Page 135 - Reading Nest - The Supportive Literacy Environment Handbook

Readers with little skills in the reading nest

Kadi Lukanenok, Kadi Künnapuu, Mari Täht

A reading nest is a wonderful environment for all children, irrespective of their development
level or difficulties. This chapter discusses reading difficulty and its risks. Reading difficulty

is not the only issue though, that may occur in children. The reading nest may also benefit
children with speech and language disorders, hyperactive children, children with autistic

traits, children whose development considerably lags behind and many other children with

special needs. When such children learn to read and read later, it is characterised by being
slow, making a lot of mistakes, learning slowly and forgetting quickly. In the following

paragraph we have called them children with little skills. Gifted children should also be able
to find interesting activities in the reading nest.

When you design and plan a reading nest, bear in mind all children in the group or class.

Procure and present books, games and other materials which consider the overall average
level of the group but also below and above it. Good texts and picture can be adapted to

simpler levels, and similarly be more complex.

Movement and motion help focus attention and follow the storyline. For many children it

appears difficult to follow the story if there are no pictures, an interesting item or only one

picture describes a long passage. For visualisation and fostering imagination use pictures of
characters, toys, glove or finger puppets, pictures of items in the story, serial pictures etc.

Movement holds attention, deters tiredness and makes it easier to complete planned
activities.

All children want to be with other children, gain experiences together and share them later.
The reading nest is ideally suited to undertake common interests, finding answers to

questions and asking new ones. Interests and questions at different levels can enrich and

expand the child’s world.