Some of your students may need remediation in phonemic awareness and phonics skills. Once a reader has these skills, he or she can begin to identify new words they have never encountered in text before, and after doing this several times, the brain forms a pathway, allowing the word to be recognized instantly. This automatic recognition, or what is sometimes called "sight" words, gives the reader more energy to concentrate on thinking about the meaning of what is being read.

To help adults improve their reading skills, it is important to know the level of skills they already possess. According to Torgersen, "the best kind of diagnosis for adults is a diagnosis of what they don't know and cannot do."

If they cannot "sound out" single syllable words, then you as teacher will need to help them understand the way letters represent sounds in words and give them practice sounding out words they can't read from memory. Without this skill, they will not be able to read challenging text independently.

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this web-based training component, it is not an official publication of the Florida Department of Education.