ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors discuss some of reasons why so many poor children experience problems learning to read, and they examine methods that are successful at overcoming some of the problems. The current state of affairs is that poor readers, particularly those labeled as learning disabled or mildly retarded, are unlikely in the present system to develop adequate reading comprehension skills. Children in second and fourth grades, and sixth graders identified as poor readers, focused on the decoding aspect of reading. Poor readers in early grades come to believe that reading is primarily a decoding activity whereas good readers assert that primary goal is to understand. In a fundamental sense, poor readers are ignorant of purposes of reading. Habitual experiences in academic settings shape more than conceptions of cognitive strategies. The current interest in dynamic learning situations has seen a move away from experimenter-controlled instruction of the traditional kind towards the interactive processes illustrated by Palincsar and Brown study.
