Early Reading Intervention Research Articles

Is “Response/No Response” Too Simple a Notion for RTI Frameworks? Exploring Multiple Response Types With Latent Profile Analysis

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a randomized control trial to explore this question: Does “response/no response” best characterize students’ reactions to a generally efficacious first-grade reading program, or is a more nuanced characterization necessary? Data were collected on 265 at-risk readers’ word reading prior to and immediately following program implementation in first grade and in spring of second grade. Pretreatment data were also obtained on domain-specific skills (letter knowledge, decoding, passage comprehension, language) and domain-general skills (working memory, non-verbal reasoning). Latent profile analysis of word reading across the three time points with controls as a local norm revealed a strongly responsive group (n = 45) with mean word-reading z scores of 0.25, 1.64, and 1.26 at the three time points, respectively; a mildly responsive group (n = 109), z scores = 0.30, 0.47, and 0.55; a mildly non-responsive group (n = 90), z scores = −0.11, −0.15, and −0.55; and a strongly non-responsive group (n = 21), z scores = −1.24, −1.26, and −1.57. The two responsive groups had stronger pretreatment letter knowledge and passage comprehension than the two non-responsive groups. The mildly non-responsive group demonstrated better pretreatment passage comprehension than the strongly non-responsive group. No domain-general skill distinguished the four groups. Findings suggest response to early reading intervention was more complicated than response/no response, and pretreatment reading comprehension was an important predictor of response even with pretreatment word reading controlled.

The Impact of an Early Reading Intervention with English Language Learners and Native-English-Speaking Children

This study investigated the effectiveness of a supplemental reading program that emphasizes phoneme awareness and phonics with small groups composed of both at-risk native English-speakers and at-risk English language learners (ELLs) whose first language is not Spanish. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was utilized to investigate the effects of the intervention. Findings indicate that individual students placed in small reading groups comprised of ELLs and native English-speakers benefited from the code-oriented intervention, reinforcing the use of evidence-based instruction and more inclusive grouping practices for instruction. When disaggregated by language status, both ELLs and native English-speakers benefited from the supplemental reading instruction. Educational implications and areas for future research are discussed.

Variables that Predict the Potential Efficacy of Early Intervention in Reading in Down Syndrome

espanolSe sabe que en el sindrome de Down (SD) se producen alteraciones a nivel cognitivo y del lenguaje que afectan la adquisicion de habilidades academicas y de lectura. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido conocer que variables neuropsicologicas predicen la eficacia potencial de la intervencion temprana en la lectura en esta poblacion con un programa que se usa tradicionalmente con la misma. En el estudio participaron 38 ninos con SD de alrededor de 5 anos que estaban inmersos en un programa de cuidado de la primera infancia, de los cuales 20 estaban inmersos en un programa de lectura. Como resultados, se observan diferencias significativas a nivel neurocognitivo y linguistico, especialmente en el primero en el grupo experimental, con logros en lectura y escritura a edades tempranas. Ademas,hay dos variables que predicen la adquisicion de la lectura. En conclusion, se comprueba la efectividad del programa de lectura y sus beneficios a nivel neuropsicologico y psicolinguistico en el desarrollo de este grupo de ninos con SD a una edad temprana. EnglishIt is known that alterations in Down syndrome (DS) occur at cognitive and language levels that affect the acquisition of reading and academic skills. The aim of this study is to know which neuropsychological variables predict the potential efficacy of early intervention in reading in this population with a program traditionally used with this population. Thirtyeight children of around 5 years of age with DS who were immersed in an early childhood care program participated in the study, 20 of them were immersed in a reading program. Significant differences were found at neurocognitive and linguistic level, especially in the experimental group at neurocognitive level, with achievements in reading and writing at early ages. In addition to this, two variables were found to predict reading acquisition. As conclusion, the effectiveness of the reading program and its benefits at neuropsychological and psycholinguistic levels in the development of this group of children with DS at an early age was revealed

Contributors

Contributors

English Language Learners’ and Native English-Speakers’ Spelling Growth after Supplemental Early Reading Instruction

