Thursday, September 27, 2012

Reading Comprehension Assessment and Anxiety

My ten year old daughter, Emma is reading at a second grade level, (or so) but when she is given reading comprehension questions on her homework she gets very frustrated, bites her hand the minute she sees the homework. I only mention this to indicate her level of anxiety. Do you have any tips for me in working with her on reading comprehension? Are there ways I can make this less stressful? 

This is a complex question, because there are several points in the process during which the anxiety could be addressed, and I want to talk about assessment a little bit, and also what happens with "reading comprehension" when certain things are not taken into account.  I will start as a person who teaches assessment courses and has colleagues who are reading specialists with whom I converse frequently, and when I get to the examples and start talking about anxiety, you may notice a bit of Autistic awesomeness coming into play.  ;)  I'll talk about what you can ask for at school and what you can do as a mother at home if the homework stays exactly the same.  Meanwhile, I'll make giant assumptions about the homework since I haven't seen it, but I have seen a lot of reading comprehension homework in general.

It is notoriously difficult to assess reading comprehension, especially using the kinds of assessment that are currently considered the most valuable because they are able to be standardized easily and take the least amount of time to administer, etc.  Another thing to take into account is that special educators and reading teachers are often taught to teach reading in very different ways.  That is to scaffold the discussion.

As I said, I have not seen the homework, but usually it will consist of a list of some specific questions which, if the child "did and understood the reading," he or she would presumably have been able to answer correctly from the text, given the right amount of the complex set of skills we call "reading comprehension."

This may be wrong, but I'll construct one of the very most common types for the sake of answering. If the homework is so different as to render this part of the answer toothless, let me know and I'll go back and see what's what.  OK so.  

Text:

Jack and Jill/Went up the hill/To fetch a pail of water;/Jack fell down,/Broke his crown/And Jill came tumbling after.

Comprehension Questions: (Slightly exaggerated for emphasis, but man, I'm telling you, only slightly.)

1. Where did Jack and Jill go?
2. Jack and Jill fetched (circle one): a. lemonade b. water c. alligator shoes d. none of the above
3. If you were Jack, how might you feel in the fifth line?
4. Circle the event that happened first: a. they fell down the hill b. they got water

Now, as healthy Autistic-American ;), I have answered the first fine, but am derailed on number 2.  It doesn't say in the story they actually fetched the water; it only says they intended to do so.  Also, why would you go up the hill for this?  Since they are using a pail, they may be going to a pump or a well, and in either case, placing the thing uphill would cause the diggers to have to work harder to get to the water table. Argh, skip to the next question.  3. ARGH! He might feel all sorts of different ways breaking his crown.  We do see he is the kind of royal who tries to fetch his own water, so maybe he is glad not to be saddled with marks of his class-guilt all over his head.  Maybe his father is the one who made the workers put the well on the hill and work twice as hard.  Is this an allegory? I don't have any evidence either way!!!!!!! Skip to 4 for now... 4b I TOLD YOU THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THEY ACTUALLY GOT THE WATER!  MY STOMACH HURTS!  What is wrong with my eyes?  I need to get out of here. AAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHH!!!!!

The teacher is able to see that I am only able to read the first two lines of Jack and Jill.  My family is able to see that reading comprehension homework makes me sick and anxious.  The more of it I do, the sooner I get anxious.  Soon, I don't even bother looking at it to see if it is logical this time.  This probably takes like three iterations.

If this assessment had been taken without me freaking out, the teacher would have gotten the useful information that I believe the crown mentioned in line 5 is a masculine tiara rather than a body part, as well as that I have a potentially useful aptitude for critical thinking and searching for evidence. Not only that, but I am more interested in social studies than some of my peers, which might cause me to want to socialize.  You never know.

How could the assessment have been done to gather that information instead of freaking me out?

Authentic and portfolio assessment styles exist for this purpose, and my favorites involve retelling customized to the kid's strengths. If I am good at drawing, I am asked to draw a picture about the story after I read it.  Later, looking at the picture, I'm asked to tell you the story.  The picture will remind me the elements of the story that were salient to me.  I will tell you that Jack and Jill went up the hill to get water, which why would they do that, because the water table would be harder to reach from there, and then Jack broke his crown.  Did he break it because he made people dig twice as hard for no reason? Because that was unfair.  You can ask me to clarify what on earth I am talking about.  I can tell you that if a king or a queen makes people work too hard that might make his crown fall off, like in that song.  You can ask me to sing you the song.  Now you know I do not know the body part "crown."  You know music might reach me and etc.  Writer kids often rewrite the story, or kids can act it out or make up songs about it.  It is a fun style to experiment with, and you learn a lot more about what the kids really think the story says than you can ever learn from a list of questions.  The teachers may let you do the homework like that if you ask them.  They may say that this is what they do in school but they wouldn't want to put that on people's families.  You may say, that is awesome.  This is the best case scenario.  Let me know how it goes.

