Diagnose the Difficulty - Electronic Portal for Assistance Learning | UAB

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UAB - The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Electronic Portal for Assistance Learning - EPAL

School of Education

Is the reader aware of print in the world around them and in books?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Ignores print in the environment	Do not see a purpose	Environmental Print
Ignores print in the environment	Limited exposure to text	Read Aloud to Students
Not comfortable with handling books	Lacks exposure to text	Shared Reading
Letter-sound correspondence	Limited exposure with hearing text read aloud	Interactive Reading
Do not see themselves as a reader	Lacks confidence	Reading Buddies (Partner Reading)

Does the reader have adequate knowledge of the alphabet and letter-sounds?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Lacks knowledge about alphabet	Not interested in letters	Letter Recognition
Reads letter-by-letter	Does not understand that words are composed of letters	Counting Words in Speech—Matching Letters to Sounds
Reads letter-by-letter	Does not realize letter-sound relationships for forming words	Everyday Phonics
Difficulty with letter-sound correspondence	Lacks experience with high-frequency letter-sound relationships	Riddles & Rhymes

Is the reader memorizing text and unable to identify individual words on the page?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Word units are not recognized	Lacks exposure to text	Language Experience Stories
Guesses at unknown words	No one-to-one correspondence	Computer and Tape-Recorded Readings
Word units are not recognized	Lacks opportunities to write	News and Announcements Charts
Memorized text	Lacks one-to-one correspondence	Scrambled Sentences
Memorizes text	Lacks one-to-one correspondence	Read Aloud to Students
Memorizes text	Lacks attention to words in the text	Cloze Procedures

Does the reader automatically recognize commonly used words in the text?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Lacks knowledge of common high-frequency words	No connection is being made to prior knowledge/experience for storage in long-term memory	Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic-Tactile (VAKT) Approach
Lacks knowledge of common high-frequency words	Not attending to frequently occurring words in text	Bag Words/Sight Word Vocabulary
Reads slowly	Lacks opportunities for rereading/revisiting familiar text	Repeated Readings
Reads word by word	Lacks confidence	Sustained Silent Reading
Reads word-by-word	Few decoding strategies	Finding Little Words in Bigger Words

Does the reader have a variety of word attack strategies to figure out unfamiliar words?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Memorizes text	Lacks attention to words in the text	Cloze Procedures
Sees all words as “new” and unknown	Not recognizing patterns in words	Word Walls
Guesses at unknown words	Few decoding strategies	Context Clues, Rereading, & Skipping
Guesses or hesitates at unknown words	Do not see patterns & connections within words	Onsets & Rimes/Tongue Twisters Rhyming Books
Over-relying on “sound it out”	Few decoding strategies	Finding Little Words in Bigger Words
Over-relying on “sound it out’	Do not see patterns/connections between words	Building Reading & Writing Vocabulary Structural Analysis
Unaware of reading strengths	Lacks confidence	Context Clues, Rereading, & Skipping

When the reader makes an error (insertion, deletion, misreads), does the error make sense and sound like spoken language?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Errors during reading do not make sense	Lacks understanding of semantic cueing system for reading	Context-Structure-Sound Reference (CSSR)
Errors during reading do not sound like spoken language	Lacks understanding of syntactic system for reading	Context-Structure-Sound Reference (CSSR)

Does the reader accurately identify words, but moves at a slow pace through the text?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Reads slowly	Does not see purpose for reading	Writing Text for Struggling Readers
Reads slowly	Lacks opportunities hearing text read aloud	Modeling Fluent Reading by Reading Aloud
Reads slowly	Lacks experiences with a proficient reader modeling reading process	Think Aloud
Reads slowly	Needs time and practice to build a reading muscle	Sustained Silent Reading
Reads slowly	Needs a real audience for performance purposes	Readers’ Theater

Does the reader seem uninterested in reading?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Inattentive to text	Uninterested before beginning the text	Jackdaws
Misses details in text	Hurried reading overly interested in finishing	Response Journals
Inattentive while reading	Lacks understanding of reading purpose	Purposes of Reading
Regularly losses place while reading	Not remaining active while reading	Predicting/Self Questioning

Does the reader finish the text quickly but has no comprehension?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Finishes quickly but comprehension is compromised	Lacks purpose for reading	Pair-Think-Share
Reads quickly but without understanding	Not accessing and using prior knowledge	Guided Imagery/Role Playing
Comprehension is compromised	Overly focused on reading words accurately	Imagery
Unable to retell	Overly focused on reading words accurately rather than understanding	Summarizing/Retelling

