Reading is so much more than the ability to read the words on a page, application, website, e-reader, road sign, or wherever the text is found. One must also be able to process and understand the information the text is conveying. It is essential for readers to develop their reading comprehension skills early as “A student’s academic progress is profoundly shaped by the ability to understand what is read. Students who cannot understand what they read are not likely to acquire the skills necessary to participate in the 21st-century workforce.” (page 1 Butler, Urrutia, Buenger & Hunt – 2010)
Reading Comprehension is not a skill that comes naturally for the typical learner. It is even more difficult for children with learning disabilities, thus, it is even more crucial they receive appropriate, and strategic instruction to develop their reading comprehension skills. There are many strategies used to teach reading comprehension, such as modeling, small group instruction using fish bowl exercises and Socratic questioning. In a 2010 research study observing methods used by teachers, the “most consistent finding was that teachers who emphasized higher-order thinking promoted greater reading growth.” (Page 5 – Butler, Urrutia, Buenger & Hunt – 2010).
“Good reading comprehension skills do more than allow students to make sense of what they read. By using higher order thinking skills they can use new information to make help make sense of their world through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.” (http://www.k12reader.com/reading-comprehension-and-higher-order-thinking-skills/) Higher Order Thinking is based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. ‘HOT’ requires the learner to be actively involved in their learning, and not just regurgitate information that they quickly forget. By becoming engaged, learners activate several of the brain’s networks. As each learner is different, we want to use as many ways as possible to activate these networks, a central premise of UDL (Universal Design for Learning).
- To activate the affective network we want to provide choices in the learning context, the reward system, the levels of difficulty or challenge, and the tools and content used.
- Scaffolding the learners’ recognition networks include providing a variety of different exemplars with attention to highlighting significant aspects, provide information in a variety of modalities, and provide a firm foundation on which to construct the higher order thinking.
- When attending to the strategic networks, we must provide varied means of demonstrating mastery, provide timely and germane feedback, provide appropriate supports, and myriad models.
Higher Order Thinking can involve all three of the networks mentioned above. Asking more qualitative questions rather than quantitative questions is one way of helping learners develop their H.O.T. and stimulate the learner’s recognition networks. For example, rather that ask “Did Tom Robinson hurt Mayella Ewell in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird?’, which could be answered with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ the learner could be asked “Was Tom Robinson capable of hurting Mayella Ewell? Why, or why not, and how do you know?” This style of question requires the young person to use their HOTs of Analyzing and Evaluating in order to respond.
A learner could be asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the extent of Tom’s abilities by drawing a picture, acting out the courtroom scene or finding the scene in the movie and creating a storyboard with a collection of stills from the movie, thus activating their strategic networks. They might demonstrate the difficulties Tom had doing things with one hand, develop a list of tasks that can be done one handed and compare/contrast it with things needing two hands. This strategy would engage their affective network. The graphic below of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy offers a host of possible activities that could be used as a means of integrating UDL and HOT. All of our students, those with disabilities, and those without are capable of developing their Higher Order Thinking, and thus improving their Reading Comprehension. 
Below is a link to a list of sites and resources all focused on developing High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), some of which can be used to help develop UDL-based reading comprehension lessons: http://www.techlearning.com/default.aspx?tabid=100&entryid=8519
This is a link to 30 strategies for Enhancing Higher Order Thinking, some of which may be helpful in developing reading comprehension: http://ueatexas.com/pdf/30strategies.pdf
Sources:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/higher-order-thinking
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-increase-higher-order-thinking
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-all-students
https://cortesfranciscojr.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/0dfb9413ee2b786c6d23358ec2ae0de2.jpg
http://udltheorypractice.cast.org/reading?4&loc=chapter5.xml_l1970066
http://www.k12reader.com/reading-comprehension-and-higher-order-thinking-skills/
A Review of the Current Research on Comprehension Instruction – 2010 – Shari Butler, Kelsi Urrutia, Anneta Buenger and Marla Hunt. Developed by the National Reading Technical Assistance Center, RMC Research Corporation – http://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/support/compfinal.pdf
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