In the twenty-first century, a growing body of literature is combining education and literature in a cohesive way. With a growing need for a skilled workforce, literacy is a skill that is going to be constantly in high demand. Literacy is the umbrella term for the skills required to read, write, speak, listen, spell and use numeracy. Literacy includes basic reading skills, higher order reading skills, written language, and oral language. There are many psychological principles, that are used in literacy therapy. These help the reader understand the author's message, experience the story, learn new information, or apply information they already know.
Literacy therapy teaches the traits of good reading comprehension. One of these traits is the ability to make inferences. An inference is a line of reasoning, that you draw from evidence that is given. In literacy therapy, the reader is often asked to make a lot of inferences. Helping learners make the leap from the literal to the figurative and from the general to the specific is another important skill. This trait is closely related to making analogies. An analogy is a comparison made between two things, that are not like each other. For literacy therapy, this often involves comparisons between reading and other skills.
Defining Literacy Therapy
Literacy therapy is the practice of using literature or the power of the written word to help individuals or groups of individuals. The term can be used to refer to both individual work as well as group interventions.
Literacy therapy has been used to help individuals with a huge variety of conditions and problems ranging from dyslexia to post-traumatic stress disorder. It has also been used to help groups of people, such as prison inmates or children in distress.
One of the most common uses of literacy therapy is to help dyslexic individuals improve their reading skills. Dyslexia is a difficulty with language, that affects the way the brain processes words. People with dyslexia have trouble reading and writing. They also have other language problems, such as problems expressing themselves, problems understanding what other people say and problems understanding what they read.
Literacy therapy for dyslexia typically involves the use of literacy-based interventions. These interventions are designed to improve reading comprehension, word recognition, fluency and writing skills. Intervention techniques can be delivered one-on-one or in a group.
The Power Of Literature
Literature has the ability to connect with people on an emotional level. It can be able to provide that "escape" that is so important during difficult times. People can and often do, identify with characters in stories. This identification provides people with a sense of connection to the story. This connection to the story, in turn, creates a deeper connection with the reader. The reader connects with the characters, for example, they can begin to feel what the characters are feeling. They get to take a brief trip inside the story. This helps people cope with their problems.
One way that people cope is by immersing themselves in the story. This is sometimes referred to as "play-pretending". It is a way of escaping the problems of the world. In play-pretending, the reader imagines, that they are the main character of the story. These pretend games often become more like reality as the reader forgets about the real world entirely. This ability to escape reality is one of the reasons why people choose to read.
How Does Literature Work With People Emotionally?
People often experience a wide range of emotions while reading. The reason for this is that reading is an active process. The reader does not sit there and absorb the words on the page. Reading requires the reader to do the work, which is a little like doing a task. When reading, the reader must apply their own intelligence and comprehension skills to the material. This requires concentration and a willingness to do the work.
Some of the emotions. that people experience while reading include:
Interest: The reader is fascinated or intrigued by the topic.
Smiling: The reader is enjoying the reading experience and displays a smile on their face.
Shaking Their Head: The reader expresses disagreement with the idea, person, or concept being presented.
Sighing: The reader expresses a deep feeling of emotion.
Sorrow: The reader feels deep sadness, depression, or despair.
Surprise: The reader displays a brief moment of shock or surprise.
Trust: The reader trusts, that the information is correct, trustworthy, or valid.
After people experience an emotion, they often have a response as well. These responses are often related to the emotion they just experienced. For example, if people are bored while reading, some of their responses might be related to boredom. People might yawn, look around, or start dozing off.
How Can Literacy Therapy Help?
Literacy therapy can help people with a wide variety of problems and conditions. It is not a replacement for medical treatment, psychiatric treatment, or special education. Before literacy therapy can be recommended, it must be determined that there is indeed a problem, that needs to be fixed. For example, if an individual has no major problems other than being forgetful in their day-to-day life, it may not be necessary to focus on their reading.
If an individual is having a negative reaction to the materials they are reading, such as an increase in nightmares or flashbacks, then it may be necessary to stop reading that material until it has had time to expire. In some cases, literacy therapy can make a negative situation worse. This is more likely to happen with those with a severe learning disability or a history of abuse. In these cases, it is important that the literacy therapy is a positive experience.
Literature is a very powerful and important tool used in shaping the society. People actually see the need to do things, become motivated, gets inspired when they read good literature.
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