New Zealand teachers and researchers over the past 30 years.

As an educator I am working towards the day when all people will be able to place food on their table, and all mothers can be proud of their children.

Reading skills improving thanks to schools scheme
Wednesday, October 10, 2012South Wales Evening PostFollow
THOUSANDS of young people have "significantly improved" their reading skills, thanks to a schools programme aimed at improving literacy.

More than 2,000 young people who have received two school terms of Eight Reading Behaviours teaching were tested and all were found to have improved reading skills.

The pupils, aged eight to 14, were tested last December and again in June this year to discover their reading age, which had improved by more than expected.

Stephanie Vaughan, Swansea Council's English and literacy advisor to schools, said: "We have changed the way teachers work with children and have encouraged parents to read at home in different ways.

"Before some children were able to learn and recite words from the page of a book but did not understand what those words or phrases actually meant, giving them little educational benefit.

Encouraging

"The Eight Reading Behaviours are easy to understand strategies to make children more active readers.

"They can include encouraging children to picture the text in their head, to ask questions and to make suggestions about what is happening in the story. They help pupils better understand what's on the page in front of them.

"Pupils are given the skills to read independently and encouraged to become critical readers, who can make judgements, form opinions and read between the lines. They are also able to select and summarise information.

"This way pupils enjoy reading more and read in ways which help them t

Here’s a fun reading activities that’s included in my forthcoming book, Helping Children Learn to Read Through Multi-Sensory Reading Activities – A Resource and Handbook For Parents and Teachers.

In addition to the humble book, publishers have launched an array of reading programs designed to help readers of all types acquire the skills they need — Here’s a selection of the most innovative
Academy of READING
The Academy of READING is an intensive, online intervention program for struggling readers in grades 2-12 which instructs students in the five critical areas of reading — Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. Continuous assessment and progress monitoring provide robust data to inform instruction and illustrate students’ reading gains.

The program breaks the complex task of reading into manageable pieces. Students learn using a structured and sequential approach, in­creasing their automaticity and building higher order comprehension skills.
Each student is given individualized instruction based on real-time formative data. Assessment and progress monitoring tools create goals and give each student a personalized learning plan. The dynamic learning environment provides positive feedback and coaching, motivating the most reluctant students.

Real-time, web-based reports allow teachers and administrators to monitor student progress and document reading gains. Teachers can access student and class level data, while administrators can view performance at the school and district level.

Dynamic Vision Training — Eyes in Conflict
The Gemstone Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation, offers Dynamic Vision Training (DVT) to help students age nine and up who skip lines, lose their place, see words wiggle or jump around, or even see double on occasion. Proven effective in classroom situations from grade 3 through adult, DVT uses 3D technology in an online interactive format, so it feels like playing a game. Each session is 15 minutes long and the entire program contains 30 sessions. DVT is perfect for a pull-out or after school program for students who read below grade level yet have no known reading disorder and have passed school vision screening. Between 20% and 50% of poor readers like this have Eyes in Conflict, a condition where the two eyes are not well coordinated. The problem is easily identified and can be remedied by DVT in most children regardless of ESL or Special Education status, because no reading is required.

English 9A
English 9A is a newly refreshed course from PLATO Learning that is now fully aligned to Common Core State Standards. The program gives the instructor a variety of ways to engage different learning modalities and to give the student an opportunity to experience a range of standards and objectives to ensure academic success. Learning activities include tutorials, lesson activities, online discussions, and unit activities to deepen understanding of key unit objectives.
The course also includes comprehensive assessment tools like unit pretests, mastery tests, unit post-tests, and end-of-semester tests. These assessments combined with instructor-evaluated unit and lesson activities provide multiple data points that result in a more accurate evaluation of a student’s strengths and needs.

Reading assignments cover a wide range of authors, periods, and genres, from The Sport of Biathlon to The Iliad; from Sport Utility Vehicles and Safety to Paradise Lost. Unit activities include Visualizing as you Read, Understanding Figurative Language, Using Prior Knowledge to Read Expository Text, and Analyzing Personal Narratives.

