An outcome study of an early intervention for specific learning disabilities

Subjects at risk for specific learning disabilities were assessed on standardized measures throughout elementary and middle school following an intervention based on task analysis of kindergarten curricula and team teaching. All results were significant for the treatment group in relation to an at-risk cohort and comparable to a current random cohort and national averages.     

Perceptual screening: Toward identification,prediction and prevention of reading disabilities

Conclusions There is some evidence that optimal perceptual development occurs by the time a child is eight years of age; and similarly, evidence that remediation of maladaptation and reading difficulties is far more difficult to achieve after eight or nine years of age. There is also theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that there are optimal periods to intervene in order to influence development of all human characteristics (Bloom, 1964). Since perception seems to be maximally developed by eight years of age, it seems quite clear that intervention to improve on the developmental progression of perception should occur before that age. However, one thing that is not clear from previous studies, is whether instruction directed toward a child’s weak perceptual area is more beneficial than instruction directed toward the child’s strong perceptual area. Perhaps, through early group screening and empirically testing the modality concept, important data can be gathered regarding the efficacy of teaching toward a strong learning characteristic or propensity, or teaching toward a weak area in order to develop that area to an adequate level and to maximize the ability to learn beginning reading. Preparation of paper was partially supported by funds from HEW, National Advisory Committee on Dyslexia and Related Reading Disorders. An earlier version of paper was submitted by invitation to that committee.     

Effects of tutoring in phonological and early reading skills on students at risk for reading disabilities

This study examined the effectiveness of nonprofessional tutors in a phonologically based reading treatment similar to those in which successful reading outcomes have been demonstrated. Participants were 23 first graders at risk for learning disability who received intensive one-to-one tutoring from noncertified tutors for 30 minutes, 4 days a week, for one school year. Tutoring included instruction in phonological skills, letter-sound correspondence, explicit decoding, rime analysis, writing, spelling, and reading phonetically controlled text. At year end, tutored students significantly outperformed untutored control students on measures of reading, spelling, and decoding. Effect sizes ranged from .42 to 1.24. Treatment effects diminished at follow-up at the end of second grade, although tutored students continued to significantly outperform untutored students in decoding and spelling. Findings suggest that phonologically based reading instruction for first graders at risk for learning disability can be delivered by nonteacher tutors. Our discussion addresses the character of reading outcomes associated with tutoring, individual differences in response to treatment, and the infrastructure required for nonprofessional tutoring programs.     

A comparison of multiple methods for the identification of children with reading disabilities

There has been considerable discussion of the methods used for the identification of children with reading disabilities. This study examined three different methods that could be used in the identification of children with reading disabilities and their consistency with teacher ratings of behaviors believed to be associated with reading disabilities. Standardized, norm-referenced measures of achievement, phonological processing measures, and curriculum-based measures of reading fluency were used with 40 children in Grades 1 and 2. Comparisons were made to determine which measures, if any, differentiated between children referred for reading disabilities (n = 20) and children who were progressing typically in reading in their general education classroom settings (n = 20). The results indicated significant between-group differences on standardized, norm-referenced measures of reading recognition, word attack, and comprehension; phonological measures of blending nonwords and elision; and reading fluency. Teacher ratings on the Dyslexia Screening Instrument were consistent with teacher beliefs regarding children's progress in reading. All measures were found to correlate significantly with each other. However, correlations were generally in the moderate range, suggesting that the measures used did not measure the same reading skills or, in the case of phonological processing, the underlying abilities believed to be necessary for reading. Given the differences in tasks and the moderate correlations, it is likely that the choice of measures may affect the conclusions reached regarding a student's reading ability.     

Issues in the identification and ongoing assessment of ESL students with reading difficulties for reading intervention

Reading difficulties and second language acquisition have attracted international interest among researchers and practitioners in recent years. This is because increased mobility between countries means that educators are faced with the problem of providing appropriate assessment and assistance for students with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. There is a growing international consensus in the literature that second-language (L2) learners have generally been underdiagnosed and overrepresented in special education classes. Consequently there is a need to help teachers more adequately identify and assist L2 students who experience specific reading difficulties. This article proposes the use of a language model of reading difficulties based on the Simple View of Reading to identify students with reading difficulties. It also discusses relevant ongoing assessment issues to prevent inappropriate special education referrals. It recommends a responsive approach to intervention and suggests using multi-faceted intervention programs including the promotion of positive home-school climates to address the needs of such students.     

