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Cognitive And Language Development | ipl.org

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Child development is a process every child goes through. This process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and…

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When Do Kids Learn Phonics?

The traditional path for phonics instruction typically spans multiple grade level years, from pre-kindergarten to second or even third grade.

Kids learn phonics at the beginning grade levels, with the traditional path for phonics instruction often spanning multiple grade level years, from prekindergarten to second or third grade. Learning phonics in kindergarten means learning that the letter /y/ makes the sound "yuh," but it's typically not until second grade that they learn it can also make the sounds of /e/ and /i/.

It is also common for early learners to spend an entire kindergarten year on mastering the individual letters and sounds, despite the research showing that the ability to identify all of the letters and sounds by Halloween (in kindergarten) is a primary predictor of later student reading success (Allington, 2016).

Even the small parts of the code that beginning grade learners do know will often appear contradictory to the sounds that letters make (together) in actual text since the letters in isolation almost never seem to make the sounds that they are supposed to when they come together in real words.

For example, kindergartners are taught that /t/ says "tuh" as in the word turtle, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the time, /t/ won't actually say "tuh" when it is observed in text, as per high frequency words like: the, this, them, they, those, there, then, etc.... And yet, traditionally, the /th/ phonics pattern isn't formally introduced until late fall or early winter of first grade. For beginning readers, such blatant instructional discrepancies can feel like the reading equivalent of a wild goose chase.
"Three to four grade level years is too long to make learners wait for the whole code."
-Katie Garner

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What is Decoding in Reading? | The Secret Stories

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The traditional path for phonics instruction typically spans multiple grade level years, from pre-kindergarten to second or even third grade. Kids learn phonics at the beginning grade levels, with the traditional path for phonics instruction often spanning multiple grade level years, from prekindergarten to second or third grade.

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Reading fluency is the ability to read with proper speed, accuracy, and expression. Children, and people in general, must be able to read fluently in order to understand what they're reading. This applies to both silent reading and reading out loud.

When doing the latter, fluent readers are able to read phrases and add in proper intonation when needed. As such, their reading becomes smooth and expressive.

There are three main elements in reading fluency: accuracy, rate, and expression.
Accuracy
Accuracy is the fundamental foundation of fluent reading. In order to master reading fluency, the reader must be accurate in reading text. The main purpose of being able to read is to understand what is being read. In order to achieve this understanding, the reader must be able to read accurately. As simple as this sounds, it means that the reader must be able to identify specific words accurately.

Rate

The rate refers to the speed at which a student can read the text. While rate is important, reading fluency goes beyond rate alone. Oftentimes, it is believed that faster reading is better reading, but this is simply a misconception. Reading at a quick rate does not signify that the reader will be able to comprehend the text that is being read. Fast readers may still be reading inaccurately. In fact, they may be reading so fast that they are unable to understand what they are reading. While fast reading is often associated with an overall proficiency in reading, it should not be regarded as the same as fluently reading.

Expression
Expression is an important part of being able to read orally. It includes components such as tone, pitch, emphasis, volume, and rhythm. Expression also signifies the reader's ability to group words together into correct phrases. It's often thought that a good expression reflects better reading comprehension.

Aside from school-based activities that teachers engage in with students, there are certain activities parents and guardians can do at home to help build a child's reading fluency. These include:

Reading and rereading easy-to-understand books. Have your child choose their favorite book and then engage in repeated readings with them. Allow them to read it out loud at least three times.

Engage in fluent reading daily in the presence of your child. Use expression and funny voices when reading aloud.

Read a phrase, sentence, or paragraph, then allow your child to read the same one.

If your child is an older sibling, have them read a simple book to a younger sibling.

Read a short poem or nursery rhyme with your child. Read it to them, then allow them to read it and continue to read it until they can do so fluently.

Study basic high-frequency words with your child to ensure that your child knows these words automatically. Knowing these words on sight can help your child with their reading accuracy and rate.

