The human brain was not mean to take in words the way we do. There are specific parts of the brain for sight, hearing and touch, yet there are multiple areas of activation when people read. Reading at its most basic level is word identification and language comprehension. Language comprehension refers to a student’s background knowledge, vocabulary, syntax (word/phrase order), semantics or word meanings, verbal reasoning, the ability to make inferences and understand metaphors and literacy concepts such as genre.

No matter how many times you tell a child to try and sound out an unknown word, without automatic decoding strategies, they simply won’t be able to identify the word. Many students need explicit and direct instruction to decode words. Accurate decoding involves identifying vowel patterns and a clear understanding of the alphabetic principle of phonologic awareness. This type of awareness is demonstrated when students know the sounds of letters or groups of letters and can manipulate those various sounds in our language.

Getting thoughts out of our heads and into the world is difficult for many people. When children struggle to express themselves in writing, they tend to have lower self-esteem and often have production issues. Writing involves much more than deciding if the pen or pencil is mightier than the keyboard. It involves generating and organizing content, spelling choices, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary.

Handwriting is about much more than coordination. It requires legibility or accuracy of letter-forms and fluency or the automaticity and rate of formation. Ensuring the messages are getting from the brain to the pencil and down on paper is a key part of writing and communication. Keyboarding instruction is NOT a substitution for creating or aiding in context with writing.

Parts of the human brain are not fully developed until an individual is in their twenties. Students are responsible for a great deal of organizing, planning, and time management today than ever before. Allowing students to practice these skill sets with appropriate coaching gives them ownership of their studies.