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According to Prof Stanislas Dehaene, learning to read consists of recognizing letters and how they combine into written words, and then connecting those to the brain systems for coding of speech sounds and meanings. Predictors of larning to read revolve around how well young children understand phonics, and how big their spoken vocabulary is. While speaking is a natural progress, learning to read requires DIRECT INSTRUCTION.

Research has told us that the following is true:

All children learn to speak naturally, but reading and writing must be taught explicitely.

Reading and literacy starts with regular exposure to reading and alphabetic principles.

All good readers and good at decoding and so phonemic awareness needs to be taught at a foundational level.

Fluent readers are readers to who recognize words quickly and accurately when reading - they can read with expression and with speed, and can comprehend what they are reading.

Comprehension (which is what we aim for) requires vocabulary and background knowledge.

Direct and systematic (organized) instruction helps students with foundational reading skills.

The same principles apply to English learners and Bilingual learners.

Students need to practice writing to improve reading, and vice versa

Students need to integrate skills in all areas, slowly, over time with LOTS of practice!

(Lyon, 2023)

https://files.readinguniverse.org/PDFs/10-maxims-about-reading-2023.pdf

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How the Brain Learns to Read - Prof. Stanislas Dehaene

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Components of Literacy - Phonemic Awareness

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Components of Literacy - Phonemic Awareness

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Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds in words.

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Phonics is understanding the relationship between letters and sounds.

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Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they're combined will help children decode words as they read.

Understanding phonics will also help children know which letters to use when they are writing words.

Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch.

Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words: "tap", "taps", "pat", "pats" and "sat".

How is phonics taught?

Introducing young children to the joy and wonder of books requires a systematic teaching of phonics.

Synthetic phonics

The most widely used approach associated with the teaching of reading in which phonemes (sounds) associated with particular graphemes (letters) are pronounced in isolation and blended together (synthesised). For example, children are taught to take a single-syllable word such as cat apart into its three letters, pronounce a phoneme for each letter in turn /k, æ, t/, and blend the phonemes together to form a word.

Analytical phonics

A popular approach in Scotland, this method is associated with the teaching of reading in which the phonemes associated with particular graphemes are not pronounced in isolation. Children identify (analyse) the common phoneme in a set of words in which each word contains the phoneme under study. For example, teacher and pupils discuss how the following words are alike: pat, park, push and pen.

Analogy phonics

A type of analytic phonics in which children analyse phonic elements according to the phonograms in the word. A phonogram, known in linguistics as a rime, is composed of the vowel and all the sounds that follow it, such as -ake in the word cake. Children use these phonograms to learn about "word families" for example cake, make, bake, fake.

Embedded phonics

An approach to the teaching of reading in which phonics forms one part of a whole language programme. Embedded phonics differs from other methods in that the instruction is always in the context of literature rather than in separate lessons, and the skills to be taught are identified opportunistically rather than systematically.

Understanding phonics at home

If you are a parent and need support to understand more about phonics to help your child with their learning, you can find out more on our Words for Life website.

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What is phonics? | National Literacy Trust

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How phonics is taught including: synthetic phonics, analytical phonics, analogy phonics and embedded phonics

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Fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper intonation and expression.

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Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression.Fluent reading builds stamina for reading lengthy or complex texts. Reading fluency serves as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

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Vocabulary is a component of literacy that builds off of knowledge of words, word parts, and word patterns to understand and communicate effectively.

Research on vocabulary learning has shown that it typically takes as many as 5-16 encounters with a word for it to be moved into long term memory and that this works best if these encounters are distributed over a longer period of time. (Michigan LSA)

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Comprehension is the ability to understand and form understanding and deeper meaning from what is read.

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Effective teaching

Home environment and language

Socioeconomic Status

Learning Disabilities

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Universal screening is a starting point for all diagnostics, but at the end of the day, there are challenges with these types of assessments since they may not be accurate and can be very generic in nature. Often, it’s the formative and specific assessments a classroom teacher or LST might do that are more impactful. Implementing a comprehensive assessment system in an MTSS may be challenging as it requires consistency, and a high level of knowledge of the specific assessments by all teaching staff.  Teachers need “high-quality pre-service preparation that incorporates apple opportunities to practice with school-age students” (Bailey et al. 2020).

