The REACH (Reaching to Educate All Children for Heaven) initiative provides teachers with resources, training, and ongoing support.
| Kindergarten |
| Prone to ear infections |
| Unusually late or early reaching developmental milestones |
| Delayed speech, may stutter under stress |
| Late in choosing dominant hand |
| Right/left confusion; difficulty with special concepts; gets lost easily |
| Struggles with gross motor activities, such as hopping, skipping, or jumping |
| Struggles with fine motor activities, such as tying shoes |
| Trouble memorizing (such as phone number, alphabet) |
| Mixes up sounds or syllables in long words |
| Difficulty differentiating between phonetic sounds |
| Difficulty with time sequencing; mixes up the order of events |
| Difficulty with directions that include more than one task |
| Poorly shaped letters when writing |
| Difficulty writing on a line or coloring within general lines |
| May have difficulty reading consistently from left to right |
| Elementary |
| Appears bright, highly intelligent, and articulate but unable to read, write, and spell on grade level |
| Inconsistent performance; may have discrepancies in test scores |
| Easily frustrated and emotional about academic work |
| Sings or chants to recite the alphabet in correct sequence |
| Fails to demonstrate proficient word attack skills; difficulty with phonics skills |
| Confuses similar letters and words (angel-angle, dream-drama) |
| Often makes the following mistakes with reading/writing: additions (baby – babey); omissions (plan – pan); substitutions (sin – sen); inversions (mom – wow); reversals (b-d , was - saw); numbers (37-73, 96-69); rotations (b-p, oiL -710); transpositions (girl- gril); repetitions (rat- ratt) |
| May use mirror writing |
| Auditory discrimination problems (difficulty hearing differences in similar sounds, e.g., b– p, o-u) |
| Difficulty recognizing rhyming words |
| Difficulty comprehending written material; may lose place when reading |
| Difficulty sequencing (such as events in stories) |
| Shows some directional confusion |
| Difficulty telling time, managing time, being punctual |
| Fails to complete reading/writing assignments |
| Difficulty with recalling previous lessons |
| Difficulty segmenting syllables in a word |
| Poor spelling, phonetic but inconsistent (e.g., book, bok, buk, boock) |
| Difficulty copying quickly and accurately (from chalkboard to notebook or book to notebook) |
| Difficulty reading printed music |
| Difficulty with organization or compulsively orderly |
| Seems to forget often (e.g., homework, papers, assignments) |
| Has difficulty remembering sight words |
| Difficulty remembering and following multi-step directions |
| Difficulty with independent activities that include reading and writing |
| Short attention span for reading/writing tasks |
| Seems to zone out or daydream often |
| Poor study skills |
| Poor work on timed or essay screening tools |
| Poor self–esteem |
| Hides or covers weaknesses with creative compensation techniques |
| Complains of dizziness, headaches, stomach aches while reading/writing |
| Falls asleep or shows signs of exhaustion while reading/writing |
| May seem to have difficulty with vision, yet eye exams don’t reveal a problem |
| Thinks primarily with images and feelings, not sounds or words |
| Mistakes and symptoms increase with confusion, pressure, stress, or poor health |
| Difficulty restraining talking |
| Discrepancy between verbal communication and written expression |
| Slow reader; may have to read and reread in order to comprehend |
| Understands auditory material more readily than written material |
| Difficulty with directions |
| Still confuses letters (such as b and d) especially when tires, stressed, or ill |
| Difficulty with foreign languages |
| Poor grades |
| High frustration level with schooling |
| More information | |
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| Provide student with a “reader” or a taped copy of the text, i.e., Learning Ally | |
| Use varying reading comprehension strategies |
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| Avoid calling on a child to read aloud unless s/he has had time to practice the passage | |
| Teach phonemic awareness | |
| Alter size of assignment to challenge yet facilitate success, i.e., do even questions, instead of the entire page |
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| Have students preview the chapter before reading | |
| Assign questions at the end of the chapter before reading the text |
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| Sit students in the front of the class with a study buddy | |
| Give assignments in terms of time rather than required number of pages; set clear time limits (using a timer, watch, or other visible device) |
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| Allow the use of assistive technology | |
| Have a “reader” work with student to mark key passages in student’s text |
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| Reduce the amount of writing, allow oral presentations, posters, comic strips etc. | |
| Provide assignment notebook | |
| Find a suitable paraphrase or condensed version of the book (e.g., Shakespeare Made Easy) |
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| Allow students to use the Reading Pen | |
| Utilize audio books |
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| Provide a study guide and graphic organizers; orally review key points | |
| Teach students to outline/map stories | |
| Provide students with a purpose to read |
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| Teach students to understand that they read differently for different purposes (to locate information, for pleasure, etc.) |
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| Provide wait time for students to answer; allow note cards for presentations | |
| Teach through hands-on experiences, demonstrations, experiments, observations, discussion, and visual aids |
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| Talk slower and put notes on the board for the students to copy | |
| Give students a copy of the notes, use a peer note taker or NCR paper | |
| Allow students to highlight key concepts in text | |
| Use questioning balls | |
| Give un-timed assessments |
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| Provide assessments that do not require rote memory recall; instead, test for conceptual understanding; use fill in the blanks (with a word bank), multiple choice, short answer, true and false (explain why it’s false), matching, etc.; vary the formats |
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| Read tests to students; provide an audio recording; allow students to give oral answers | |
| Provide personal dictionaries and word walls | |
| Provide adapted reading material | |
| Have high expectations; give generous praise for specific behaviors; strengthen the student’s self-concept |
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| Provide a reading helper to help students keep their place while reading | |
| Provide for individual pacing |
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| Teach phonics skills through a repetitious, multisensory, hands-on-approach, i.e., Orton-Gillingham (see resources) | |
| Give pre-reading experiences (e.g., stories, visitations, interviews, photos, videos) |
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| Repeat step by step directions; check for understanding |
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| Use prediction strategies before reading | |
| Provide peer tutoring |
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| Teach vocabulary words before reading | |
| Select books appropriate to level of skill; utilize high-interest, low-level books |
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| Give open-book, open-note tests to individual student |
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| Teach organizational skills | |
| Use an electronic speller such as a Franklin Speller |
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| Allow students to use highlighting tape | |
| Allow students to have an extra set of textbooks at home |
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| Have students keep all their supplies in one place |