Select a comic strip from a newspaper, a comic book, or online source and expressively read the comic strip aloud. After you have finished, ask your child to do the same.

Reading fluency is important because it develops comprehension and motivates readers. It has been referred to as a bridge between reading phases such as early reading and later reading.

Early phases of learning reading fluency help learners to develop their oral language skills, as well as phonemic awareness. It also helps to teach the principle of the alphabet and to improve complicated words. Practicing early reading fluency helps the student become familiar with more complex and high-frequency words, which then helps them to master a significant number of words.

Later reading fluency phases are developed by increased reading skills and a deeper comprehension.

Readers who do not sufficiently master reading fluency can become stuck in the middle of this bridge. Oftentimes, they will be able to decode words, but because they do not have the proper reading fluency, they will often lack the comprehension to enjoy or understand the reading process. This leads to students taking a dislike to reading and will often create reluctant readers who do not wish to participate in reading activities. This can have negative consequences for themselves and also for their families, both current and future, and their broader society.

When reading fluency problems are present and fluency skills are weak, they can stunt the development of vocabulary and comprehension, leading to a process referred to as the Matthew effect. The Matthew effect is based on a Biblical passage that states that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

In the same way, readers who struggle early on in the process of attaining reading fluency end up lagging behind their peers. As a result of this, these learners often fall further behind in learning environments and in society because they read less text than their peers. In relation to the Biblical verse, proficient readers become richer since they are able to read an increasingly significant amount of text compared to those who lack in reading fluency.

A student's ability to master reading fluency often depends on being able to identify a significant number of words by sight alone. Since words are not referred to as sight words until the student learns to read them correctly, minimal reading practices and inaccurate practices have been shown to slow a student's development of reading fluency. This is especially true for beginner readers and often results in a cycle of failure.

There are several reading fluency strategies and programs that exist to help children develop and master fluent reading skills. One such program is the Read Naturally program or strategy, which was developed by Candyce Ihnot, a Title I reading teacher.

In the Read Naturally program, students are assessed and placed into an appropriate instructional level, at which point a teacher helps the student to set a realistic fluency goal. Step one is then to have the child do what is known as a cold reading-an unpracticed reading of a student-selected passage. Step two involves the student practicing reading from the same passage at least four times. A model is there to help them learn how to correctly pronounce the words in the passage. Step three focuses on the child reading the passage again, independently. The final step allows the student to read for the teacher and is graded on a WCPM (Words Correct Per Minute) scale.

There are many other reading programs and strategies to help students improve their reading fluency. Which program or strategy is best for your child will be up to you and their teachers.

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Find out more about reading fluency and why it's important for your child in this guide.

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Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read.

One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary, or knowing the meanings of enough words. Readers who have strong comprehension are able to draw conclusions about what they read - what is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, which characters are funny. Thus comprehension involves combining reading with thinking and reasoning.

Target the Problem: Comprehension

What the problem looks like

A kid's perspective: What this feels like to me

Children will usually express their frustration and difficulties in a general way, with statements like "I hate reading!" or "This is stupid!". But if they could, this is how kids might describe how comprehension difficulties in particular affect their reading:

It takes me so long to read something. It's hard to follow along with everything going on.

I didn't really get what that book was about.

Why did that character do that? I just don't get it!

I'm not sure what the most important parts of the book were.

I couldn't really create an image in my head of what was going on.

A parent's perspective: What I see at home

Here are some clues for parents that a child may have problems with comprehension:

She's not able to summarize a passage or a book.

He might be able to tell you what happened in a story, but can't explain why events went the way they did.

She can't explain what a character's thoughts or feelings might have been.

He doesn't link events in a book to similar events from another book or from real life.

A teacher's perspective: What I see in the classroom

Here are some clues for teachers that a student may have problems with comprehension:

He seems to focus on the "wrong" aspect of a passage; for example, he concentrates so much on the details that the main idea is lost.

She can tell the outcome of a story, but cannot explain why things turned out that way.