Now, more normal scenario, the homework stays how it is and you really just need an answer to the part about the anxiety.  And you read along about the reading stuff and kind of laughed and things but you were like, dang, is she going to be able to answer questions after all?  Yes.  I will.

Are there ways you can make the exact thing less stressful?

Yes, and I do it to myself a lot.  It is called "desensitization" and comes from a field of study whose other inventions I am not normally as much in love with, but this one is good, has been good for me in my life.  The basic idea is to always pair the stressful thing with something enormously and fabulously the opposite of stressful.  For Emma, let's say the homework sheet of reading comprehension homework never shows up without the most amazing, bass-booming dance track.  And you are dancing.  And you wave that thing over your head with two hands woot woot Chelsea style.  What you do in the long run is get it closer and closer to the stressor event but by then the ick has worn off.  It can take a while... don't rush it... The first time you dance with it, I mean, you don't even try to do it.  The next time, mayyybe you sing a question.  Don't worry about getting an answer.  Get closerrrrrr as it gets less worrisome.  Sing a question and cock your head.... Closerrr..... Over a few sessions.... This is how I became able to drive a car, incidentally.  This is how I have done many things.  So then in Emma's life, Homework Is Stress gives way to Homework Is An Experimental Dance Genre.  When she is a singer on the stage, you will see some choreography about it sweep the nation....

This association of a stressor with something relaxing and awesome works better the more super awesome the person considers the excellent thing.  Try it with yourself.  You can even do it in your head.  For example, the next time I see someone I am likely to frown at, I can mentally put the person on a John Deere tractor, because, you know, high awesome factor.  Then I will probably smile instead of frown.  This is adding method-acting to the desensitization, because the techniques are related.  But I wanted to clarify it because I only did one example.

Another kid might super love the Mets, and whenever the homework comes out, you are suddenly dressed as if the Mets had a special designer line.  You might keep the stuff in a special edition Mets folder, etc.  The key is baby steps and pairing the irritant with the thing that is relaxing and beloved so the halo effect rubs off on it.

Over and out for now!

24 comments:

  1. Ib, thank you so much for this. I'm going to have to read a few times and will need my highlighter and then a good night's rest and then will read again! Because that's what I need to do in order to take all of this info in and then, even so, I may have some follow up questions. But I promise I'll quell the urge to take on several aliases so that I can continue to pelt you with an endless stream of questions, (anonymously) no really I could, you know.. but I will not hog up your whole blog, at least not tonight...

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  2. Heh. Aliases. Now I am imagining you in random yet always awesome costumes, like in the show Alias.

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  3. You made me remember a road trip my husband and family took. My son, ever the map reader, was in the front seat, with his father driving. I handed a sandwich to him so that he could unwrap it for his father, saying "Here, help your Dad with this." So he unwrapped it and started eating it. Boy, was his father mad at him. But I absolutely got it. I had said something that was, in my son's mind ambiguous, and so he "helped his Dad with the sandwich." Once my husband calmed down, we explained this to him...

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    2. Let's try this again...

      Reminds me of years ago when I was working on getting Em to shower independently and I said, "okay Em, take the soap and wash your body with it."
      She dutifully did that and then after she'd finished I said, "Now wash the soap off" and she held the bar of soap under the water.
      Yup. That IS what I told her to do!

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    3. Reading your post, I got Em's meaning, too! I had to stop and think about what you were actually trying to tell her because it was obvious to me that you were telling her something different. It took me a moment to figure it out!

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    4. Kathleen Kosobud, I love your story! I think it speaks to why some people believe we are geniuses... ;)

      Ariane, I love your story too, and Sparrow Rose, I also side with you and Emma that our rendition is the most immediately grammatically derivable. You see, we provide a valuable service in the world, uniting to help people avoid the spoken typo.

      Also, clean soap is next to Godly soap. On Aisle 5 in your hymnal.

      Love,
      Ib

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    5. Sparrow, exactly! If one had to chose who was "more" correct in the above story, Emma would take the prize.

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  4. Reading your response to the reading comprehension questions, I could hear those words coming out of my daughter's mouth!

    Thank you for taking time to help parents better understand. :)

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read! I hope you keep coming back and if you have any ideas for a blog topic, be sure to let me know!! I would love to hear more from you...not least because your nickname is intriguing. :)

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  5. This was awesome. It makes my brain think in new ways too. But I do love the image it put in my head of me, dancing around on Route 66, waving a small, red car over my head.

