For the first few years of school, struggling readers can usually get by. The material is simple, the lessons are repeated often, and intensive remedial help is common.
But for some of those pupils, reading ability starts a dramatic downhill slide right around 4th grade. While good readers are sponges for new words and grammar rules, slower readers are left further and further behind. Some never catch up.
Researchers have called the phenomenon the “4th grade slump,” because it tends to occur when reading instruction shifts from basic decoding and word recognition to development of fluency and comprehension.
But questions remain. If there is a slump, what is causing it? And can children at risk of “slumping” be identified much earlier than they typically are, and their problems eased or eliminated?
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $30 million over the next five years to research centers devoted to studying the issue, along with other questions related to reading disabilities. The four centers will delve into the learning process in children and adolescents to find out what goes wrong for some young readers, and determine ways to address the problems when they develop.
Full Story: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/09/12/03slump.h27.html
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