RIDER Strategy

When working on reading comprehension, one strategy in which can be used with students who may have a Learning Disability in reading is known as the RIDER strategy.With this strategy, students are asked to focus more on the book that they are working with in order to better their reading comprehension skills.

With the RIDER strategy, students are asked to do the following:

• Read the text. Students read a portion of their book and then move onto the next step
• Imagine the scene that is being told in the story. Students create a visual in their head or on paper, depending on how the teacher decides to implement the strategy, that helps them in understanding the context of the story.
• Describe the image that was created and explain how it relates to the text
• Evaluate what was just described. During this step, the student is asked questions in relation to the image and description that they have created to further their understanding of what is being read. 
• Repeat the process. 

This strategy can work in several different ways. If the student needs extra support with their comprehension skills the teacher can provide pictures for the "I" phase of the RIDER strategy. This is beneficial to students because they have the choice of what image best relates to the reading, rather than having to create an image of their own. The strategy can be done for multiple levels of reading. Some students who take part in this strategy may only read a few words before they are asked to create an image of what it is that they are reading whereas other students that teachers may have in their classroom will complete chapters at a time before completing the RIDER strategy. Differentiation like this makes this strategy beneficial for students with a wide range of ability levels to put into use.