The Direct Access Method of Teaching Reading and the Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Disability

Abstract

A distinction among reading disabled children based on whether phonetic or semantic deficits predominate has important implications for remediation. Two kinds of reading disability are related to two distinct aspects of the indirect phonological approach used in the vast majority of reading instructions. This approach to determining the meaning is a conversion of the written form of a word to its phonetic counterpart, making the comprehension auditory. Phonetic reading disabled children have a difficulty with the first step in the process, converting the written word to its sound. Semantic reading disabled children can convert the word to its sound, but this does not lead to determining meaning. Significant gains in performance, may occur by using a direct access to meaning, rather than through the intermediary of sound. The Direct Access approach to reading has one premise: Do not use a "word to sound to meaning" approach. The results of a demonstration project indicate the Direct Access approach to reading can be very useful for many reading disabled children.