IN-CLASS INTERVENTIONS FOR STRUGGLING READERS

Effective in-class reading interventions for struggling are both research-based and pragmatic. It is recommended that variations of six elements be included here:

1. Daily sustained silent reading of books at students’ independent level and below. The goal here is reading volume. Reading volume has been shown to enhance comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and word identification (Cunningham & Allington, 2010; Cunningham & Stanovich 2001; Krashen, 2004).  

2. Daily writing. Writing is one of the best strategies for developing the syntactic cueing system as well as letter-sound relationships (Parodi, 2013). Writing activities here need not be long, but they should be authentic. That is, students should be writing and sharing their ideas.

3. Guided reading lessons.  Short guided reading lessons are used to teach specific reading skills to small groups in authentic reading contexts (Lipson & Wixson, 2009). These skills are usually related to word identification and comprehension.

4. Word work. Word work is instruction related to letter sounds or letter patterns (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2002; Erickson & Kopenhaver, 1995). This would include analytic, synthetic, and large unit phonics instruction. 

5. Cloze and maze activities. Cloze and maze activities are used to develop the semantic cueing system (Paulson & Freeman, 2003). 

6. Fluency work. Fluency work usually involves some form of repeated reading (Kuhn & Stahl, 2013).

The final thing about any kind of reading intervention is that it should be coordinated with classroom instruction (Allington, 2011; Averill, Baker, & Rinaldi, 2014; IRA, 2010; Scanlon, 2011; Wixson, Lipson, & Valencia, 2014). That is, it should reflect the types of research-based instruction and activities already being used with the general education reading curriculum. In this way, students’ learning experiences do not become splintered or fragmented. Instead, the intervention builds upon and reinforces good classroom reading instruction.  

Johnson, A. (2016). 10 essential instructional elements for students with reading difficulties: A brain-friendly approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

REFERENCES

Allington, R.L. (2011). Research on reading/learning disability interventions (pp. 236-264). In S.J. Samuels and A.E. Farstrup’s (Eds.) What research has to say about reading instruction, (4th ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Averill, O.H., Baker, D., & Rinaldi, C. (2014). A blueprint for effectively using RTI intervention block time. Intervention in School and Clinic 50(1)?29-38.

Cunningham, P.M. & Allington, R.L. (2010). Classrooms that work: They can all read and write (5th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Cunningham, P.M. & Cunningham, J.W. (2002). What we know about how to teach phonics (pp. 87-109). In A. Farstrup and S.J. Samuels (Eds.). What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (2001). What reading does for the mind. Journal of Direct Instruction, 1, 137–149.

Erickson, K.A. & Koppenhaver, D.A. (1995). Developing a literacy program for children with severe disabilities. The Reading Teachers, 48(8), 676-684.

IRA (2010). Response to intervention: Guiding principles for educators from the international reading association. Retrieved from

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/rti-brochure.pdf?sfvrsn=6

Krashen, S. D. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from research (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kuhn, M.R. & Stahl, S.A. (2013). Fluency: Developmental and remedial practices – revisited (pp 385-411). In D. Alverman, N. J. Unrau, & R. B. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and process of reading, (6th ed). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Paulson, E., Flurkey, A., Goodman, Y., & Goodman, K. (2003). Eye movements and miscue analysis: Reading from a constructivist perspective. The Fifty-Second Yearbook of the National Reading Conference, 52, 343-355

Paulson, E.J. & Freeman, A.E. (2003). Insight from the eyes: The science of effective reading instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Scanlon, D.M. (2011). Response to intervention as an assessment approach (pp. 139-148). In A. McGill-Franzen and R.L. Allington (Eds.), Handbook of reading disability research. New York: Routledge.

Wixson, K.K., Lipson, M.Y., & Valencia, S.W. (2014). Response to intervention for teaching and learning in language and literacy (pp. 637-653). In A. Stone, E. Silliman, B. Ehren,, & G. Wallach (Eds.). Handbook of language & literacy: Development and disorders (2nd ed).