Effectiveness Of Phonological Awareness Interventions On First Grade Children With Intellectual Disabilities

In the United States today, 38% of children in the fourth grade have been recognized as reading way below the level of their peers. Many of these children are identified with a learning disability and receive remedial instruction in the resource rooms. (Aaron, P. G., Joshi, R., Gooden, R., & Rentum, K. E.)

Phonemic awareness is a vital role in literacy instruction. Many schools and districts adopt a commercially published basal reading program and it becomes the cornerstone of their instruction ( (David Chard, n.d.). We also know that through investigation and research it has shown us that word-recognition instruction and instruction in oral language skills related to word recognition were inadequately represented. (David Chard, n.d.) The same researchers have found that the reading passages that students are reading didn’t relate to the words they were learning. In order for students to read at grade level or above a supplemental program should be implemented. I have found that at my school we are lacking a phonics program that will reach different students abilities and make them successful in reading. My goal for this paper is to show my district that using a supplemental phonics program aside from our basal phonics program will prove beneficial to strategic readers who fall below grade level.

With exceptional children, often many of them have auditory processing problems which means that something is preventing them from hearing the information they are receiving. Phonological processing is having the ability to detect the different phonemes or speech sounds as stated by Chard, D.J. & Dickson, S.V. (2018). This is a problem that many of the children in the exceptional children’s department have which makes teaching reading all the more

The Wilson Reading System (WRS) is marketed for students from grades 2 to 12 who are not making sufficient progress with their current Tier 2 intervention and need a more intensive intervention at Tier 3. It is used most often with students in upper elementary to high school. The program can also be used with adults who need remedial reading services. Specifically, the program is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading instruction. This approach relies on direct instruction, incorporates ideas of “how” and “why” individuals learn to read, and explores multi-sensory methods (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic). It is intended for individuals who have problems with phonological awareness or orthographic processing.

S.P.I.R.E. (Specialized Program Individualizing Reading Excellence) is a comprehensive reading intervention program developed by Sheila Clark-Edmands, M.S.Ed., published by EPS Literacy and Intervention and is currently in its third edition (Clark-Edmands, 2012). While S.P.I.R.E. is most appropriate for Tier 2 and Tier 3 students with learning differences and struggling learners, the program has been used in a variety of settings, including classroom, small group and one-on-one. Based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, S.P.I.R.E. incorporates the most recent research regarding best practices in reading and language arts instruction as well as the professional standards published by professional organizations such as the International Reading Association and the International Dyslexia Association (Balajthy, 2014). The program is designed to build

This article is commentary to Justice's (2005) article on the effects of EBP and RTI on reading instruction. Both RTI and EBP can be used to promote effective change in the way services are provided in the school setting. As a response to the original article, Ukrainetz (2006) stated that utilizing RTI and EBP can provide opportunities as well as challenges for SLPs. Using these techniques can make considerable changes in the way children are identified for services as well as refining language intervention.

RTI provides the framework for reading instruction at Newsome Park elementary School. Due to limited resources and a burgeoning population of at-risk students RTI is not implemented in mathematics or content areas. A school wide positive behavior intervention system is in place. Every student in second grade is screened using the Phonological Literacy Screening (PALS). This data is used to identify instructional reading levels, and spelling/phonics knowledge. PALS assesses accuracy, fluency and comprehension. However, the comprehension assessments are not considered rigorous enough for an accurate assessment of this skill. Additionally, students are screened for sight word recognition using the Fry word lists. The results of these screenings guides development of small groups, identifies students for the most intense levels of intervention, and serves as a basis for goal setting. The full PALS is administered in the fall and spring (Newport News Public Schools, 2015). An additional PALS assessment is given in mid-year as a diagnostic. PALS quick checks, Fry word lists, informal running records and DRA’s are administered throughout the year to monitor progress and set new goals (Newport News Public Schools, 2015). This is all in accordance with Virginia’s Response to Intervention Initiative. This initiative establishes a multi-Tiered system of interventions. The initiative states that typically 5- 10% of students would receive Tier 3 instruction, 10- 15% would receive Tier

