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