The biggest barrier would be the time to complete the assessments, the ability to collect data effectively, and buy-in from staff to be consistent with universal screening.

Data-based Interventions follow science, so by using specific diagnostics after screening tests, we can identify specific areas of weakness, and use the data to develop interventions that suit the student. This allows for more focused support, and resources that are used effectively, instead of just throwing all students into remediation. Ideally, having screening and formative class-wide assessments regularly will allow a teacher to move students through various supports at a tier 1 level (small group instruction for specific areas of weakness).

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Progress monitoring gives teachers the abilioty to quickly measure a student's response to the intervention. Many universal screeners have progress monitoring materials that are shorter and quicker and generally give you an idea of where the student is based on the screening score and the benchmark goal. This is ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING.

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An MTSS is a system that incorporates SEL, PBIS and RTI to support the overall wellness of the child. We need to be well versed in intervention strategies, and have functional systems built into our schools that allow for screening and intervention to occur for students and families. There are MANY pieces to this puzzle.

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"MTSS is a framework many schools use to provide targeted support to struggling students. The goal of MTSS is to intervene early so students can catch up with their peers. It screens all students and aims to address academic and behavior challenges." (Rosen, 2022).

Here’s a basic outline of how a three-tiered system works.

Tier 1: The whole class. All students in the general education classroom are in this tier. Teachers use instruction that’s proven to work. Students may work in small groups based on their strengths and areas of need. The school monitors all kids’ progress. A student who is struggling may move to Tier 2.

Tier 2: Small group interventions. Students in Tier 2 still attend Tier 1 lessons with the rest of the class. But they get more targeted support through small group lessons. It can also mean special teaching, called interventions . A student who isn’t making progress may stay in Tier 2 or move to Tier 3.

Tier 3: Intensive individualized support. This tier can mean small group work or individual lessons. Most kids in Tier 3 still spend a lot of the day in the general education classroom. But they may spend more time in a resource room than before.

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With a school based team, it is important to design a screening process that is aligned with desired outcomes and clearly identifies the target population, adminstration schedule, implementation procedures, and data collection and analysis.

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When choosing screening tests, it's important to consider the age level and the skills tested. For literacy, there are a number of screening tools:

Here are a few widely used universal screening tools for reading instruction:

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) (opens in a new window)

Virginia Literacy Partnership — PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) (opens in a new window)

TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) (opens in a new window)

AIMSweb (opens in a new window) (Assessments and Curriculum-Based Measurement)

STAR Reading (Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading) (opens in a new window)

MAP Reading (Measures of Academic Progress) (opens in a new window)

i-Ready Reading (opens in a new window)

DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) (opens in a new window)

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Although this is one of the biggest barriers to MTSS being implemented properly, it is imerative that schools are trained on how to use screening tools, as well as how to read scores and develop plans for intervention.

Educators can use Tier 1 interventions in support of these key pieces. Ensure implementation across your district by equipping your educators with the tools and strategies they need.

Encourage MTSS teams to build and share intervention menus with teachers at their schools.

Find ways to regularly share resources with your educators.

Make space to discuss interventions at staff meetings.

Provide ongoing professional learning opportunities around MTSS and interventions.

(Frederick, N.d)

There also needs to be buy-in from staff!

“MTSS work needs to start at the central office in order to be implemented district-wide, and building-level teams need extra support during the first few years…Ensuring our buildings were supported was one of the best decisions that we made as a team. Any way that districts can figure out how to coach and how to support, they should.” (Fredrick, N.d)

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Small group instruction

Explicit teaching

Differentiated instruction

Multisensory Approaches

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“A well-validated concept that should underpin the design of instruction is called the Simple View of Reading. It states that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and language comprehension. Without strong skills in either domain, an individual’s reading comprehension will be compromised” (Moats, 2020). The following concepts and skills are key components of language structure that should be explicitly taught.

1.Phonemic Awareness: Develop students' ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in words.

2. Alphabetic Principle: Teach the relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters or letter combinations)

3. Morphological Awareness: Teach students about morphemes, the smallest units of meaning, to help them understand word structure and meaning.

4. Orthographic Knowledge: Introduce and reinforce common spelling patterns and rules, including syllable types and high-frequency words.

