Current Issue Review I

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/09/12/03slump.h27.html?print=1
Title: Experts Eye Solutions to '4th Grade Slump'
Publisher: Education Week - Eye On Research
Date of Publication: Published Online: 9/10/07; Published In Print:9/12/07
Author: Christina A. Samuels
Summary:
Christina A. Samuels states in her article that struggling readers who navigated under the radar in early grades, usually decline further into a phenomenon, researchers call the '4th grade slump'.
The University of Colorado at Boulder, Florida state University, The University of Houston, and Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute will receive $30million for the next five years from the National Institute of Health to conduct researches on the cause of this trend. The centers will focus on interventions that can be implemented in the classroom.
Peggie McCardle, chief of the child-development and behavior asserts that a strong knowledge base of the situation will help enormously in identifying children with learning disabilities and facilitate early intervention. Laurie E. Cutting, the associate director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute for the Study of Reading Development, state "When you are younger , you're learning how to read. When you're older,....It really becomes a tool for learning, not a tool that you're learning".
Early intervention is the key. However, the need for help will continue until a solution is found. Certainly, "reading difficulties can be ameliorated", said Laurie E Cutting.

Relevance for integration of technology into language arts and to my teaching assignment.
Consequently, this phenomenon requires a strong dose of Assistive Technology to help solve the students' problem. In the era of multimedia and the advent of an array of resources to facilitate learning, we should find ways to fight the slump and avoid a larger catastrophe. For my teaching , I adopt a constructivist approach. Students must be able to read and understand in order follow the written instructions while building their own knowledge. Unfortunately, the struggling readers never fully enjoy the experience.