Research indicates that among students, poor readers evolve into poor thinkers, devoid of strategies to structure the writing assignments that contribute to academic success (Alfassi, 2004, p.1), and teachers who fail to model effective literacy strategies to their students, simply compound the problem. For educators attempting to meet the diverse range of learning needs, the ever increasing number of students with learning difficulties is overwhelming. The decisions regarding the types of interventions and the limited research on numerous strategies currently available are both misleading and confusing. However Walker, (2004) warn that reliance on untested methods and dependence on strategies that have limited evidence have resulted in unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for students. Significantly whilst there has been an exponential increase in research evidence collected around many popular interventions, there is very little

The group of students being presented this intervention program are lower performing readers. Data from multiple measures is collected early on in the school year. All students are given universal screeners to see what intervention they would most likely benefit from according to what skills gaps they currently have. The data is collected from a STAR Reading test, a one minute timed reading fluency inventory, as well as teacher classroom observation and assessment data. As the first two measures are normed assessments, the students all receive a percentile rank. The students who fall in the 10th percentile or below show they are in need of intensive targeted intervention. They are placed into a small group of up to 6 students to participate in this intervention called Enhanced Core. Once identified as needing targeted intervention, these students are also given a CORE Phonics survey which gives the teachers specific data about what phonic skills they are missing exactly.

Designing an individual intervention to increase reading fluency requires completion of assessments that will determine the child’s reading strengths and weaknesses. An inaccurate reader needs direct instruction on improving word recognition, which may include sight words and decodable words (which rules is the student not applying) at their instructional level. Once the goals have been established, in this case fluency, the intervention will begin with an introduction on fluency and word recognition.

Remediation, having the student practice phonemic awareness, actually makes changes in the brain and increases the activity in the necessary parts to develop reading skills (Reading Development and Challenges PowerPoint, May 28). Understanding what the students are struggling with, such as understanding that it is recognizing phonemes which plague students with dyslexia, is integral to being able to actually devise accommodations in the classroom and strategies to help them. Shaywitz (2003), for example, helped me understand that in the case of a student with dyslexia, it is not the knowledge which they lack, but rather the ability to decode the phonemes of the word. It is not a lack of intelligence, but rather a difficulty with

The study was conducted for four years and consisted of about one hundred students per grade level, as well as twenty teachers from both general and special education. All three tiers of intervention were used throughout this study. Tier 1 was used mainly for professional development for teachers of reading in order to prepare them to properly monitor and administer the interventions to their students. There were multiple sessions throughout the year so the teachers could implement their knowledge from professional development to improve their reading instruction. Tier 2 consisted of small group intervention with two to three students that met three times per week for about 10-15 minutes. The students selected for Tier 2 intervention represented the lower third of each kindergarten class. The main focus of Tier 2 was alphabet letters and sounds, one-syllable spoken words, and selecting letters to represent sounds in shortened words. First graders that received Tier 2 intervention met for 20-25 minutes three times per week and consisted of small groups. This was an addition to their classroom reading instructional time. Tier 2 for first graders focused on more intense things than in kindergarten, such as decoding words with taught letter

As the Sociolinguistic theory suggests, preschool-aged students can be at risk to develop a reading disability if they do not acquire high-quality oral language foundations (Tracey & Morrow, 2006). The effort to create and implement early intervention programs is driven by the idea that it easier to prevent reading problems than to attempt to remediate them in the later grades. The Interactive Strategies Approach is a comprehensive and highly responsive approach to instruction and intervention for struggling readers in the primary grades. It has features in common with and different from contemporary approaches to intervention.

Many students around the United States have reading difficulties, which can be due to a variety of reason such as: low socioeconomic status, family history of learning disabilities, a neurological disorder, limited exposure, etc. Reading difficulties can lead to further problems with education and learning, therefore the struggles should be addressed and intervention techniques should be implemented promptly. The interventions need to be individualized for the student based on their needs in order to improve the student’s reading to the best of their abilities.

Children with reading disabilities differ from children that read typically in their use of morphological forms. This view has been supported by multiple studies that review the relationship between reading and morphology (Carlisle, J., & Stone, C. 2005; Nagy, W., Berninger, V., & Abbott, R. 2006; Reed, D. 2008; Kuo, L. & Anderson, R. 2006). Morphology has been linked to reading ability, as has phonology, for many years. Traditionally reading ability, or disability, is detected by the student’s strength with phonology(Crisp, J.& Lambon Ralph, M. 2006; Marshall, C. & van der Lely, H. 2007;), yet many recent studies have indicated that morphological awareness can play a key role in the detection and intervention of reading