Rehabilitation
At Home Rehabilitation Exercises
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37- Reading Comprehension
For more exercises in this area, consult Therapy Guide for Speech and Language Disorders Volume 5: Reading Comprehension Materials published by the Visiting Nurse Service and available at www.vnsa.com.
LEVEL 1 - Ask the student to read numerals, words for those numbers, letters of the alphabet, their name, days of the week, months of year, etc.
LEVEL 2 - Create index cards with simple single words representing things that you have around the house or things you have pictures of. Have the student match an object to a written word from a choice of 2 objects. Increase the difficulty by increasing the number of objects from which to choose. Increase the number of words and objects to match.
LEVEL 3 - Have the student read short paragraph stories obtainable through the Visiting Nurse Service at www.vnsa.com with Therapy Guide for Language and Speech Disorders Volume 5: Reading Comprehension Materials. If the student is unable to read or to attend to reading, read the paragraphs aloud to him/her and ask appropriate questions.
LEVEL 4 - Encourage the student to read daily from books, or magazines and newspapers if able. Ask questions regarding the content to test for comprehension. Teach the student to ask themselves questions during reading to increase comprehension and retention.
*Note: Those with poor memory skills or poor attentional skills may demonstrate poor reading comprehension skills when they actually have fairly intact reading abilities. You can address this by asking the student to read increasing more difficult or complex written instructions and ask them to follow the instructions.
Taken from Tasks for Home-Based Cognitive Stimulation Program, the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of P M & R, Birmingham, AL. © 1998-2003 University of Alabama at Birmingham