I don't have the faintest clue what 'guided reading' and 'individual reading' might look like in a primary school (i'm secondary), but I presume that you are being asked to do this with children who are struggling with reading.  

It is most likely that what these children suffer most from is poor phonic knowledge (i.e incomplete knowledge of letter/sound correspondences) and lack of practice in reading.  This is best remedied through the use of systematic, structutred phonics instruction and the use of decodable books for practise.  However, I assume that this isn't what these children are getting.  So you have to try and do the best with what you've got.

If I were training someone to do individual reading with children I would say:

1) Insist on complete accuracy - child must read exactly what is on the page.  Inaccuracy may completely change the meaning of what they are reading or turn it to gobbledegook.  This is not desirable when children are required to read exam questions (as will happen - don't forget, you are preparing children for reading for life, not just ticking boxes at school)

2) The only strategy to be used for reading unfamiliar words is sounding out and blending.  If the child does not know gets stuck on a sound spelling, tell them what sound isit spells, but make them sound out everything they do know.

Do not allow them to use picture clues or give them any clues yourself as to what the word may be.  Don't 'tell' them the word, they won't know it the next time they see it.  They will only learn to read  a word correctly by sounding it out and blending it a few times.

3) Correct immediately a mistake is made.  Children learn by repetition, so if they continually repeat the wrong thing they will 'learn' that.

4) Don't keep stopping them to ask 'comprehension' questions.  It spoils the flow of the story.  Don't ask them to 'predict' or surmise  what is going to happen, it 's irritating to be continually interrupted when you're reading!  You could ask for a retell when they've finished, or ask for an opinion, with reasons, of what they have read.

5) If the child has had particular difficulty in getting through the story and you think it has affected their understanding of what they have read, get them to read it again...

If you don't know what I mean by sounding out & blending, or are a bit hazy about 'phonics',  have a look at the'Teach your child to read'section of this website:

www.dyslexics.org.uk

Have fun!

Thank you for your replies.  I have found out what the difference is now and I have also been trained on catch up reading aswell.  So all is clear in my mind now :)

Hello Maizie,

Don't know if you're interested but my Catch Up training was practically the opposite of your suggestions. 

totally disheartened:

Don't know if you're interested but my Catch Up training was practically the opposite of your suggestions. 

I am not at all surprised!

The Catch Up programme is a poor relation of Reading Recovery, which, in its turn, is a Whole Language/look & say programme which runs completely contrary to the current official DCFS guidance on the teaching of reading (unlike the advice I gave which is completely in line with the guidance).  It is disgraceful that either programme is permitted to be used in schools.  They may, in some instances, give the illusion of children improving their reading, but for most children it is only an illusion.  By the time they get to secondary they will struggle as words get more complex and the pictures disappear and  the look and guess strategies promoted by Catch Up and RR are useless to them.

"totally disheartened", do you think that the CatchUp strategies are 'right'?

kanddd:

Have just read what Maizie had written and I agree with you 'totally disheartened' if I corrected the children everytime they made a mistake, did not allow them to use picture clues etc. they would be totally disheartened by the end of their reading session. They have to enjoy coming out to read, and there is a time to interuppt and a time to keep quiet. 

As a Primary SENCO and Literacy Coordinator I would be extremely concerned if my support staff were encouraging children to use picture clues. If the children aren't able to "read" the book by sounding out unknown words the book is too difficult.