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing population of students in U.S. schools, and, unfortunately often experience lower levels of reading and spelling achievement than native English-speaking students. There is growing evidence showing that early reading interventions, which have been effective with native English-speakers, can also be effective with ELLs, although the majority of the research focuses on students who are native Spanish-speakers. Additionally, much less is known about spelling growth for ELLs, especially ELLs who speak a native language other than Spanish. Thirteen first grade students who were struggling with early literacy skills (seven non-Spanish-speaking ELLs and six native English-speakers) were selected for participation. The students were placed in three small reading groups, with four to five students each (at least two of whom were ELLs). The groups met five times a week, for approximately six weeks, for 30 minutes per session (totaling approximately 15 hours of supplemental instruction). The small group instruction was designed to reinforce phoneme awareness skills and help students understand the relationships between spoken sounds and written letters. Analysis of pretest to posttest gain scores showed significant growth in spelling ability. Non-Spanish-speaking ELLs with varying levels of English language proficiency benefitted from the intervention. All students demonstrated growth in their understanding of letter-sound correspondences. Evidence-based practices focusing on phonological awareness and the relationships between written letters and spoken sounds can be effective in terms of spelling ability growth when used in small groups comprised of both non-Spanish-speaking ELLs and native English-speakers.

Early Reading Instruction With Embedded Behavioral Supports for Children With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Professional development in research-based early reading intervention and curriculum materials is not consistently available to special educators working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This article provides practitioners serving elementary school students with and at risk for EBD with a variety of options for delivering reading instruction with embedded behavioral supports.

A Pilot Study of Early Storybook Reading With Babies With Hearing Loss.

Purpose This pilot study explored the effectiveness of an early storybook reading (ESR) intervention for parents with babies with hearing loss (HL) for improving (a) parents' book selection skills, (b) parent-child eye contact, and (c) parent-child turn-taking. Advancing research into ESR, this study examined whether the benefits from an ESR intervention reported for babies without HL were also observed in babies with HL. Method Four mother-baby dyads participated in a multiple baseline single-case experimental design across behaviors. Treatment effects for parents' book selection skills, parent-child eye contact, and parent-child turn-taking were examined using visual analysis and Tau-U analysis. Results Statistically significant increases, with large to very large effect sizes, were observed for all 4 participants for parent-child eye contact and parent-child turn-taking. Limited improvements with ceiling effects were observed for parents' book selection skills. Conclusion The findings provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of an ESR intervention for babies with HL for promoting parent-child interactions through eye contact and turn-taking.

Effects of an early reading intervention based on grapho-syllabic decoding and fluency training in French elementary schools

IntroductionStudies conducted in recent decades have led to the development of instructional interventions to help prevent or eliminate a large proportion of reading difficulties. However, few experiments have been conducted in French schools. ObjectiveAims for this research were to create, implement and evaluate a remediation program for French students with reading difficulties up to the end of elementary school. MethodThis paper examines the effects of a decoding-skills and fluency-based intervention on 133 struggling readers in second- to fifth-grade. Depending on the nature of their reading difficulties, students were given a year-long training based either on grapho-syllabic conversion — focusing on syllable units, rather than phonemic units, is considered a promising way of helping French-speaking beginning readers — or on repeated reading techniques, used to improve fluency. ResultsIncreases in written-word identification scores were greater for students who followed the program than they were for a control group of 184 students with reading difficulties who did not follow the program. ConclusionThe results show that programs combining early evaluation of written-word identification abilities followed by a year-long series of remediation sessions focusing on specific difficulties can help students progress in written-word identification. However, further research is needed to examine why our program was less effective with children from disadvantaged (“éducation prioritaire”) areas.

Situated learning, professional development, and early reading intervention: A mixed methods study

The purpose of the present mixed methods study was to investigate a model of situated professional development and classroom-based early reading intervention implemented by the K–2 teaching teams from one school in a large urban/suburban school district in the southeastern United States. Twenty-nine teachers participated along with 125 students (74 intervention, 51 comparison). Student-level data sources included letter-word identification, word attack, spelling of sounds, and passage comprehension measures. Teacher-level data sources included semistructured interviews with each teacher, planning/recording documents, and pre/post questionnaires to gather information about teachers’ self-efficacy and demographics. The main conclusions were the following: (a) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significant gains, (b) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significantly greater gains than their nonstruggling peers did, (c) teachers’ reflections on the intervention and the situated professional development were generally positive, and (d) teachers’ self-efficacy for instructional strategies positively changed across the year.