Free gravity font helps dyslexics read online
IANS Oct 9, 2012, 05.57PM IST

Tags:
verbal|The move|dyslexics|dyslexia|awareness

(Free gravity font helps…)
A free-gravity font, that can also be used on mobile phones, and that looks like it's melting because of a heavier bottom is what dyslexics - people with learning difficulty - need for reading online. It is less likely the brain will rotate them and confuse sufferers.

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that impairs skills involved in accurate and fluent reading and spelling. Characteristic features are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed.

The growth pattern of long-range connections in the brain predicts how a child’s reading skills will develop, according to research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1.

Literacy requires the integration of activity in brain areas involved in vision, hearing and language. These areas are distributed throughout the brain, so efficient communication between them is essential for proficient reading.

Jason Yeatman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in California, and his colleagues studied how the development of reading ability relates to growth in the brain’s white-matter tracts, the bundles of nerve fibres that connect distant regions of the brain.

They tested how the reading skills of 55 children aged between 7 and 12 years old developed over a three-year period. There were big differences in reading ability between the children, and these differences persisted — the children who were weak readers relative to their peers at the beginning of the study were still weak three years later.

The researchers also scanned the brains of 39 of the children at least three times during the same period, to visualize the growth of two major white-matter tracts: the arcuate fasciculus, which conects the brain's language centres, and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which links the language centres with the parts of the brain that process visual information.

Related stories
Neuroscience: Making connections
Dyslexic diversity
Dyslexia: Lost for words
More related stories
Differences in the growth of both tracts could predict the variations in reading ability. Strong readers started off with a weak signal in both tracts on the left side of the brain, which got stronger over the three years. Weaker readers exhibited the opposite pattern.

ANDREW Norriss won The Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1997 for his book Aquila . He also adapted his books Bernard's Watch and Matt's Millions for ITV as well as co-writing the sitcom The Brittas Empire . He speaks to Esther Browning...

What was your favourite book when you were small and why did you love it?
"The first book I remember being given as a present was Peter Pan, and for a long time he was the person I most wanted to be and Neverland was the place I most wanted to go."

Eddie Taylor, CEO of the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way, is giving me a tutorial on one of his organization’s new education programs. ...

Some students arrive at high school with a reading age of only 10, a Tauranga principal says.

