Rationale:

Summarization is one of the two most powerful strategies for comprehending text. An effective method of summarizing is called about-point, which asks two critical questions about the text: a) What is the text about? This is usually an easy question, and it identifies the topic that becomes the subject of the topic sentence. b) What is the main point the writer is making about that topic? This is a harder question. Since the author usually makes several points, the reader must “superordinate” the points, i.e., find an umbrella term that covers all the main points the author is making. The main point becomes the predicate of the topic sentence.

 

Materials:

Individual copies of an article written for kids on people with special needs from KidsHealth.org (URL below).

Pencil and paper for each student.

Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below).

                                          

Procedures:

1. Explain to children why summarization is important: When we read a text, we would spend all day trying to remember all the words and all the details. Good readers don’t try to remember everything. They use summarization strategies to remember only the important points the author is making about the topic. In that way, they reduce a text that may have hundreds or thousands of words to a compact gist that is easy to remember.

2. The best way to summarize is called about-point. In about-point, you ask yourself an easy question and a tough question, and you use your answers to make a topic sentence. The easy question is "What is the text about?" The tough question is "What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?" To answer this question, you have to think of an umbrella term for all the important points the writer is telling you.

3. In a few minutes, I’m going to show you how I’d do about-point with a paragraph on kids with special needs, which is the article you are going to be reading today. Do you have a friend with special needs? Do you think all special needs are visible? How can we make sure these people feel included? What are some of the ways kids with special needs get help? These are some of the questions you will be learning to answer today.

4. Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: anxiety. Anxiety means a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease. Many times we use the form anxious. For example, “I feel anxious when I have to take a very important test.” I feel nervous because tests can be hard for me. What is something that makes you feel anxious? Finish this sentence: “I feel anxious when I have to….”

5. Here is a paragraph from the story:

Isn't every kid special? We think so. But what do we mean when we say "kids with special needs"? This means any kid who might need extra help because of a medical, emotional, or learning problem. These kids have special needs because they might need medicine, therapy, or extra help in school — stuff other kids don't typically need or only need once in a while. 

This paragraph is about kids with special needs, but what important points is the writer making? Special needs can mean any kid with medical, emotional, or learning problems. These kids need medicine, therapy or extra help all the time, while other kids may only need them every once in a while. Putting these points together, I can make a topic sentence: Kids with special needs could have medical, emotional, or learning problems, and they need certain types of help all the time.

6. Now I want you to use about-point on a paragraph:

 You might be able to spot a few kids with special needs, but you probably don't notice all of them. A kid could have a problem that isn't noticeable unless you know the person well. For example, someone could have trouble with anxiety (worry), but you wouldn't know it unless the kid told you about it. Privately, their parents, teachers, and counselors may be working to help them worry less. 

What’s this paragraph about? Yes, kids with special needs that you cannot see. What are the main points the author is making about sleepwalkers? Correct, you cannot always know a person has special needs unless you know them very well. Yes, another point is that the kid might have anxiety. How could we combine those ideas in one sentence beginning: Kids with special needs…? Kids with special needs may not always have noticeable special needs, and one of those kinds of special needs is anxiety.

7. Now I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you will have made a good summary of the article, which will help you remember important facts about kids with special needs. Don’t summarize examples or trivia; they are written only to help you understand the main ideas. You are writing a short version of the article in your own words, including only the important ideas to remember. And to make sure you remember, we will have a quiz after everyone finishes writing.

 

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article, and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist:

 

__ Collected important information

__ Ignored trivia and examples in summary.

__ Significantly reduced the text from the original

__ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph

__ Sentences organized coherently into essay form.

 

Quiz:

1. What is one type of extra help a kid with special needs might need?

2. If you looked at a random kid, would you know they have special needs?

3. What might be a way that a kid in a wheelchair would be able to get around easier?

4. Is it harder for kids with special needs to make friends?

5. What does it mean to have anxiety?

6. What might a kid do to help their classmate with special needs?

7. Do students with learning problems go to school with everyone else?

8. What can you do to help prevent bullying?

9. Would someone with an illness like diabetes or epilepsy be considered special needs?

 

Reference: Mary L. Gavin, MD (reviewer), Kids with Special Needs

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/special-needs.html?WT.ac=ctg#catemotion

Murray, Bruce. Using About Point to Awaken the Main Idea. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/AboutPointRL.html

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