Thinking About Words: First Graders’ Response to Morphological Instruction

AbstractThe authors detail word‐learning strategies from a small‐scale early reading intervention for first graders (N = 3) focused on Greek and Latin roots in science‐based informational texts. Educators can provide explicit instruction to support student awareness of word structures in content‐specific vocabulary, and this instruction can be adapted to meet the needs of students at different reading levels. The current intervention involved an exploration of morphology, including the study of Greek and Latin roots and of affixes, and its contribution to word relations and meanings. The intervention was designed to complement Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. The instructional approaches included root identification tasks, problem‐solving techniques, and practice with word production by analyzing selected terms in authentic scientific texts. Analyses suggested that opportunities to personalize and practice with roots and affixes, specifically through interactive activities such as discussions and creating visual representations, supported the development of students’ morphological awareness.

Reading comprehension development in at-risk vs. not at-risk first grade readers: The differential roles of listening comprehension, decoding, and fluency

This study examined the relations between and predictive power of three important subcomponents skills of reading comprehension: decoding, listening comprehension, and reading fluency. Through a series of structural equation models, we examine the relations within a full sample of first grade students at the beginning of the year (N = 290). Next, we conducted analyses to determine if differential relations exist between the variables in students who are identified as at-risk for reading failure, and potentially reading disability (n = 141) and those who are not (n = 149). Results indicate that in early first grade, the relations between the subcomponent skills are different dependent upon risk status. For the full sample, fluency was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension, followed by decoding and listening comprehension. When the sample was split based on early reading skills at the beginning of first grade, for the not at-risk students, fluency, decoding, and listening comprehension each made individual contributions to reading comprehension. For the at-risk students, decoding was only significantly related to reading comprehension via fluency; listening comprehension did not significantly predict reading comprehension for this subsample. The findings are discussed and related to implications for the development and implementation of early reading interventions for students who are identified as having reading difficulties and potentially reading disability.

Effectiveness of an early reading intervention in a semi-transparent orthography: A group randomised controlled trial

This study reports on the effectiveness of an early reading intervention, based on current research on early reading acquisition, and aligned to Norwegian orthography. Thirteen schools were randomly assigned to one of two interventions or a control condition. First grade students (n = 744) were screened at school entry, and children at risk of reading difficulties (n = 140) were identified. At-risk students in schools allocated for intervention received comprehensive teacher-led instruction also containing an individually-delivered computer component. The only difference between the two interventions was whether the computer application had adaptive learning features. Both interventions had significant impact on reading and spelling with no significant difference between the two different intervention conditions. Findings indicate that Norwegian children identified to be at-risk at school entry can profit from intensive intervention that combines training in letter knowledge with explicit instruction in phonetic decoding and word recognition, free spelling, connected text reading and shared reading.

Early reading skill profiles in typically developing and at-risk first grade readers to inform targeted early reading instruction

This study identified distinct, homogeneous latent profiles of at-risk (n = 141) and not at-risk (n = 149) first grade readers. Separate latent profile analyses were conducted with each subgroup using measures of phonological awareness, decoding, linguistic comprehension, and oral reading fluency. This study also examined which measures best differentiated the latent profiles. Finally, we examined differences on two measures of reading comprehension as a function of profile membership. Results showed two latent profiles of at-risk students and three latent profiles of not at-risk students. Latent profiles were generally rank ordered with regard to achievement across measures. However, the higher performing at-risk profile and the lowest performing not at-risk profile were nearly identical across measures. Phonological awareness and decoding measures were best at differentiating latent profiles, but linguistic comprehension was also important for the lowest performing students. Oral reading fluency was limited to distinguishing the highest achieving students from the other profiles, and did not perform well with the lower achieving profiles. Most of the pairwise comparisons of reading comprehension scores were consistent across measures, but the nearly identical profiles showed a significant difference on only one reading comprehension measure. Implications for identifying at-risk first grade readers and designing targeted early reading interventions for at-risk students are discussed.

Current Evidence on the Effects of Intensive Early Reading Interventions

Many students at risk for or identified with reading disabilities need intensive reading interventions. This meta-analysis provides an update to the Wanzek and Vaughn synthesis on intensive early reading interventions. Effects from 25 reading intervention studies are analyzed to examine the overall effect of intensive early reading interventions as well as relationships between intervention and student characteristics related to outcomes. The weighted mean effect size (ES) estimate (ES = 0.39), with a mean effect size adjusted for publication bias (ES = 0.28), both significantly different from zero, suggested intensive early reading interventions resulted in positive outcomes for early struggling readers in kindergarten through third grades. There was no statistically significant or meaningful heterogeneity in the study-wise effect sizes. Exploratory examination of time in intervention, instructional group size, initial reading achievement, and date of publication are provided.

