Labels Needn't Stick: "At-Risk" First Graders Rescued With Appropriate Intervention

The Orton-Gillingham(r) and TouchMath(r) systems of instruction were implemented to improve language and mathematics skill development for 6- and 7-year-olds in a 1st-grade classroom. After 2 years of intervention, the participants were found to be no longer in need of special education services. All the participants showed marked improvement in reading scores on the Wide Range Achievement Test-III. The students who were considered to be at risk for reading and mathematics difficulties at the beginning of their 1st-grade year were no longer in need of special education services at the end of their 2nd-grade year.