Blog Series: Why We should STOP teaching Reading Schools
Part 4: More Integration through Mapping – Mapping Words:
This blog series explores the development of Written Language: reading, spelling, and writing as a natural extension from oral language to visual language.
This blog series describes what reading IS – the integration of visual language (letters) into already-existing oral language processing systems (sounds, words, and vocabulary).
Storing “Sight Words”: Long-term Permanent Storage for Words:
The brain extends this process to move from letters to start to acquire words. This SAME process is required to acquire words like “dog” and “pig”. The sequence of letters maps against the sequence of spoken sounds, and these “regular” words become Sight Words – words that are “recognized” automatically upon sight.
If you have a student that cannot easily read AND SPELL words with a regular correspondence, like “blimp”, you have a MAJOR red flag for an underlying language disorder that will derail reading and writing development.
Yes, “regular” words with a predictable, regular, 1-1 correspondence of sounds to letters are SIGHT WORDS, and they FORM/STORE the same way as letters AND as irregular words.
Dyslexia and Irregular Words:
Irregular words are often mistakenly called “sight words”. Note that ALL words that get stored in long-term permanent storage for automatic recognition and retrieval are “Sight Words”. IRREGULAR WORDS refer to words with an inconsistent or unexpected sound-to-letter relationship, like “said” or “laugh”.
These words are a hallmark of reading trouble, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, and “resist” becoming sight words; as such, people mistakenly ramp up the visual exposures to these words, to “see” them more often and recognize them more easily, so they have become known as “sight words” – words that resist logic and so must be “visually memorized”.
This is FALSE, and it is a detrimental approach. We know that these words are not stored when there is an underlying language disorder. Dyslexia is difficulty with reading, reading, and or spelling. Reading, writing, and spelling are WRITTEN LANGUAGE TASKS. Dyslexia is a form of Language-Based processing challenge, or a language disorder.
These words BECOME sight words NOT through visual memory, but through decoding. When the brain REFLECTS and RECOGNIZES that the SPOKEN WORD “said” sounds like /s-e-d/, the brain notices that the letter s aligns with the first sound, the vowel digraph “ai” aligns with the short e vowel sound, and the letter “d” aligns with the /d/ sound. This word is actually not that complex.
When the brain attempts to “acquire” this visual word as a “whole”, and “memorize” the “shape” of how the word “looks”, we have problems.
To teach irregular words, sound them out – say the word one sound at a time with a pause between sounds, , and then spell by MATCHING – ASSIGN the available letters to the available sounds. You MUST start with language FIRST and activate the SPOKEN WORD STRUCTURE, as that is what ALREADY exists in the brain!
Watch for part 5 and beyond of this blog series as we discuss sight words.
Read Intro: Why We should STOP teaching Reading Schools
Read Part 1: What are the components of Oral language?
Read Part 2: What is Visual or Written Language, and how is it INTEGRATED?
Read Part 3: Spoken word Structure, Written Word Structure, and Word Meaning: MAPPING Language Units
Got questions, concerns, yeah buts? Visit www.speak2read.ca to engage in some delightful conversation on how you can improve your reading instruction or your child’s learning.