He does not go behind what is presented in a book to think about what might happen next or why characters took the action they did.

She brings up irrelevant information when trying to relate a passage to something in her own life.

He seems to have a weak vocabulary.

She cannot tell the clear, logical sequence of events in a story.

He does not pick out the key facts from informational text.

He cannot give you a "picture" of what's going on in a written passage; for example, what the characters look like or details of where the story takes place.

How to help

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn strategies to cope with comprehension problems that affect his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

What kids can do to help themselves

Use outlines, maps, and notes when you read.

Make flash cards of key terms you might want to remember.

Read stories or passages in short sections and make sure you know what happened before you continue reading.

Ask yourself, "Does this make sense?" If it doesn't, reread the part that didn't make sense.

Read with a buddy. Stop every page or so and take turns summarizing what you've read.

Ask a parent or teacher to preview a book with you before you read it on your own.

As you read, try to form mental pictures or images that match the story.

What parents can do to help at home

Hold a conversation and discuss what your child has read. Ask your child probing questions about the book and connect the events to his or her own life. For example, say "I wonder why that girl did that?" or "How do you think he felt? Why?" and "So, what lesson can we learn here?".

Help your child make connections between what he or she reads and similar experiences he has felt, saw in a movie, or read in another book.

Help your child monitor his or her understanding. Teach her to continually ask herself whether she understands what she's reading.

Help your child go back to the text to support his or her answers.

Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those he reads and those he hears.

Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.

Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational text such as a science or social studies book.

What teachers can do to help at school

As students read, ask them open-ended questions such as "Why did things happen that way?" or "What is the author trying to do here?" and "Why is this somewhat confusing?".

Teach students the structure of different types of reading material. For instance, narrative texts usually have a problem, a highpoint of action, and a resolution to the problem. Informational texts may describe, compare and contrast, or present a sequence of events.

Discuss the meaning of words as you go through the text. Target a few words for deeper teaching, really probing what those words mean and how they can be used.

Teach note-taking skills and summarizing strategies.

Use graphic organizers that help students break information down and keep tack of what they read.

Encourage students to use and revisit targeted vocabulary words.

Teach students to monitor their own understanding. Show them how, for example, to ask themselves "What's unclear here?" or "What information am I missing?" and "What else should the author be telling me?".

Teach children how to make predictions and how to summarize.

More information

Find out more about comprehension issues with these resources from Reading Rockets, The Access Center, and LD OnLine:

Other recommended links:

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Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read.

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What are you thinking about right now? Maybe you're thinking about all of the things you are going to learn on this page. Can you guess how much information from this video you are going to remember? Or what strategies you can use to remember information from this video?

This whole page is all about thinking about the way you think. It's about thinking about the way you remember things, process information, and make decisions. By purposeful thinking about your cognitive processes, you can begin to choose strategies that work for you and train yourself to learn more effectively and display a higher level of cognitive thinking.
Metacognition is the process of thinking and analyzing what, how, and why you think.
Let's start by defining what metacognition is in the first place. It's simply, "thinking about thinking."

John Flavell first started to study and theorize about metacognition in the late 1970s. He was a student of Jean Piaget, who developed the Theory of Cognitive Development. Flavell believed that there were two parts to metacognition:

Metacognitive knowledge

Metacognitive regulation

By understanding these two concepts, we can start to train our brain and find the best strategies that work for us.
Metacognitive Knowledge is the information we know of ourselves and about others.
Are you bad with names? Do you need to make a list of items at the grocery store in order to buy everything?

The answers to these questions require metacognitive knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge is a collection of things that we know about ourselves and others when it comes to cognition.

There are three types of metacognitive knowledge:

Declarative Knowledge

Procedural Knowledge

Strategy Knowledge

Declarative knowledge is knowledge about your own capabilities. Let's use the example of names. You may either say you're good with names or bad with names. That is based on declarative knowledge.

Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of a task at hand. The breadth of the task, and how much of the task you can complete, is included in procedural knowledge. You may be able to remember one person's name at a time, but completely give up at the idea of remembering the names of five people all standing in a group with you.

Strategy knowledge is the knowledge of using strategies (and remembering to use strategies) in order to undergo cognition. Let's say that you know that rhyming a person's name with a funny nickname (i.e. "Dave the Shave" or "Lori the Story") will help you remember their name better. Implementing that strategy requires strategy knowledge.

Let's go back to procedural knowledge. You may think you're good with names or you may think you're bad with names. You may be wrong. But If you think you're going to remember everything and meet your goals, you may not check in with yourself and your progress. If you believe that you need to improve, you might take the steps to pull from your procedural and strategy knowledge to improve. Then, you use metacognitive regulation.

Before we move onto metacognitive regulation, I want to give you some knowledge about metacognitive strategies. These strategies help us process information and solve problems. As you start to undergo metacognitive regulation, you might want to employ these strategies to help you improve your cognitive skills.

Metacognitive strategies include:

Asking questions and evaluating what assumptions you made to come to conclusions and how possible bias influenced that conclusion

Using autonomous learning to challenge your beliefs

Learning with the help of a mentor or group

Thinking aloud

Rehearsing or memorizing information

Organizing information with outlines, lists, etc.

Explaining different subjects to yourself in your own words

Allowing yourself to make errors and asking yourself where those errors may have come from

Metacognition regulation refers to the ability to control your learning.
Metacognition is a hot word in the world of teaching. Teachers can use the process of metacognition and different metacognitive strategies to help students learn more effectively. Through three stages, the student (or in this case, you) can use this process and apply it to any cognitive task that is currently or has been a struggle.

Metacognition allows us to monitor learning and exert control to make sure we get the most out of the information that we are receiving. This is done through three stages:

These stages cannot only be applied to any cognitive task, but also any other task that you have in mind. If you want to remember more, exercise more, floss more, you'll need to plan out a strategy for achieving that goal, monitor your progress, and evaluate how your efforts and strategies helped (or didn't help you) in the end.

Where does our knowledge of our thinking come from? We pull from our experiences to create metacognitive beliefs. We can also create metacognitive experiences that further influence how we approach problems and learn new information.

This is why it's so important not only to plan out strategies for achieving cognitive goals but also to monitor and evaluate progress. Once you find a strategy that works for you, your evaluation and monitoring of that success will help to shape your overall metacognitive experience.

Let's say you're looking for a new way to study. You look at the list of metacognitive strategies and decide that group study may be the best way to learn and remember important information. You plan to meet in a small group after school to learn a set of vocab words for your Spanish test.

Throughout the group session, you realize that you are focused while studying in the group. You aren't distracting yourself with other tasks like you would when studying alone. Great.

You're more likely to attend that study group next week, right? And when you get another A on your test, you're even more likely to attend the next study group. And when you start a new class, you might immediately set up a study group, based on the positive experiences you had in the study group before. Now you've created a new belief about yourself and the way you learn that could have a positive impact on the rest of your life.

Getting rid of negative self-talk

Metacognition forces you to look at your own abilities and skills. What you say about yourself could reveal the reasons why you may fail to make progress or meet some goals outside of your thinking.

Let's say you believe that you aren't good at learning new things, you have a terrible memory, you're not great at problem-solving, etc. As I mentioned earlier in the video, people tend to over and underestimate their abilities. You could be great at problem-solving, but if you tell yourself that you are not, you're not going to try and solve problems. You limit yourself.

Change the way that you think about your thinking and strive for a more honest evaluation of yourself that contains a growth mindset. We all have the ability to improve our cognitive thinking skills. We just have to think about the way we think first.

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Metacognition | Cognitive Psychology | Practical Psychology

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What are you thinking about right now? Maybe you're thinking about all of the things you are going to learn on this page. Can you guess how much information from this video you are going to remember? Or what strategies you can use to remember information from this video?