Reading rehabilitation based on scientific evidence. From sublexical to lexical treatment
Giacomo Stella, Giulia Nicoletti, Immacolata Squicciarini
The rehabilitation proposal, based on scientific evidence, deals with integrating and giving an adequate follow-up to the various rehabilitation models on reading. It is a simple material of immediate use and adjustable, based on the reading skills of the child to whom it will be submitted. It can be used as a development exercise in the first reading phase, as well as a real rehabilitation treatment. The material is built on the concepts of gradualness based on the linguistic factors that influence reading ability: frequency of use, level of imagination, word length and spelling complexity. The gradual objectives of the operative proposal allow to facilitate the passage from reading letter by letter to lexical reading within sentences and passages, thus passing from a sublexical treatment (focused on deciphering accuracy) to a lexical treatment (focused on integrating lexicon in the reading process). These phases are monitored by a rehabilitative orientation test. The final phase enhances accuracy and speed of reading and focuses on the semantic-conceptual part, with the identification of words and a faster access to lexicon in sentences and pieces. To support this work, a part was added in which the child exploits and trains specific attention features while reading (i.e. the preview effect), working on focusing his attention and managing distracting elements. The first results of this rehabilitation proposal show clinically and statistically significant improvements, as they not only overcome the spontaneous evolution but are quantitatively larger than the control group.
Keywords
Reading, sublexical and lexical, semantic-lexical, attention.