Decoding+Activity

=Difficulties with Reading= What mystifies many parents is where and why the reading process breaks down. Although problems may occur in any area, decoding, comprehension, or retention, in the view of many experts the root of most reading problems is decoding.

=Reading Facts= Roughly 85% of children diagnosed with learning difficulties have a primary problem with reading and related language skills.
 * Reading difficulties are neurodevelopmental in nature.
 * Neurodevelopmental problems don't go away, but they do not mean that a student (or an adult) cannot learn or progress in school and life.
 * Most children with reading difficulties can be taught reading and strategies for success in school.
 * When children's reading problems are identified early, they are more likely to learn strategies that will raise their reading to grade level.

=Decoding Difficulties= Decoding is the process by which a word is broken into individual phonemes and recognized based on those phonemes. For instance, proficient decoders separate the sounds "buh", "aah", and "ghu" in the word "bag". Someone who has difficulty decoding, and thus difficulty reading easily, may not hear and differentiate these phonemes. "Buh", "aah", and "guh" might be meaningless to them in relation to the word "bag" on the page.

Experts have no one explanation for this phenomenon. In some cases, it may reflect that somoe people simply require more time to separate sounds -- time that isn't there. = = =Signs of decoding difficulty:=
 * trouble sounding out words and recognizing words out of context
 * confusion between letters and the sounds they represent
 * slow oral reading rate (reading word-by-word)
 * reading without expression
 * ignoring punctuation while reading

=Try it yourself!= Go to PBS to experience a decoding difficulty.