Staff development in early reading intervention programs: the facilitator

Current reform initiatives often call for facilitators to work with teachers and administrators in the change process. Although this facilitating position is becoming more common, little is currently understood about this role and the forms it might take. This study examines the work of four facilitators involved in five different successful reform programs focusing on early reading intervention. These facilitators are instrumental in different approaches to reform, ranging from externally adopted to internally developed interventions. Findings examine the different roles of facilitation as viewed by the facilitators themselves in relationship to these different approaches to reform. Common issues and dilemmas are also examined.     

Tiers of intervention in responsiveness to intervention: prevention outcomes and learning disabilities identification patterns

Response to Intervention (RTI) models have attracted great attention as an alternative to traditional methods used for identifying students with learning disabilities. A major feature of this approach is the implementation of academic interventions in general education and measuring the student's response to those interventions. A common question that needs to be addressed is the number of stages or tiers of intervention necessary in the Response to Intervention model. This article reviews three studies of RTI that investigate the RTI tiers. Sharon Vaughn and Rollanda O'Connor report on studies using the Standard Protocol approach to RTI. David Tilly reports on using the Problem Solving Model as an RTI model. This article summarizes the results of these three investigations.     

Long‐term outcomes of early reading intervention

This study explores the long‐term effectiveness of two differing models of early intervention for children with reading difficulties: Reading Recovery and a specific phonological training. Approximately 400 children were pre‐tested, 95 were assigned to Reading Recovery, 97 to Phonological Training and the remainder acted as controls. In the short and medium term both interventions significantly improved aspects of children's reading, Reading Recovery having a broader and more powerful effect. In the long‐term, 3½ years after intervention, there were no significant effects on reading overall, though Reading Recovery had a significant effect for a subgroup of children who were complete non‐readers at 6 years old. Phonological Training had a significant effect on spelling. The short and medium‐term effects demonstrate that it is possible substantially to reduce children's reading problems. The long‐term effects raise doubts about relying on early intervention alone.     

Early intervention for reading disabilities: teaching the alphabet principle in a connectionist framework

Forty-eight children referred by teachers at the end of first grade for difficulty in reading were randomly assigned to three treatments, all of which modeled connections between written and spoken words but did not teach phonics rules, for eight half-hour individual tutoring sessions. The children were taught 48 words of varying orders of spelling-sound predictability (Venezky, 1995) using a whole-word method, for making connections between a word's name and its constituent letters; a subword method, for making connections between each color-coded spelling unit and its corresponding phonemes; or a combined whole-word and subword method. Regardless of the method used, children improved reliably on standardized reading measures and the taught words, showing that they could make connections between written and spoken words at the whole word and subword levels, even when rules were not taught. By posttest, the subword method showed a reliable advantage on a standardized test of real word reading. Knowledge of sounds associated with both multiletter and single-letter spelling units predicted reading achievement. Order of spelling-sound predictability (easy, moderate, difficult) was correlated with standardized measures of reading at pretest and posttest, and the magnitude of the relationship increased as a result of the intervention. Individual differences in verbal intelligence, rapid automatized naming, and phonological and orthographic skills predicted response to the intervention. Instructional implications of the results are discussed.     

Boys with reading disabilities and/or ADHD: distinctions in early childhood

We examined distinctions in the early childhood characteristics of boys with reading disabilities (RD) and/or attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A four-group mixed design consisting of boys identified at age 11 with reading disabilities only (RD only; n = 46), reading disabilities and ADHD (RD/ADHD; n = 16), ADHD only (n = 20), and a comparison group (n = 281) was utilized. Differences on receptive and expressive language and temperament for ages 3 and 5 were investigated. Analyses indicated that the boys from the RD-only group performed worse on measures of receptive and expressive language. The results also indicated that boys from the RD/ADHD groups consistently performed worse on measures of receptive language and exhibited more behaviors indicative of an undercontrolled temperament. In summary, we suggest that reading disabilities and ADHD represent moderately unique disorders that frequently co-occur and are characterized by distinct developmental pathways.     

