Teaching Reading to Students with Cognitive Disabilities

Teaching reading to students with cognitive disabilities requires an individualized and differentiated approach to address their unique learning needs. Here are some ways the Digital Reader can help you:

Shared Reading

Shared reading is a powerful instructional strategy that can be particularly beneficial for students with cognitive disabilities. It involves reading a text together as a group, with active participation from both the teacher and the students. With the Digital Reader teachers have the ability to project any of the books for whole-group instruction and modeling reading behaviors, such as fluency, expression, and comprehension strategies. This serves as a powerful example for students. They can observe and imitate these behaviors, which is especially beneficial for students with cognitive disabilities who may benefit from clear demonstrations.

Access to Appropriate Text

Students with cognitive disabilities need access to appropriate text. A collection of very simple text can be found at Levels A and B. These texts have high picture support and repetitive patterns. These are designed for students at the pre-alphabetic stage. These simple stories will help students anticipate words and phrases, making the reading experience more manageable. This can be particularly beneficial for students with cognitive disabilities who may benefit from structure and routine.

Assessment of Individual Needs

The Digital Reader is equipped with an Assessment and Data Center that has useful assessments which can be used to conduct a thorough evaluation of each student's strengths and weaknesses. The Digital Reader can assist teachers in evaluating students' letter/sound, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills. This diagnostic capability empowers educators to tailor literacy instruction, ensuring students receive appropriate books for independent reading.

Differentiated Instruction

The Digital Reader provides teachers with tools for tailoring instruction to meet the diverse needs of their students. The Reading Adventures feature combines phonics and phonemic awareness activities that support text reading and rereading, and book introductions to familiarize learners with new vocabulary, language structures, and background knowledge. This self-paced journey provides students with cognitive disabilities with the scaffolding needed for successful independent learning.

Built-in Phonemic Awareness/Phonics Instruction and Support Features

The Digital Reader seamlessly integrates phonemic awareness and phonics game-like activities for every book. This feature prepares students for the decoding challenges found in the book. In addition to the phonemic awareness/phonics activities, the platform features a collection of decodable readers organized by a phonics scope and sequence, offering students targeted practice in applying new phonics skills through connected text.

Rewards for Motivation and Engagement

The Digital Reader incorporates goal-setting features with rewards. Using this, along with implementing a system of positive reinforcement, will motivate and encourage students. The tracking system and badges can be used to help celebrate small successes and provide constructive feedback to build confidence and a positive attitude toward reading.

Collaboration

The Digital Reader allows educators to share their digital classrooms with other staff. It can be used to collaborate with other professionals, including special education teachers, speech therapists, and occupational therapists.