Shanahan on Literacy

Latest Episodes:

Autism and Reading Part 2: Lessons to be Learned from Special Kids May 24, 2025

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Children on the autism spectrum (ASD) present some interesting challenges when it comes to reading instruction. Part 1 of this series considered the difficulties that these children may have with decoding -- despite the fact that there are a surprising number who have hyperlexia, especially good decoding ability. However, most of these students struggle more with comprehension than decoding and this podcast explores what their comprehension problems tend to be and how they might be addressed.

Autism and Reading Part 1: Lessons to be Learned from Special Kids May 10, 2025

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More and more kids are diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and this challenge has important consequences for learning to read. This podcast explores the implications this has for teaching reading -- both to kids on the spectrum and to everyone else.

How to Teach Writing Fluency May 03, 2025

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These days there is much interest in reading fluency as educators have become aware of the important contribution it makes to reading proficiency. However, writing fluency is not accorded the same attention -- undermining writing development and what it can contribute to learning to read. This podcast explores writing fluency -- what it is, why it matters, and most importantly how to teach it successfully.

The Whats, Hows, and Whys of Teaching Sight Vocabulary Apr 19, 2025

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This podcast explores a series of question about sight vocabulary, its role in reading development, and how it is best dealt with in the classroom.

Is Morphology Training Better Than Phonics Instruction? Apr 12, 2025

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This podcast explores the relationship between phonics teaching and morphology instruction. Some authorities suggest that morphology should replace phonics, while others see it as a supplement to phonics that should be delayed until decoding is well in hand.

Are We Teaching Reading Comprehension Part 2 Mar 29, 2025

Show notes

In the last episode, we examined the research on comprehension instruction and how it has changed. In this episode we are exploring the kinds of instruction that should count when it comes to teaching students to comprehend what they read. It gets into issues of knowledge, strategies, questioning routines, and language.

Are We Teaching Comprehension? Part 1 Mar 15, 2025

Show notes

There is new research into how much reading comprehension student are receiving. To carry out such studies requires the researchers to define what they mean by comprehension instruction... and that's where it gets interesting. This first of a two-part podcast explores what it means to teach reading comprehension in the Science of Reading era.

Accommodating Reading Comprehension with Listening: Good Idea? Mar 01, 2025

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Many children suffer from difficulties learning to read and sometimes these challenges take the form of disabilities. The question is should accommodations be provided to these students by replacing listening comprehension with reading comprehension, if we know they will have trouble decoding. This podcast considers the value of such accommodations when it comes to reading.

On Eating Elephants and Teaching Syllabication Feb 22, 2025

Show notes

Should we be teaching syllabication? Some schemes for this are pretty time consuming. Is that kind of investment worthwhile? And, if we do teach students to break words into syllables what is the best way to do that and what should we teach them? This podcast will explore these issues.

Is Print Awareness Part of the Science of Reading? Feb 08, 2025

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This podcast explores the role that print awareness plays in learning to read. It sorts out the skills that matter from those that do not and explains how the essential ones can be best taught.

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