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- abstract below
- a PowerPoint presentation is available on the conference CD.
For details of how to obtain the CD, please contact the BDA.

Oral Language as a Bridge to Reading and Writing Skills

Stephanie Miller

Connecticut USA clack03@att.net

Abstract

When non-dyslexic students enter school their oral language serves as a bridge to written language as opposed to dyslexic students who have gaps in their oral language. These gaps need to be filled with explicit instruction. Phonological skills for good decoding are still the key to learning how to read. However, students need to be taught how to create meaning alongside the phonological concepts that the students necessary to decode written texts. I will subsume the Gillis-Miller model of reading (1998), which focuses on gaps in the oral language of dyslexic preschoolers, with respect to their phonemic, morphological, grammatical and semantic skills. I will present strategies including sequencing stories with index cards, answering direct and indirect questions on oral passages, and making up cued oral stories. In addition, participants will be shown how music, which also requires sequencing skills, can help a young child to process connected language. I will reinforce the instructional techniques with Microsoft Power Point exercises. Participants will leave with practical strategies based on linguistic theory, so that their young students can build bridges from oral to written language.

Disclaimer: all the abstracts presented here have satisfied the academic committee as appropriate for presentation at an international conference. However, the material reflects the views of the authors, not necessarily those of the academic committee or the BDA. No endorsement of any approach, product or service is intended or implied.

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