Revamping Reading Culture In Nigeria
Revamping Reading Culture In Nigeria
Published on September 17, 2012 by pmnews · No Comments
By Funmi Fasipe
According to the online dictionary, reading is defined as a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation. Reading isn’t about escaping into the world of fiction- it is also about providing context to our environment- both real and imagined. But reading in the context of this piece, is reading for a purpose that will enhance intellectual and socio-economic development. Reading habit is having a strong desire to read everything ‘readable’ every time and everywhere.
A popular maxim says ‘readers are leaders’ and amongst the things that affect people in life includes the books they read. Reading is one of the best ways for training and bringing up children. Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. A good book has a salutary effect on the mind of its reader. It elevates the spirit and thoughts. It augments his store of knowledge. Books help in correcting moral ineptitude, especially in these days of mechanical existence, the best source of acquiring knowledge are books. Reading brings about a revolutionary change in the outlook of a person. It keeps a person busy when he has nothing else to do.
Embracing a reading culture is vital to the individual and to the overall development of any nation. The significance of reading in a nation’s development cannot be overemphasised. It is essential to uphold a reading culture to checkmate literacy from reverting to illiteracy. No country can dream of meaningful development if its citizens cannot read. An enlightened citizenry can readily be mobilized for the attainment of political, social and economic goals of a nation.
It is, however, sad that the reading culture is fast declining across the world. The declining interest in reading, especially among youths today, is a cause for alarm and a challenge to all. In Nigeria, for instance, it is, perhaps, safe to say that reading culture has died. Except, perhaps, in the case of students who must read to pass examinations or for any other such involuntary factors, the culture of reading is fast fading in the society. In most tertiary institution, academic libraries get filled up to the brim only when exam is at hand. Today, the youth will rather listen to all sorts of music; watch the English Premiership and party around.
The reasons for the decline in reading culture are not far- fetched. For one, reading is a tasking exercise that involves full concentration. Second, in our society today, nobody is interested in embarking on any activity that has no corresponding financial gains. Third, our socio-economic environment is not reading friendly. The daily struggle for economic survival provides little or no time for people, especially those living in the cities, to cultivate a good reading habit. Also, the decline in the standard of education in the country has seriously affected reading culture in the country. Equally, high cost of books, particularly the imported ones, has contributed to a decline in reading culture in the country.
It is, nevertheless, encouraging to note that the National Library is gradually coming up with strategies to stimulate reading culture in the country. This it has been doing by organizing seminars, workshops as well as other public enlightenment devices that could enhance the revamping of reading culture in the country. Equally, the National Library has embarked upon a plan to expand libraries across all states in the country. Recently, the Benue State branch was inaugurated while in due course the prototype branches in Bauchi and Yola will be commissioned. According to the chairman of the National Library Board, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, the board is committed to fostering the growth of development of knowledge and also deepens the experience and the enhancement of skills in the country by making the recorded knowledge freely available.
In Lagos State, the state government has been embarking on programmes and activities that encourage reading culture. In recent time, the government has made the annual World Literacy Day one of the most celebrated in the state’s official calendar. Indeed, in one of the editions, the State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) read a whole book to the pupils of St. Paul Anglican Primary School, Alausa, Ikeja. In another edition, it was the Nobel Laurel, Professor Wole Soyinka, that read a book to the pupils while on another occasion, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire broke Guinness World Record after reading to over three thousand (3000) students and also reading along with about four thousand five hundred (4500) pupils the book: ‘Time Changes Yesterday’ written by Ngengi Koin.
Similarly, the Lagos State Government has adopted a policy of “No Child left Behind” by making basic education free, qualitative and compulsory for all children regardless of ethnic backgrounds. In order to create and sustain awareness on the benefits of a robust reading culture, government has equally conceived the ‘Eko Akete’ reading programme to encourage children to embrace reading culture. Also, government has rebuilt the Broad Street library to an ICT Centre cum library where resources running into millions could be easily accessed by interested users. Aside this, Lagos has over eleven public libraries with at least one in each of the five divisions in the state. The State’s Public Service Library is equally well stocked with books and well managed by professionals. In all, the state government has massively invested in the acquisition of books for its libraries across the state.
To revamp the culture of reading in the country, parents are the first agents in encouraging reading habits in the society. Governments, librarians and other non-governmental organizations should be given maximum support to build up a society that comprises of intellectuals and educated minds. Every nursery, primary and tertiary institution needs to launch a readership promotion campaign which will help to inculcate the culture of reading in the children. Governments across the country must begin to subsidize the cost of publishing essential books to encourage local production. There is also an urgent need for Governments across the land to build more libraries to accommodate more users in areas yet to be reached. Private organisations, individuals, NGOs should help in the provision of infrastructures which would stimulate and foster good reading habit.
The absence of a widespread culture of reading is an effective barrier to a civilised political culture and economic prosperity. For our country to attain the socio-economic height of our dreams and aspirations, we need to develop literate citizens that are able to read widely and apply it practically for development. It is, therefore, essential to make the present generation further conscious of the importance of reading as well as ensure that they have the required literacy skills in our contemporary society.
•Fasipe, a student of the University of Ilorin, is on Industrial Attachment with the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja

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New research from the UK suggests that taking a daily supplement of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, could be a simple and effective way to improve reading and behaviour in healthy but underperforming children.

Alex Richardson, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention at Oxford University, and colleagues, report the results of the DHA Oxford Learning and Behaviour (DOLAB) study in a paper that was published online in the open access journal PLoS ONE on 6 September.

DHA stands for Docosahexaenoic acid, an important omega-3 fatty acid that is found in fish, seafood and algae (seaweed). The type Richardson and colleagues used in the DOLAB study comes from algae, making it suitable for vegetarians.

