D.I.S.S.E.C.T.

Ariana Dymerski Sped 441

Student Perry
Perry is a sophomore in high school. He reads at a 5th grade level both in fluency and
comprehension.

Perry struggles with decoding words, affecting his rate of

reading.

This is also affecting his comprehension because he

does not have a problem solving tool with which to pronounce difficult or unknown words in a passage preventing Perry from deriving meaning.

Rationale for D.I.S.S.E.C.T.

Word attack tools such as structural analysis and
contextual analysis are imperative for supporting word identification.

When teaching struggling readers in middle school and

high school, being taught strategies to improve word identification assists within the five major components of reading.

However, although the strategy will improve a students

reading rate, supplemental comprehension support also needs to be provided when working with the decoding strategy.

References
Lenz, B. K., & Hughes, C. A. (1990). A word
identification strategy for adolescents with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23(3), 149158, 163.

Lebzelter, S., & Nowacek, E. (1999). Reading

Strategies for Secondary Students with Mild Disabilities. Intervention in School and Clinic, 34(4), 212-219.

D - Discover the Context

Skip the difficult word

Read to the end of the sentence Use the meaning of the sentence to make your best
guess as to the meaning of the word

If the meaning does not make sense, proceed to the

next step

I - Isolate the Prefix

Using the list of prefixes, look at the beginning of the
word to see if the first several letters form a prefix that you can pronounce.

If so, box it off by drawing a line between the suffix and

the rest of the word.

S - Separate the Suffix

Using the list of suffixes, look at the end of the word to
see if the last several letters form a suffix that you can pronounce.

If so, box it off by drawing a line between the suffix and

the rest of the word.

Practice
After describing how to isolate the prefix and separate
the suffix, pass out a worksheet that starts with lower grade words and progressively gets harder.

On an overhead, model finding the prefix and suffix of

the first two words.

For the next three words, ask for student input to assist
in finding the prefix and suffix.

Assign the student to complete the rest of the

worksheet independently; the teacher will be available for answering questions.

S - Say the Stem

If you recognize the stem (the part of the word that
remains after the prefix and the suffix have been boxed off), pronounce the prefix, stem, and suffix together.

If you cannot recognize the stem, proceed to the next

step.

Practice
Use the completed worksheet that the students separated
the prefixes and suffixes.

Model how to pronounce the prefix, stem, and suffix of the

first two words.

Ask for student input to pronounce the prefix, stem, and

suffix of the next three words.

Assign the student to complete reading the worksheet by

breaking the words down into three parts.

If the student does not recognize the stem in a word, have

him circle the word and say that we will move to the next step.

E - Examine the Stem

Using the Rules of Twos and Threes, dissect the stem

into easy to pronounce word parts.

RULES OF TWOS AND THREES

Rule 1 If a stem or any part of a stem begins with a vowel, separate the first two letters from the rest of the stem and pronounce them. If the stem or any part of the stem begins with a consonant, separate the first three letters from the rest of the stem and pronounce them. Once you have separated the first two or three letters from the stem, apply the same rules until you reach the end of the stem (ex: al/ter/na/tor) Pronounce the stem by saying the dissected parts. If you can read the stem, add the prefix and suffix and reread the entire word. If you cant use Rule 1, use Rule 2. Rule 2 Isolate the first letter of the stem and try to apply Rule 1 again. Rule 2 is especially useful when the stem begins with two or three consonants. Rule 3 If two different vowels appear together in a word, pronounce both of the vowel sounds. If that doesnt sound right, pronounce one vowel sound at a time until it sounds right. Rule 3 can be applied in conjunction with either Rule 1 or Rule 2.

Practice
Use the words on the worksheet that were circled by
the student.

Model three known words for the student, showing how

to use all three rules on familiar words.

Work with the student on two of his words that were

circled, prompting him with questions such as does it start with a vowel or consonant? Which rule do you think you should use?

Allow the student to finish the worksheet independently.

Be available for questions.

C - Check with Someone

If you still cant pronounce the word, ask someone
(teacher, parent, or a better reader) in an appropriate way to help you.

If someone is not available, go to the next step.

Practice
Model a correct and incorrect way to ask for
assistance.

Allow the student to critique each model. Have the student offer other ways for asking for
assistance. Also ask for the student to produce nonexamples.

T - Try the Dictionary

Look up the word in the dictionary, use the

pronunciation guide to pronounce the word, and read the definition.

Practice
Model how to find two words in the dictionary and use the
pronunciation pattern to sound out a word.

Give the student a word to look up and have him sound out
the word out loud.

Allow the student to look up the rest of the words that he did
not figure out on the original worksheet.

If the student had figured out all the words on the worksheet,
give him five words that are above grade level for him to look up.

Make sure the student writes the definition on the worksheet

so to assess dictionary usage skills.

Generalization
After completing all steps of the DISSECT strategy,
give the student a grade level reading passage.

Have the student read out loud and assist with moving
through the DISSECT strategy when coming across words he does not know.

Continue this process until the student 90% accurately

uses the DISSECT strategy while reading four out of five times.

Have the student complete the same process with

science passages and social studies passages at the students grade level.

Data Collection
During the learning of each step of the strategy, work
samples will be collected to monitor student understanding.

If the student does not meet 90% accuracy on the

worksheet for that day, the student will repeat the process the next instructional period.

Collection of these worksheets will occur at three

different points when the student competes written work.

Informal assessment will occur for the D, S, C parts of

the strategy due to the oral component.

Mastery of the Strategy

During reading passages practices, the student will
DISSECT unknown words four out of five times during different independent assessments.

Constant progress monitoring in fluency and

comprehension will occur weekly to assess generalization as well as word identification improvement.