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    1. You know, it's a good thing you work out a lot, and Volkswagens have good seat belts, or I wouldn't be able to drive at all. ;)

      (In reality the desensitization came before I was able to drive on back sections of Route 66 with Birdy, which was the time of my life, and made it possible. If there is a slow news day with no questions I will go into more detail about how that went.)

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  6. Just what I need to read today. I am forwarding this to my son's team at school. Anxiety is a big issue in our family.Thank you for your advice.

    Lori D

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    1. Thanks Lori! I am happy it was useful!! Let me know if there's anything else that comes up for you and your son. Anxiety is not my favorite, but unfortunately super extra familiar to me, so depending on the kind and reason, I may have many different tried and true workarounds to share.

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  7. What a timely time to discover your blog! I am currently tutoring a boy who is being evaluated for autism. I don't want to diagnose, but I see many of these issues in our reading comprehension work. I am particularly puzzled as to how to help him improve his skills in making inferences. For instance, a text we worked with recently was about the Titanic and it's discovery many years after it sank. My young friend, asked why it took so long to discover it, opined that it had run out of gas. I had no idea where to go. While I tutor him alone for Math, the English class includes three other children, two of whom are profoundly gifted. It's a lot of fun! Seriously!

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    1. Run out of gas! LOL. Just guessing here, but if I myself were to answer with such a hilarious non-sequitur, it would be kind of an inside joke to myself, with the translation being something like "How in the universe am I supposed to know that?" Again, speaking for myself, I am unwilling to make inferences without a really, really good warrant, and I always have been. Some have successfully shaken me from that by suggesting that I was not making an inference per se, but imagining, writing a comic, making up a skit, etc.

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  8. Ibby, I just discovered your blog and I think it's wonderful!!

    I'm in the last semesters of earning a doctorate in political science. My primary research interest is disability issues/disability studies. And I'm on the autism spectrum, too! So pleased to "meet" you!

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    1. Pleased to meet you too! How absolutely fabulous! I would love to know more about your topic. I think this thing can email me if you don't feel like writing it in comments... let me know if it can't... My primary research is in Disability Studies also, and I frequent certain conferences, particularly in Disability Studies in Education.

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  9. We had one of these moments during online schooling this week. I know Ramona novels are not above my comprehension, but the questions...argh! Ramona's a bit circuitous. Pardon us for acknowledging her agenda.

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  10. Hehe Bridget I just saw this! I remember asking Mrs Gladstone about Ramona all the time! Because, why?

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  11. Reading comprehension is my 12-year-old's bugaboo, too. My question for you, Ib, is whether you could have verbalized all that you said above at that age. Because not only would my boy have trouble answering those questions (and he'd have even more trouble if the fill-in-the-blank part of the question fell in the middle of a sentence...blanks in the middle of sentences might as well not be questions at all for him as he can't even figure out what he's meant to do), but he would NOT be able to tell me what his thought processes were. He'd just stare at me and say, "Um...."

    On the other hand, I read to him most nights, but every now and then we'll have several days pass between readings, and I am telling you, he can show me EXACTLY where we left off, and what was happening in the book at that point, and which characters were involved, and "Mommy, do you think [character from 17 chapters ago] is a live or dead" etc. I'm iffy on how well he can comprehend what HE reads, since I think he's so busy processing words it's hard for him to HEAR them. But he can CERTAINLY comprehend what is read to him. And yet homework and assessments would say otherwise.

    This is a GREAT topic!

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    1. In those days I had no clue at all how to express any feelings, and when I got a bit older I became oblique as in, "I can't, there's no air, can't breathe."

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  12. Lori- Look into SLR, not the computerized version, but the low tech, audio tape or cd version. That way he can hear the words as he reads them (Hopefully his reading material has an audio copy that is the same) and it really helps with understanding as well as putting a "voice" to the words you are reading.
    SLR saved me early on. I was not comprehending anything and I had no reading fluency to speak of, (but then what 2nd grader does, really?) and I was able to start hearing words. My teacher went so far as to record me reading the same book after reading it with the audio, so that I could read it again with my own voice in my head. After a few months and many books later I was quite fluent and reading 4 grade levels higher than my peers. For me, the little Autist at the time, the headphones and books were my saving grace. I could put on the headphones and become involved in this totally different world where words started to come alive. I did not want to leave that world.
    Now to be fair, I was not aware I was any different than anyone else. My mother held my early childhood diagnosis from my public schools and no one at the time made a referral for me for special education services. I was lucky to get some very understanding teachers, and a mother who would advocate for me. I wasn't even aware of the diagnosis until my oldest child was being diagnosed, at which my mother then decides to divulge this information.

    So anyways- the gist is, You might want to try the SLR, or something similar for your 12 year old. I know my Son does well now with reading comprehension as well as fluency due to SLR and other similar types of interventions (social stories, pre-teaching inference, activating prior knowledge, etc).

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