By Matthew Glavach, Ph.D.
This issue of NASET’s LD Report was written by Matthew Glavach, Ph.D. Listening to, playing, reading, and creating music, involves practically every part of the brain. Musical rhythm and language rhythm are the same. Music and literacy are a natural fit. Songs with lyrics complement literacy activities. Music with lyrics can give children a head-start on reading; they may also help children with reading problems including dyslexia.
Introduction
Listening to, playing, reading, and creating music, involves practically every part of the brain. Musical rhythm and language rhythm are the same. Music and literacy are a natural fit. Songs with lyrics complement literacy activities. Music with lyrics can give children a head-start on reading; they may also help children with reading problems including dyslexia.
Music with Lyrics, Long Term Memory
The article discusses music with lyrics, how it is processed in the brain, and music activities that can be used to help beginning and struggling readers. The only resources required are favorite children’s songs and the songs’ lyrics. The article also discusses how to get song lyric words into long term memory. Often, when children read the words to a song, they have memorized the song and the words are in sequential memory, not long-term memory, where they can be easily accessed for reading. The article addresses this through a finger point reading technique.
Building Stronger Brain Connections
There are three main areas in the brain devoted to learning the skills of reading. They are generally in the brain’s left hemisphere and are necessary for speech and sound-symbol relationships. With practice, singing builds stronger connections between the right and left sides of the brain, improves communication and brings many to speech and language. Scientists are now saying that there is a very real possibility that music with lyrics can help children with dyslexia with reading.
Song Benefits
Songs can improve reading by slowing and stretching words, so children can hear the smaller sounds in words more clearly. Songs can also provide practice in saying difficult words more quickly and may help with some speech problems. Music is found in all parts of the brain. If one pathway is weak, music can help open others.
Teaching Reading Through Songs
-It is best to begin with songs that are familiar to children and songs that they enjoy. This helps them engage with the sound. Choose songs with words that can be clearly understood and will benefit the children’s reading vocabularies.
-While most songs will have some difficult words, the focus will be on words related to the children’s reading vocabulary. However, many children enjoy learning the big words. After a song has been presented, reading strategies such as discussing, questioning, and summarizing can be practiced with songs.
-While there are many songs on the internet with bouncing balls over the words and exciting graphics, children with reading difficulty usually need to put their writing finger under each word and train their eyes to focus on each word.
STEP 1: Track the Words, Learn the Song
To begin, children learn to sing the song. Write the song words on a large chart. (Some teachers prefer to play the song before presenting the words.) While playing the song, point with your finger or a pointer to the words as the song is playing.
-As the students appear to know how to sing the song, give them each a printed sheet with the song. Students begin to track, (point to) the words for the song while they sing the song. Use the same presentation for each song.
After practice, students will read the song. If they make a mistake, just say the word and have them continue reading. Students can receive practice on individual words before hearing the song again or before another reading practice.
SONG PACING
While some songs’ pacing may seem a little fast; with practice, this pace benefits students by improving the response speed between the areas of the brain associated with reading. Repeating the song is important. You can also just work on one song part at a time.
STEP 2: Identifying Words, Finger Point Reading
Finger point reading works well for learning to read with songs. Finger pointing (pointing to words) gives students practice identifying individual words quickly, so they do not have time to use the memory of the song to identify words. This helps students transfer reading skills to other books and materials..
Finger point reading is easy, phonics skills and sight words can be the focus. Choose a song part and have children point to words you say. Finger point reading also provides feedback on student reading knowledge.
Children should be familiar with initial consonants before using finger point reading.
Example 1: The Bus
Some stanzas from the song The Bus are used as an example of reading activities that can be done with songs. This song is excellent for the vowel diphthongs: ou,ow.
(Example 1: The Bus)
The wheels on the bus go round and round
round and round
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round
all through the town!
The people on the bus go up and down.
up and down
up and down
The people on the bus go up and down
all through the town!
Example:2: By the Beach
This example is from the author’s program PHONICS SONGS plus. For grades one and two. It is a reading program based on original instructional song lyrics written by the author with the music and songs by Donny and Marie Osmond. PHONICS SONGS plus has important phonics skills embedded in each song and hundreds of high frequency reading words (sight words) appropriate for grades one and two.
The focus for the song By the Beach is the consonant combinations wh, th, ch, sh and high frequency sight words.
(Example 2, By the Beach)
Oh, by the beach
Water all around
Here’s what I saw
Here’s what I found
A fish, a shell
A boat with a sail
A ship, a chest
A big grey whale
Oh, this and that
Where and when
Thick and thin
Here we go again
A rhyming activity can be added to enlarge the number of similar words.
Example 3: By the Beach: Rhyming Activity
beach that when shell
reach hat then spell
teach cat where smell
peach chat there fell
fish whale found chest
wish shale around west
dish sale sound best
End Notes
Levitan, D.J. (2009). The world in six songs (p. 25). New York: Penguin Books.
Dehaene, S.D. (2009). Reading in the brain (p. 42). New York: Viking/Penguin Group.
Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.
PHONICS SONGS plus available at www.StrugglingReaders.com
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