READING PROCESS

The Stages Of The Reading Process

If you have taken an assessment, such as a reading inventory, of your child’s reading ability, you have taken the first step toward helping your child become a better reader.

The next step is to determine which of the stages of the reading process your child is in. Understanding these stages of the reading process, and the characteristics of each, will give you a greater insight into how to help your child progress through the stages of the reading process and become a strong, capable reader.

These strategies, as described by reading specialists E. Sutton Flynt and Robert B. Cooter, Jr. are as follows:

Stages of the Reading Process #1: Making Early Connections – Describing Pictures

In the firts of the stages of the reading process,firts of the stages of the reading process, the child is unable to read stories. Instead, he is at the stage where he can describe pictures, but is unable to make much of a story by looking at the pictures.

Hopefully, a child who is in elementary school has already progressed beyond the first of the stages of the reading process. But, there are some children who have not moved beyond this stage by the time they are in elementary school. This is particularly true of special needs children.

The characteristics of a child in the first of the stages of the reading process include:

• Able to describe pictures in books

• Sense of story is limited

•Able to follow verbal directions

• Oral vocabulary is appropriate for grade level or age

• Attention span is appropriate for grade level or age

• Responds appropriately to questions

• Able to make connections between pictures

Stages of the Reading Process #2: Forming a Story by Connecting Pictures

By the second of the stages of the reading process, the child has started to learn more about story structure and can move beyond just describing the pictures she sees. In this reading stage the child is:

• Able to describe an oral story based on pictures on several pages in a book

• Only able to use childlike, or “storyteller,” language to tell the story, rather than book language (such as using phrases like “once upon a time.”)

Stages of the Reading Process #3: Transitional Picture Reading

The child at this reading stage is still only able to tell stories based on pictures but is:

• Able to understand how the pictures connect to the story

• Beginning to mix storyteller language with book language

Stages of the Reading Process #4: Advanced Picture Reading

The child has finally grasped the difference between storytelling and book language. A child in this reading stage is:

• Able to describe an oral story based on pictures on several pages in a book

• Able to tell a story using book language.

Stages of the Reading Process #5: Early Print Reading

A child at this level is beginning to understand the purpose of print and is beginning to read it. Characteristics include:

• Able to tell a story using pictures

• Understands that print moves from left to right and from top to bottom

• Can use book language to make up part of the story, but is able to read a few words

Stages of the Reading Process #6: Early Strategic Reading

If your child has progressed through the first six stages of the reading process, he is capable of reading, but might make several miscues when reading material that is otherwise appropriate for his grade level. If a child is developing typically, he should be in stage 6 by age 5 or 6.Characteristics of a child at this stage include:

• Uses context clues to guess at unknown words and the guesses make sense.

• Recognizes beginning sounds in words and is able to use them to guess at unknown words

• Tries sounding out words

• Recognizes word parts, such as root words and affixes

Stages of the Reading Process #7: Moderate Strategic Reading

A child who has reached the last of the stages of reading,  who has developed typically, should be in stage 7 by age 7 and beyond. At this stage the child is reading appropriately for her grade level. Children at this stage will:

• Use context clues and word parts to decode unknown words

• Self correct when making miscues

• Be able to retell the story

• Show an understanding of vowel sounds

If you have taken a reading inventory, as discussed in Testing First Grade Reading Skills, then you should have an idea of the type of miscues, if any, your child makes.

If your child makes guess at words, but the words don’t make sense, or if your child skips words altogether, he is likely still in reading stage 5.

If, however, your child makes guesses at words and the guessed word starts with the same letter as the missed word and the guessed word makes sense within the context, then he is in reading stage 6.

If your child makes miscues, but recognizes his own mistakes and corrects them, then he is in reading stage 7. If your child is at this stage, it is time to move him on to more difficult reading material.

Understanding which of the stages of the reading process your child is at is key to helping him become a better reader and advance to the next reading stage.