Examining the effectiveness of a supplemental reading intervention on the early literacy skills of English language learners

ABSTRACTWhile the research on effective early reading interventions for English language learners is expanding, the majority of the research focuses on students whose native language is Spanish. This study investigated the effects of a supplemental reading program that builds phoneme awareness skills and emphasizes explicit instruction in the alphabetic code for five first grade ELLs whose native language was not Spanish. Each of the five participants spoke a different language, including Somali, French, Arabic, Burmese, and Chinese. A single-case design study was conducted to examine students’ response to the intervention, as measured by weekly progress monitoring probes in areas of phoneme segmentation, phonetically regular real word reading skills, and pseudoword reading skills. The study also investigated pretest and posttest measures of phoneme blending, phoneme segmenting, and real word reading. All students showed improvement on the phoneme segmentation and nonsense word reading probes, and four out of five improved on the phonetically regular word reading probes. Additionally, all students showed growth from pretest to posttest on phoneme segmentation and real word reading, and four of the five students improved their blending skills. The data from this study indicate that explicit and systematic phonological awareness and phonics-based instruction shown to be effective with native English speakers can be effective with non-Spanish-speaking ELLs.

From the Editors

Dear Colleagues, In this issue, the authors explore some fascinating topics in literacy, ranging from an innovative professional development program for teachers to an examination of the challenges in writing performance. Each of these studies examined topics relevant to researchers and practitioners and engaged in rigorous analysis of both quantitative and qualitative research. In the first article, Amendum, Bratsch-Hines, and Vernon-Feagans examine the efficacy of a professional development and early reading intervention program delivered through webcam technology. Conceivably, if such a technology is effective, it could provide a scalable and affordable strategy for professional development. Classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions, with treatment teachers receiving one-to-one sessions of professional development for approximately 15 minutes per day. Results of the study show some promising findings: Classrooms with a high number of English learners significantly outperformed their peers in the control classrooms on word-level measures with substantial effect sizes. This study provides some important implications for future professional development to consider. The second article addresses the important issue of discussion, knowing that language-rich classrooms are essential for children's development. Boardman, Boelé, and Klingner used a multistrategy reading approach described as Collaborative Strategic Reading, in which students learn to apply discussion strategies in small, collaborative groups. The researchers used discourse analysis to compare the differences in teacher–student talk in business-as-usual conditions compared with the more collaborative model. Overall, the intervention was more effective, supporting a more dialogic model of discussion in which students appeared to take ownership of the discussion instead of the teacher. These results suggest an interesting and important strategy for promoting greater interaction in classroom discussions. Cho, Woodward, and Li turn to the important issues of how the beliefs that adolescent readers hold about knowledge and knowing are activated in the online reading context. The research centered on the patterns of readers’ epistemic processes. Observing how high school students performed on a critical online reading task, the researchers examined 10 more successful readers compared with 10 less successful readers. The results indicated that the more successful online readers tended to engage in higher order epistemic processing, whereas the less successful readers tended to function at a more surface level. The researchers found that epistemic processes tended to operate interactively, suggesting some important implications for research and practice. The topic of academic language has taken center stage in recent years, largely as a result of the Common Core State Standards. Meneses and her colleagues examined this important topic for monolingual Spanish-speaking adolescent readers in Chile. Despite great improvements throughout the country, adolescents still struggle with reading comprehension. In English, core academic-language skills (CALS) have been found to significantly contribute to reading comprehension. Consequently, the researchers developed two psychometrically reliable tests, the Spanish CALS instrument and the Spanish Academic Vocabulary Test to explore the dimensionality of core academic-language proficiencies and to examine the contribution of core academic language to reading comprehension. The research showed that the aggregated scores predicted reading comprehension. It also provided additional evidence that academic language is a critical skill in developing reading comprehension, supporting the need for interventions in academic language for Spanish-speaking adolescents. The last article in this issue addresses the cognitive and motivational challenges in writing. This research is particularly timely, given the fact that elementary students often lack the essential writing skills to be successful in school. De Smedt and colleagues examined how cognitive and motivational challenges mediate and correlate with students’ writing performance and how these relations might vary according to gender. Engaging a large sample of fifth- and sixth-grade students, the researchers examined writing self-efficacy, motivation, and strategies. The research suggested an important interplay between motivational and cognitive challenges related to students’ writing performance. Consequently, it highlights the importance of motivation and the need to study writing models for different groups of students. We hope that you will find this issue enlightening, as Reading Research Quarterly continues to highlight both rigorous qualitative and quantitative research that is at the cutting edge in our field. Susan B. Neuman Linda B. Gambrell