Does the reader finish quickly but reads with inaccuracy?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Reads quickly but inaccurately	Lacks understanding that reading rates change depending on demands of the text	Choral Reading
Errors during reading do not make sense	Lacks understanding of semantic cueing system for reading	Context-Structure-Sound Reference (CSSR)
Errors during reading do not make sense	Lacks understanding of semantic cueing system for reading	Context-Structure-Sound Reference (CSSR)
Errors during reading do not sound like spoken language	Lacks understanding of syntactic system for reading	Context-Structure-Sound Reference (CSSR)

Does the reader choose NOT to read?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Choosing books	Sees no purpose in reading	Purposes of Reading
Choosing Books	Lacks experience choosing “just right” books	Genre/Author Studies
Comprehension is compromised	Not choosing appropriate reading materials	Guided Reading

Does the reader read but seem unwilling to share their ideas about the text?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Do not see themselves as a reader	Lacks confidence	Reading Buddies (Partner Reading)
Unaware of reading strengths	Lacks confidence	Context Clues, Rereading, & Skipping
Unable to retell	Lacks knowledge of retelling	Story Mapping
Unable or unwilling to retell	Lacks confidence	Linguistic Roulette

Does the reader only choose one type of book to read?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Only reads one type/genre of book	Lack opportunities to interact with other readers and get new ideas for reading	Literature Circles
Only reads one genre/type of book	Do not see themselves as a reader	Language Experience Stories

Does the reader thinkg about what he/she already knows before reading?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Comprehension is compromised	No accessing and using prior knowledge	Surveying & Predicting
Misses main idea/purpose	Not accessing and using prior knowledge	Purposes of Reading

Does the reader connect the text with themselves?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Misses main idea/purpose	Not connecting information in text to personal experiences, prior knowledge, or other texts	Connecting
Not using prior knowledge	Not connecting new information to known information	Brainstorming/Webbing
Unable to make personal, text, or world connections	Not relating new information to known information	Artful Artist or Sketch to Stretch
Inability to make connections between texts on same topic/subject	Not relating new information to known information	Compare and Contrast Charts

Does the reader get overwhelmed with the events, etc.??

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Lacks background knowledge on topic	Lacks opportunities for rereading/revisiting familiar text	Pre-Teaching Vocabulary for Building Prior Knowledge
Misses details within text	Not remaining active while reading	Paraphrasing/Summarizing
Unable to retell	Inability to keep up with events throughout the text	Visual Timelines
Unable to retell	Inability to keep up with multiple characters	Semantic Webbing of Characters in a Story
Comprehension is lost when text becomes complicated and unclear	Lacks understanding of value of rereading and rethinking	Adjusted Reading Rate

Is the reader unable to move beyond a literal understanding of the text?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Unable to make inferences	Unable to go beyond literal level of text	Inferential Strategy
Makes predictions but does not confirm and/or adjust thinking	Lacks understanding of the purpose of predictions for reading	Inferential Strategy
Unable to synthesize	Lacks ability to use smaller details within text to formulate larger understanding	Interpretive Questions

Does the reader lack knowledge of the genre's structure?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Comprehension of nonfiction is compromised	Not remaining active while reading	Reciprocal Teaching
Comprehension of nonfiction is compromised	Limited knowledge of text structure/topic	Reciprocal Teaching
Comprehension is compromised in nonfiction	Lacks exposure to nonfiction texts	Pre-telling/Sequencing
Comprehension is compromised in nonfiction	Not accessing and using prior knowledge on the text content	Questioning

Does the reader ignore new vocabulary?

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Difficulty	Because	Strategy
Lacks ownership in learning new vocabulary encountered while reading	Believes saying the word accurately is all that is necessary	Word Maps
Lacks knowledge of new vocabulary	Lacks understanding of relationship between prefixes, suffixes, root words, and word meanings	Building Reading & Writing Vocabulary Structural Analysis
Lacks knowledge of new vocabulary	Lacks exposure to varied types of words in meaningful contexts	Word of the Day & List-Group-Share (LGS)
Lacks knowledge of new vocabulary	Not using context to anticipate word meanings	Contextual Analysis
Ignores new vocabulary	Believes that reading words accurately is only reading requirement	Word of the Day & List-Group-Share (LGS)