The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 64

all of the students. How can special education teachers keep record of students’ reading behaviors to document change in their performance? Special education teachers can keep record of students‘ reading behaviors by using running records. Running records allow teachers to document change in the each student‘s performance. The miscue analysis summary documents the examination of the errors the student made during the lesson. The running record allows the teacher to administer an individual assessment. It is a way to record errors for further consideration. From the running record, the teacher can glean the percentage of words correctly read, the selfcorrection ration, and the categories of errors made. The categories include omissions, insertions, substitutions, repetitions, selfcorrections, attempts, and teacher-provided pronunciations (Leu & Kinzer, 1999). The running record allows the teacher to examine the accuracy, fluency, and meaning of the student‘s reading (Ross, 2004; Stafford, 2000). Miscue analysis enables the teacher to consider the type of errors. The miscues are ―then analyzed using Clay‘s three cueing systems: semantic cues (does it make sense?), syntactic cues (does it sound right?), and visual cues (dos it look right?)‖ (Hurst, Wilson, Camp, & Cramer, 2002, p. 7). The teacher can investigate the errors and determine the areas of strength as well as areas of concern. The miscue analysis alerts the teacher if the student has comprehended the material or not (Hurst et al., 2002). How can special education teachers help students increase phonological awareness, thus increasing decoding and spelling skills? Special education teachers can help students increase phonological awareness by implementing letter identification or word analysis in the reading lesson. The teacher selects letter identification or word analysis depending on the student‘s ability. These activities will help increase decoding and spelling skills. The student begins with letter identification practice if needed. Magnetic letters