Literacy Activities Handbook - Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres

Fix-Up Strategies

Some strategies to increase comprehension while reading are:

Reading on to make better sense of the passage.
Rereading the passage so it makes more sense.
Looking for clues in the pictures, title, or headings.
Asking oneself questions related to the passage.
Putting ideas into one's own words while reading.
Picturing the ideas while one reads.
Relating ideas to one's personal experience.
Asking another person for help in clarifying the passage.

Tutors can help learners to embrace these techniques by modeling them while reading. The tutor can "think aloud" while reading a passage to a learner. For example, to relate a story to herself, the tutor can say: "My husband and I have a dog like Jasper. She barks at the mailman, but not at moths, like in this story. I picture my dog Bailey when the story describes the family's pet. I think the writer is trying to say that pets are a big responsibility."

Quoted from:
B. Davey & S.M. Porter, "Comprehension Rating: A Procedure to Assist Poor Comprehenders," in Journal of Reading, Vol. 26 (1982), pp. 192-202.