People living in modern developed countries do not generally get enough essential omega-3 fatty acids, a lack of which is thought to contribute to a wide range of health problems, both physical and mental.

In an attempt to encourage reading habits among school children to improve their language skills, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has recommended a selection of books from various publications for students to read. This is part of the board's new reading project that aims to inculcate good reading habits in children.

The list of recommended books includes 14 books of Katha, a charitable organisation in the Capital. Seven of the Katha titles are in English and seven in Hindi. The selection presents a group of best selling books from fiction as well as the non-fiction category.

A class of Santa Maria High School students sat fully engaged, staring just in front of a moving blue line across their computer screens Monday morning.

The group, mostly freshmen in a Reading Improvement class, were tasked with reading the text before it was enveloped by the blue line. Reading every word was important because comprehension questions would follow.

Results from using the research-based intervention Reading Plus program at Santa Maria High have so far shown marked improvement in the reading level of struggling students sometimes reading several grades below their level.

“I’ve had some students improve already in four weeks,” said English teacher Auni Baldwin, who helped pilot the United Way-sponsored program last spring.

“Eighty percent of my students moved from five-plus grade levels below to one below,” she added. “Reading is in every subject. It’s preparing our students for the workforce. Every day they can track their own progress.”

On Monday afternoon, Baldwin gathered on campus with other high school and city officials, as well as those from the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and Pacific Gas and Electric Co., to announce results of the United for Literacy partnership (UFL).

I know I've been absent for a while - but finding out I am having twins has completely overtaken my world. I haven't left you all - I promise. I actually need your help! I have compiled a list of all of the reading strategies I could think of. I am wanting to put them into a list. This list needs to almost like a stepping stone list, meaning the strategies at the beginning of the list are the foundation strategies that students need to know at the beginning. The next few strategies would be what the students should learn next, and the last strategies would be the most challenging that the students would learn after the beginning and middle ones have been mastered. I'm very interested in what your thoughts are for this list. How would you list them from foundation strategies to higher comprehension strategies?? Think about which strategies the students would need to know/do before they could do the others.

Research news from leading universities...

The researchers expected to see pleasure centers activating for the relaxed reading and hypothesized that close reading, as a form of heightened attention, would create more neural activity than pleasure reading.
If the ongoing analysis continues to support the initial theory, Phillips says, teaching close reading (i.e., attention to literary form) “could serve—quite literally—as a kind of cognitive training, teaching us to modulate our concentration and use new brain regions as we move flexibly between modes of focus.”
With the field of literary neuroscience in its infancy, Phillips says this project is helping to demonstrate the potential that neuroscientific tools have to “give us a bigger, richer picture of how our minds engage with art—or, in our case, of the complex experience we know as literary reading.”

THE ability to read develops the minds of children and improves their communication skills.

Speaking at the launch of the National Library Week in Nausori yesterday, director Library Services, Merewalesi Vueti, said a person was limited in what they could accomplish without good reading and comprehension skills.

And yesterday she sent out a message to encourage young children to read.

"Understanding the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability," she said.

"Teaching young children to read helps them develop their language skills.

"It also helps them learn to listen.

"Lack of listening skills can result in major misunderstanding which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup and other disasters small and great."

Ms Vueti said the National Library Week celebration had adopted a roadshow concept.

The theme for this year is Reading Unlocks the Future.

One in five European fifteen year olds has poor reading skills and 75 million Europeans have low qualifications, often lacking basic reading and writing skills. These striking facts prompted the European Commission to establish the High Level Group of Experts on Literacy. The group launched its report in the run up to 8 September, UNESCO´s International Literacy Day.

UNESCO´s Special Envoy on Literacy for Development, H.R.H. Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, chaired the EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy.

The Princess is a longstanding advocate for improved literacy, for both children and adults. In the Netherlands, she established the Reading & Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven), which she also chairs.
UNRIC´s Alexandra Froger and Anne Helsen talked to Princess Laurentien on the eve of the publication of the High Level Expert Group’s Report.

Could you give us a summary of the situation in Europe regarding literacy and highlight some developments that are particular for Europe (as compared to the rest of the world)?

