Developing strong reading skills in students is one of the key goals of every early education program. It is through reading that students expand their vocabulary and learn about the world. Reading is also the key to success in spelling and writing.

And while 6 and 7-year-olds are fluent speakers, they require instruction in how to navigate print. If a student is having problems with literacy skills, it can affect their performance across the school curriculum and have a negative impact on motivation to learn and self-esteem.

Research on reading has shown that children acquire decoding and reading comprehension skills at the same time, but that each skill develops independently of the other. Children who are autistic typically perform at average or above average levels when it comes to decoding written language.

However, they are generally better at sounding out and identifying words than understanding what they have read. This may be because comprehension is a more abstract skill than decoding. It relies on a reader’s sensitivity to story structure, ability to pick up on referents, make inferences and use prior knowledge of the subject to make sense of the text.

Attention and working memory are also implicated. Metacognitive monitoring strategies ensure the reader is following along.

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a multi-sensory way of teaching reading, spelling and writing skills to students who struggle with language-based learning difficulties, including dyslexia. Lessons focus on mastery of the smallest units of language first, including phonemes and graphemes, and then build to whole word, phrase and sentence level instruction.

Many current reading methods and courses are grounded in this approach, including Touch-type Read and Spell, and it can serve as a guide for tutors who offer literacy skills support for individuals with specific learning difficulties.

Because Orton-Gillingham focuses both on enhancing phonological awareness and teaching English language rules, it can also be useful for English Language Learner (ELL) students.

Specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia can make it difficult and sometimes impossible for a child to achieve the same results as his or her peers in a traditional classroom setting. Some children face a constant struggle with reading and writing and many are at risk for developing low self-esteem, particularly when their condition goes undiagnosed and/or untreated.

The thing to remember is that there are alternative learning approaches, strategies, and tools that can help students with learning difficulties achieve their full potential at school. Moreover, a positive attitude and plenty of encouragement from parents and teachers can do wonders when it comes to inspiring these children to stay motivated and persevere.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a broad term used to describe various forms of autism, a brain-based condition that impacts on behaviour and affects the way individuals communicate.

While many of the challenges children with autism face in the classroom are related to developing social skills and interacting both with their peers and their teachers, some autistic students may struggle when it comes to literacy skills.

More often than not, the issues present as problems with reading comprehension vs. the actual decoding of language. Teachers may observe children reading fluently only to discover they have not understood the text that was processed.

Fortunately there are a number of strategies that parents and teachers can implement to help kids with ASD strengthen reading comprehension, including visualizing the story, integrating multi-sensory learning to bring words and concepts to life and acting out dramatic renditions of a text to enhance understanding of social interactions through the use of gesture and facial expressions.