Early Reading Intervention Research Articles

Prediction of First-Grade Reading Achievement: A Comparison of Fall and Winter Kindergarten Screenings

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to identify a combination of predictive measures that correlate with reading achievement, (b) to examine the predictive accuracy of these measures, and (c) to determine the most accurate time frame for test administration in kindergarten. One hundred and three kindergarten students from three schools participated over a period of two years. Measures representing letter identification, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming were administered in the fall and winter of the kindergarten year. Reading achievement was measured at the end of grade 1 using measures that included passage comprehension, fluency, sight-word recognition, and phonemic decoding. Five predictive models representing a combination of the predictive constructs were analyzed. The model combining letter identification, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming was identified as the best predictor of early reading achievement. There was no practical, significant difference between the fall and winter testing time frames. These findings hold important implications for predictive research by clarifying the importance of administering standardized measures that reflect the reading process. Most important, the results can provide practitioners with information for identifying the children most in need of early reading interventions.

Predicting Response to Early Reading Intervention From Verbal IQ, Reading-Related Language Abilities, Attention Ratings, and Verbal IQ—Word Reading Discrepancy

Additional analyses of a previously published study addressed three questions about growth in word reading during early reading intervention: (1) How well do Verbal IQ, reading-related language abilities (phonological, rapid naming, and orthographic), and attention ratings predict reading growth? (2) How well do language deficits predict reading growth? and (3) How well does Verbal IQ-word reading discrepancy predict reading growth? Univariate analyses showed that Verbal IQ, phonological skills, orthographic skills, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and attention ratings predicted the response to early intervention, but multivariate analyses based on a combination of predictors for real-word reading and pseudoword reading showed that Verbal IQ was not the best unique predictor. Students with double or triple deficits in language skills (RAN, phonological, and orthographic processing) responded more slowly to early intervention than students without language deficits. Verbal IQ-word reading discrepancy did not predict the response to early intervention in reading. Overall results supported the use of reading-related language and attention measures rather than IQ-achievement discrepancy in identifying candidates for early reading intervention.

The Interactive Strategies approach to reading intervention

In the present paper, we describe the Interactive Strategies approach to early reading intervention. Interactive Strategies is a first grade remedial intervention program we developed to aid in distinguishing between impaired readers whose reading difficulties are caused primarily by experiential and instructional deficits and impaired readers whose reading difficulties are caused primarily by basic deficits in reading-related cognitive abilities. We first provide a brief description of the study in which we initially implemented this program and summarize its salient findings. We then describe the theoretical model from which the instructional components of the Interactive Strategies program were derived and thereafter rationalize and describe these components. Finally, we present data supporting the relative effectiveness of the program and discuss the implications of our findings for remediating and preventing long-term reading difficulties in beginning readers.

Monitoring the Academic Progress of Children Who Are Unresponsive to Generally Effective Early Reading Intervention

During the past 20 years, researchers have identified core deficits of struggling readers and developed treatments that prevent reading failure. However, whereas progress has been made toward designing generally effective reading interventions, not all children respond to these treatments. Such students have been dubbed "nonresponders," and are the current focus of a growing body of research. Because nonresponsiveness to generally effective instruction is a relatively new issue, researchers have yet to agree on how to identify nonresponders. The purpose of this article is to propose a "dual-discrepancy" approach to identifying such children. A rationale for such an approach is given. Then, curriculum-based measurement is suggested as an effective tool for detecting dual discrepancies. An example is provided from an ongoing program of research that uses the dual-discrepancy approach to identify nonresponders.

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.

Comparison of Faster and Slower Responders to Early Intervention in Reading: Differentiating Features of their Language Profiles

In the longitudinal research reported in this article we examine issues related to the nature and duration of early intervention of relatively low intensity. Specifically, we consider (a) how children who respond faster and slower differ at the end of a 24-lesson intervention spaced over four months in first grade, (b) whether the faster responders maintained their gains during second grade, (c) whether the slower responders could make relative gains with additional intervention, and (d) how the faster and slower responders during the first-grade intervention differed in second grade. In comparing these children who varied in rate of response to early intervention, we focus on differences in their language profiles for potential instructional cues for enhancing the reading of slower responders.

Relative reading achievement: A longitudinal study of 187 children from first through sixth grades.

