Higher level strategies to support comprehension monitoring

Strategies for developing comprehension monitoring

Many young people with comprehension difficulties do not recognise that they do not understand, which result in misunderstandings and is a barrier to learning. Other young people may not have the confidence or be too embarrassed to ask. This can look like non-compliance in the classroom as it can be easier to not engage at all than to say you don’t know (especially in front of other peers).

It is therefore important to understand and develop your young person’s strategies for requesting help, and to build their confidence for asking for help by honouring requests for help or clarification.

Visual support

• Agree a visual support system with your young person so that they can tell you whether they understand, whether they will give it a go or whether they need help, for example,
  • Check in cards

• • Help board

• • Gesture system (such as thumbs up or down)
  • Bespoke system that helps your young person to communicate that they need support (for example a gesture, sign or action that would not be noticed by other peers such as finger on table, pencil at the top of the table)
  • Encourage all young people to say when they have not understood

• Have a ‘check in’ system – it helps if you can agree what this will look like with the young person. Examples that some young people use:
  • Teaching staff to approach to check in at the start of a task or activity
  • Gesture, sign or use an action that would not be noticed by other peers such as finger on table, pencil at the top of the table

• Check back with the young person that they have understood what they are meant to be doing by asking open ended questions. For example:
  • “What do you need to do?”
  • Avoid ‘do you understand’ – many young people will say ‘yes’ even if they don’t

• Teach specific phrases that help the young person to communicate that they don’t understand, for example:
  • “I don’t understand”
  • “I don’t get it”
  • “You said too much”
  • “I’m confused”

• Teach specific questions that help the young person to resolve the breakdown, for example:
  • “What do I have to do?”
  • “Can you say it again?”
  • “Can you say it more slowly?”
  • “What does that word mean?”
  • “I don’t get the bit about…”

• Praise the young person when they ask for help. For example:
  • “That was really good when you said you didn’t understand”
  • “that was really good when you asked for help”
  • “Good checking”