Promoting language and social communication development in babies through an early storybook reading intervention

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of low- and high-intensity early storybook reading (ESR) intervention workshops delivered to parents for promoting their babies language and social communication development. These workshops educated parents on how to provide a stimulating home reading environment and engage in parent–child interactions during ESR.Method: Parent–child dyads (n = 32); child age: 3–12 months, were assigned into two intervention conditions: low and high intensity (LI versus HI) groups. Both groups received the same ESR strategies; however, the HI group received additional intervention time, demonstrations and support. Outcome measures were assessed pre-intervention, one and three months post-intervention and when the child turned 2 years of age.Result: A significant time–group interaction with increased performance in the HI group was observed for language scores immediately post-intervention (p = 0.007) and at 2-years-of-age (p = 0.022). Significantly higher broader social communication scores were associated with the HI group at each of the time points (p = 0.018, p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively). Simple main effect revealed that both groups demonstrated a significant improvement in language, broader social communication and home reading practices scores.Conclusions: ESR intervention workshops may promote language and broader social communication skills. The HI ESR intervention workshop was associated with significantly higher language and broader social communication scores.

Is ‘summer’ reading loss universal? Using ongoing literacy assessment in Malawi to estimate the loss from grade-transition breaks

Summer learning loss – decreased academic performance following an extended school break, typically during the period after one grade ends and before another grade starts – is a well-documented phenomenon in North America, but poorly described in sub-Saharan African contexts. In this article, we use the term ‘grade-transition break’ loss in lieu of ‘summer’ loss to refer to the period after one grade ends and before another grade starts. This study analyses data from early grade reading assessments in Malawi, estimating statistically significant average reductions of 0.38 standard deviations (SD) across several measures of reading and pre-reading skills during two grade-transition breaks. The data show the loss in reading skills during the extended breaks between grades 1 and 2 and between grades 2 and 3 in two consecutive years. The study found no gender-based differences in loss. The findings suggest a need for early grade reading interventions to develop and evaluate mitigation strategies lest significant proportions of within-year performance gains be lost over the break between academic years.

Comparing Brief Experimental Analysis and Teacher Judgment for Selecting Early Reading Interventions

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of brief experimental analysis (BEA) to identify early reading interventions for students in the primary grades and to compare teachers’ judgments about their students’ early reading intervention needs to BEA results. In addition, the research was conducted to explore how teachers make decisions regarding early reading intervention selection and evaluation. Three teachers and three elementary students (two kindergarten and one second grade) participated in the study. A BEA using a multielement design with mini-reversals was used to test the effects of four different interventions. Each teacher selected an intervention that she judged to be the most promising for her student. An extended analysis using an alternating treatments design compared the relative effects of the BEA-identified intervention and the teacher-identified intervention across time. The teachers were interviewed before and after selecting and implementing the interventions. The extended analysis results showed that the BEA-identified intervention was more effective than the teacher-identified intervention for all participants. Initial and final interview findings revealed that the teachers reported using data to make intervention decisions, but with limited specificity and in some cases, misjudgments. The results are discussed in regard to limitations and future research.

Personalized reading intervention for children with Down syndrome

The purpose of this replication study was to evaluate the potential efficacy and feasibility of an early reading intervention for children with Down syndrome. The intervention was developed in alignment with the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype. Six children between the ages of seven and ten years participated in a series of multiple-probe across lessons single-case design studies. Results indicate a functional relation between intervention and reading outcomes for four children. Results were mixed for one participant and no functional relation was demonstrated for another. The potential promise of pursuing aptitude-by-treatment interaction research for subgroups of learners with similar characteristics as an effort to personalize intervention is discussed.