This article reports results of a longitudinal study of relative reading achievement of 87 boys and 100 girls from 1st through 6th grades. Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (W. H. MacGinitie, J. Kamons, R. L. Kowalski, R. K. MacGinitie, & T. MacKay, 1980) data were drawn from records of 1 rural school district in Eastern Canada. There was a systematic relationship between gender and reading categorization in Grades 1-3, with more boys below average, and no systematic relationship in Grades 4-6. Probabilities of 6th-grade reading-achievement categorization conditioned on 1st-grade achievement were used to challenge the stability of reading categorization reported in previous studies. The courses of relative reading achievement over the 6 grades of key subgroups of children were followed to show how reading-achievement categorization changes. The implications include a case for early reading intervention and for reconsideration of the view that relative reading achievement is largely immutable.

Phonological Awareness and Beginning Reading in Spanish-Speaking ESL First Graders: Research into Practice

In the first study, 30 Spanish-speaking English-as-a-second language (ESL) first graders whose families were Latino immigrants and who received all their school instruction in English completed an assessment battery with both Spanish and English measures of phonological awareness, Verbal IQ (VIQ), oral language proficiency, and single-word reading (real words and pseudowords); they also named English alphabet letters. Phonological awareness in Spanish predicted (a) phonological awareness in English and (b) English word reading; thus, phonological awareness may transfer across first and second languages and across oral and written language. English VIQ and oral language proficiency predicted both English and Spanish word reading, but Spanish VIQ and oral language proficiency did not predict English word reading. In the second study, the 4 males and the 4 females with the lowest reading achievement participated in an instructional design experiment in which empirically supported instructional components for teaching beginning reading to monlingual English speakers were included. These components were phonological awareness training (in both Spanish and English), explicit instruction in alphabetic principle (in English), and repeated reading of engaging English text with comprehension monitoring (in English). Both individual students and the group as a whole increased in real-word reading and pseudoword reading beyond the level expected on the basis of their Spanish or English VIQ or oral proficiency. Implications of this research for school psychology practice are discussed, especially the importance of early reading intervention and progress monitoring for Spanish-speaking ESL first graders.

Early Reading Intervention for English Language Learners At-Risk for Learning Disabilities: Student and Teacher Outcomes in an Urban School

Student and teacher outcomes following the first year of implementation of an early reading intervention project designed to improve literacy outcomes in one urban school are described. The intervention was delivered through ongoing supplemental reading instruction for English language learners (ELLs) at-risk of reading failure. Students at-risk for reading-related learning disabilities were identified using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), a performance-based reading assessment. Students at-risk and students with learning disabilities (LD) received supplemental small-group reading instruction provided by the classroom teacher and support personnel implementing an inclusive special education program. Results indicated positive growth for ELLs, with a disproportionately large percentage of students falling into the risk range. At-risk and LD students showed steady improvement, supporting the coupling of an inclusive special education program with reading intervention in the primary grades. Teacher reports indicated that professional development should be grounded in the reality of classroom experience.

Early Intervention in Reading: Results of a Screening and Intervention Program for Kindergarten Students

Kindergarten students were selected for participation in a reading intervention program on the basis of their ability to name the letters of the alphabet. The intervention consisted of 1:2 tutoring for 30 minutes per day for two 10-week periods using an interactive strategies approach that emphasized direct instruction in the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, analyzing words, learning sight words and reading connected text. A treatment group consistently outperformed a “waiting group” control, which also showed accelerated progress upon receiving the intervention. A two year longitudinal follow up of this kindergarten cohort indicated lower rates of placement in special education.

Early reading intervention can be effective and cost‐effective

Aims. To develop and evaluate an intervention strategy for children at risk of reading failure in their first year at school.Samples. Classes in four UK infant schools with different demographic characteristics were screened to identify children most at risk of reading failure (62 in total, mean initial age 6.0 years). Control children, matched overall for age and reading performance, were selected from comparable schools.Methods. The selected children were given an individually adaptive, curriculum‐based, support programme with the emphasis on word building and phonics skills in the broad reading context. The programme was administered to children in groups of four for two half‐hour sessions per week for 10 weeks.Results. The intervention group improved significantly in mean reading standard score (from 89.0 to 92.8), whereas the control group made no overall improvement. The intervention proved cost‐effective, with mean ‘effect size’ comparable to those reported for Reading Recovery, yet with only 10% of the costs. Despite the clear progress of the intervention group overall, 25% remained ‘problem readers' (with reading still at least 6 months behind). Of these problem readers 88% had initial ‘at risk’ or ‘borderline risk’ scores on the DEST screening test, compared with only 28% of the ‘recovered readers’.Conclusions. The following three‐stage intervention strategy is promising: (i) children at risk of reading difficulties are identified before 6 years; (ii) at risk children are given a small‐group intervention programme for 3‐4 months; (iii) children still failing to make progress may then be given continuing targeted additional support.

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.