Why is reading recovery successful? A Vygotskian critique of an early reading intervention

Reading Recovery is an intensive, one-to-one intervention for children experiencing reading difficulties after one year of primary school. It aims to intervene before “dysfunctional strategies” and feelings of failure take firm hold in young learners. The programme consists of daily half-hour lessons taught by a teacher trained to diagnose and support a problem-solving approach to reading texts. Lessons are planned so that the learner, no matter how inexperienced with print, is enabled to “act like a reader and writer”. Marie Clay, the founder of Reading Recovery, devised the programme on the basis of intensive work with both fluent and poor readers more than twenty years ago in New Zealand. Many years later Clay and Cazden (1990) analysed the programme from a Vygotskian viewpoint and pointed out aspects which embody Vygotskian principles, especially the notion of “scaffolding”. This paper addresses two questions: (l) which features of Reading Recovery embody Vygotskian notions? and (2) how effective is Reading Recovery at improving literacy skills and transforming children into independent problem solvers in literacy? A large national evaluation study in the U.K. showed that Reading Recovery increased reading attainment and that the gains were still apparent more than one year after the intervention. A small scale observation study demonstrated the “scaffolding” by which Reading Recovery teachers encouraged children to greater independence in reading and writing over the course of the programme. The paper ends by suggesting that future research should address the socio-cultural context of Reading Recovery instead of limiting its focus to narrow test outcomes or explicit teaching strategies aimed at skill enhancement.     

Cognitive controls and reading disabilities revisited

This study attempts to replicate the findings of Santostefano, Rutledge, and Randell (1965), which demonstrated a relationship between the cognitive control called field articulation and reading disability in school-aged children. Two groups, reading disability and nonreading disability, were administered a series of cognitive control measures. The results confirm the findings of earlier studies that the cognitive control called field articulation is clearly implicated in the reading process. Performance on this control significantly differentiates between children who demonstrate reading disabilities and those who do not.     

Prevalence of combined reading and arithmetic disabilities

This study assesses the prevalence of combined reading and arithmetic disabilities in 799 Dutch schoolchildren using st dardized school achievement tests. Scores of arithmetic, word recognition, reading comprehension, and spelling of child in fourth and fifth grade were used. The main interest involved the co-occurrence of word recognition and arithmetic d abilities because of their possible relationship. The authors find a percentage of 7.6 for combined reading and arithme disabilities. Reading disabilities and arithmetic disabilities co-occurred more often than expected based on rates of the s arate conditions. Children with combined reading and arithmetic disabilities seem to have more generalized achievem difficulties than single-deficit groups. Different operationalizations for reading disabilities (spelling and reading comp hension measures instead of word recognition) led, in part, to selection of other children. This might imply that differ processes underlie the relationship between arithmetic and word recognition disabilities compared to the relationship arithmetic disabilities with difficulties in spelling and reading comprehension.     

School psychologists' perceptions regarding the practice of identifying reading disabilities: Cognitive assessment and response to intervention considerations

This study surveyed a national sample of school psychologists with respect to the identification of reading disabilities (RD). It covers school psychologists' opinions regarding perceived benefits of the use of cognitive assessment in RD identification, both within and outside of an IQ–achievement discrepancy model. The survey also solicited opinions about the nature of RD, particularly conceptions of general slow learners (and readers) versus those evidencing a discrepancy. Results related to school psychologists' concerns about job security, should IQ testing be reduced, are presented. Furthermore, the perceived benefits of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, how school psychologists see themselves contributing to an RTI effort, as well as possible hurdles to RTI implementation are covered. Measurement of these perceptions may be beneficial in informing current and future service delivery models for RD identification as well as possible training needs of currently practicing school psychologists. Finally, the current work represents an effort to measure assessment acceptability for RD identification techniques. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Computer-based compensation of adult reading disabilities

We studied the use of computer readers, and especially their speech synthesis component, as a compensatory tool for adults with dyslexia. We first explored the enhancement of reading skills in a group of college students and working adults. Their unaided reading was very slow, and most participants in the study could sustain reading for only short periods. Although their timed comprehension was poor, their untimed comprehension was above average. The computer reader enhanced the reading rate and comprehension of most participants and enabled them to sustain reading longer. The difference between aided and unaided reading rate was inversely proportional to the unaided rate. Slower readers experienced greater enhancement than faster ones. The enhancement of comprehension was also inversely proportional to unaided scores, and good predictions of the enhancement were obtained from multiple regression models that included scores from specific standard tests of auditory and visual cognitive abilities. We also explored the use of computer readers in the workplace and show through case studies that their use can have important positive effects on individual careers and self-confidence when specific conditions exist. Finally, we investigated the use of computer readers to supplement an adult remediation program. The readers allowed and motivated the students to read more and, as a result, to progress more rapidly. Support for this study was provided by Xerox, the Luke B. Hancock Foundation, and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.