Effects of a Multi-component Decoding Intervention for At-risk First Graders

Abstract

Young students who are struggling with reading need a strong foundation in decoding skills. The need for strong decoding skills is particularly true for students facing multiple risk factors. A robust research base exists for interventions that improve decoding skills, but that research base extends minimally to students facing several risk factors. We used a multiple-probe across behaviors design to evaluate the impact of a multi-component reading intervention on the decoding skills of four first grade students. During the multi-component intervention, students received several opportunities to construct, deconstruct, write, and read target words from different word families. Results were indicative of a functional relation between the intervention and improvements in word reading. This effect was replicated across all four study participants. Participants reported the intervention had high acceptability. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.