Children, teens, college students, and adults with learning and executive functioning challenges can have difficulty with reading and can benefit from an active approach that addresses two specific needs: structuring and flexibility. In this series of articles, Dr. Davenport outlines research-based suggestions for actively reading in order to gather and consolidate details as you read.
Actively Reading Textbooks and Other Assigned Reading
Does your student fall asleep reading her textbooks? Try this active reading strategy used by thousands of students to read text with a purpose. Learn more here.
To better recall details (people, places, dates, etc.) from their history textbooks, students are encouraged to write down those details as they read. Learn more here.
Reading for Cause and Effect
The idea behind cause and effect can be summed up by the statement “One thing leads to another.” Understanding cause and effect, and the relationship between them, can make your student a better reader. Learn more here.
Reading to Compare and Contrast
Comparing and contrasting is an important skill. It helps your student focus on and compare specific details, such as characters in a story, processes in science, or different types of people in history. This not only helps with reading comprehension but is an essential skill in writing reports in middle school, high school, and college. Try these suggestions for success.
Inferring: Reading Between the Lines
Inferring involves making a logical guess about unstated information based on facts in the text plus what one already knows from life. Making inferences helps good readers better understand the text. Inferring also builds interest to continue reading to find out if inferences were or were not correct. Read our article on reading between the lines to learn more.
Actively Reading Novels and Short Stories
Annotating is a fancy word used for marking or highlighting a text. It is like actively talking with a book: annotating allows your student to ask questions, comment on the meaning, and mark events and passages she wants to revisit. It is a permanent record of her intellectual conversation with the text. Learn more here.
More Ideas for Reading for Details
Children, teens, and college students with learning, attention, and related executive functioning problems struggle to efficiently and effectively gather and recall details from what they have read. Read more to develop additional strategies.
Need Help Applying These Concepts?
These concepts are taught in Student Success and our Summer Student Success groups.
Contact us to learn how we can help your student!
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(c) 2010-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.
