Literacy Activities Handbook - Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres

Purpose for Reading: Comprehension improves if learners have a purpose for reading a passage. They will be more interested, and will be able to relate the information to their own lives. For example, the tutor and learner can work together on reading a safety / usage manual for a tool that the learner will soon use in his workplace. Authentic materials such as medicine bottles, recipes, bus schedules, and television schedules may be more purposeful for learners.

"I think this is the most important advice. I would argue you should never ask someone to read unless they have a purpose. It actually helps the learner know how to read; that is, what strategy to select. For example, if I say to read this to find out what happened in 1066, you would skim through to find the date and read that sentence. But if I said to read this to tell me the sequence of events, then you would read more carefully and note the different key words like first, second, etc."

Dr. Christa van Kraayenoord
Director and Senior Lecturer, Schonell Special Education Research Centre The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)

Creating Pictures: Comprehension can increase if the learner is able to "picture" what he or she is reading. It may be helpful to do this deliberately. Learners can actually draw scenes or characters from a story. Their own descriptions can be written below the pictures.
Predicting: It can be helpful to divide a passage of text into logical segments. After reading one segment, the learner can be asked to predict what should come next. Learning to make predictions can help with reading comprehension.
Variety: It is important to model and practice a number of comprehension strategies with learners, instead of only one. Some may be more effective for a particular learner than others. Comfort and skill in using comprehension strategies may be a longer-term goal for learners with intellectual / developmental disabilities.

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