We are living a paradox: our lives tend to be dominated by the written word, yet our literacy levels are falling. This has a huge impact on the lives and livelihoods of millions of Europeans. The next generation is on course to do no better. When we look at the shocking numbers, we have to admit to ourselves that Europe has made very little progress over the past decade. I hope that our recommendations will convince policy makers to put the issue on the political agenda, both within EU Member States and at EU level. But that’s not enough of course. We need to put our knowledge into practice!

As a non-native, there are two rules that I try to obey since moving to the local region. Rule one: Don’t judge bayou people and tell them how to live their lives. Rule two: Obey rule one. Thrifty, brave, reverent, kind and most of the others I am aces with, but I struggle when it comes to obedience, so please forgive me for disobeying rule two.

Another school year is upon us and, the governor’s reform aside, nothing has happened to give confidence that the education of your children will improve.

Education will not improve until you start reforming parents’ thinking and appreciation of the need and value of education.

Parents have to be made to understand that reading starts education.

Education cannot happen without acquiring reading skills and appreciation for the need to read.

However, many parents were not reared in households that needed reading skills because their parents could provide for the family without needing the skills and appreciation of reading. So parents can’t give what they weren’t given.

Disobeying rule two, here is a way to initiate reading skills and build reading appreciation. There are many retired teachers who are just wringing their hands in frustration over the continued decline of education.

Experts say improving writing and reading skills must not be neglected.Reading and writing development are intertwined in learning. The physical act of writing letters and words enhances a child’s ability to read. The complementary relationship between reading and writing continues long after these early efforts. Therefore, it is good to stress on improving writing skills at a young age itself. Good vocabulary is the foundation for good writing. The best way to improve children’s knowledge of words is to encourage them to read more, and look up the meanings of words they do not understand.

Playing simple word games or even scrabble can greatly contribute towards building children’s vocabulary. Going through their homework to check for spelling and grammatical errors is also useful, as it will reinforce what is being taught in school. When children have a report to write at home, it is better to encourage them to make a rough draft first. This way spelling and other errors can be avoided in the final copy.

During my first few months at MarketWave, I heard what has become a bit of a legendary story. The short version: Tina was on a conference call with some engineers from a client company discussing how hackers could sit outside of a company’s building and literally break into its network from the parking lot using homemade devices as simple as stuff they would find at Radio Shack. As she listened, she put the call on mute and voiced the term “drive-by hacking” to our team. The phrase not only attached a memorable phrase to the issue, but sparked a story angle, which our firm later pitched and landed on CNN.

The story stuck with me, serving as a reminder that great ideas can sometimes come from unlikely places and that active listening can really pay off. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that, like other skills, we have to hone and develop our ability to actively listen and process information.

Here are five guidelines I tend to follow:

Believe in the benefits. Improving relationships, gaining insight, improving clarity, sparking new ideas and learning something new.
Focus and re-focus. It’s so easy to get distracted. Have the walls always been that color? Why do these people keep walking by? Ugh, I need to reschedule that doctor’s appointment. Put all other thoughts aside and stay in the moment.

Worrying findings about the abilities of Welsh school leavers were made public today on the day thousands of teenagers were set to receive their GCSE results.

The Federation of Small Businesses in Wales said 82% of businesses it surveyed were worried about the basic skills of young people leaving school at 16.

In particular the small and medium-sized companies questioned were concerned about the literacy and numeracy of school leavers.

One firm in Swansea said it routinely asked foreign interns to look over writing done by young recruits in Wales as the grammar of the second-language English speakers was usually superior.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/08/23/school-leavers-lack-basic-reading-and-writing-skills-say-welsh-businesses-91466-31677477/#ixzz24QbStFZs

I am a massive fan of keeping up to date with what is happening in the world, and I always try to convince my international students of the importance of reading and listening to the news. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is the very best way of improving your English, as well as giving you lots of ideas and information for writing essays and doing various types of academic speaking.

The problem, for many learners, is that it's just too difficult - the news articles they find are too long and complicated, and they can't see any improvement quickly enough. They just give up.