5. Semantics - Teaching word meanings in relation to other words (synonyms, antonyms, and other similar roots of words)

6. Syntax and Text Structure - Teaching skills to identify structures of proper sentences, as well as exploring how texts have specific purposes and can be represented with graphic organizers (cause/effect, narrative, etc).  (Moats, 2020)

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What does GOOD teaching look like at the classroom level:

Phonemic awareness - Rhyming games, whiteboard activities, and lots of exposure through explicit teaching in small sessions.

Phonics - A systematic phonics program 10-15 min a day working on decoding skills.

Fluency - Practicing reading using expression, modeling, choral reading, partner echo reading, and rereading! Audiobooks and other strategies.

Vocabulary - Direct teaching and preteaching of vocabulary words in context, thematic units, practice and teaching of morpheme structures.

Comprehension - Teaching note taking, summarizing, questioning, and reading skills through guided practice, modelling, graphic organizers, and feedback.

Dr Brady (2024) suggets that there is no "continuum" and that phoneme awarenesss needs to be taught with orthographic skills and spelling. We also know that learning writing, reading, and vocabulary skills all are more effective when taught with all of the other components working together (ie - the reading rope).

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Small group instruction

Explicit teaching with direct and systematic teaching of skills (phonics in order).

Differentiatied instruction with adaptaions for students with diverse needs

Multisensory approaches (Orton-Gillingham, etc.)

Multi component teaching

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Structured literacy interventions, including phonics, are essential for teaching students with reading difficulties (Spear-Swerling, 2022).

Explicit instruction in phonics using a systematic, sequential program like the Orton-Gillingham method that is designed for students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties (Moats, 2020).

Multi-sensory techniques (e.g., sandpaper letters, magnetic letters) to reinforce sound-letter correspondences.

Auditory techniques and repetitive oral drills.

Games and interactive tools like Reading Rockets would work well to practice.

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Intensive reading interventions, including fluency practice, are effective for improving reading skills in elementary and middle school students (Wanzek et al., 2020).

Guided repeated reading of short passages in small group pullout or one-on-one with LST or Reading Specialist.

Choral read, echo read, and re-read multiple times to improve fluency.

Timed reading for accuracy.

Implement repeated reading activities to increase reading speed and accuracy (Young et al., 2024).

Partner reading to model fluent reading (choose supportive and capable peer).

Use of reader's theater scripts to practice reading with expression (Young & Geiger, 2022)

Audiobooks and literature circles that allow for choice and student motivation.

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Phonemic awareness is critical for students with intellectual disabilities to improve their reading skills (Afacan et al, 2018).

Use of Elkonin boxes to visually segment multisyllabic words into individual sounds (Afacan et al., 2018)

Daily 10-minute phonemic awareness activities, focusing on blending (w/ a LST, CEA or RST), segmenting, and manipulating sounds in complex words. Heggerty. UFLI, CORE.

Word sorts and other manipulation activities. (Liberman et. al, 1989).

Work on phonics through poetry - rhyming, alliteration, and phoneme manipulation (Adams, 1990)

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“Spelling, or orthographic, knowledge provides the underlying foundation for the rapid and efficient encoding and decoding of words, allowing individuals more room for thinking and planning as they write and read” (Templeton, 2020).

Preteach important vocabulary for the specific reading.

Teach vocabulary as it occurs during reading activities - make sure students have a clear definition and see the word used properly.

Provide context for the vocabulary and activities to practice.

Choose words that are important to the learning happening. Provide lots of exposure and small bits of practice, with an assessment at one point in the week.

Teach morphemes so students recognize common prefixxes, suffixes, and roots of words. Use charts or 'word banks' to keep track of common morphological structures.

Teach spelling rules as "patterns", not rules (Moats, 2020).

Use vocabulary flashcards, vocabulary webs/charts with images, digital games, and vocabularu manipulation games.

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Reading comprehension comes from the ability to decode words naturally and absorb the text as reading happens naturally.

Pre-reading activities to activate prior knowledge is an important step.

QAR Approach - teaching all students how to categorize types of questions (yes/no, who/what/where, inferential, etc.) and develop strategies to answer them. (Duke & Pearson, 2002).

During-reading strategies such as questioning, predicting, and visualizing modeled by teacher and peers. Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies (Wright, 2023).

Post-reading activities include summarizing and discussing the text using examples, charts and organizers. Use modeling for this.

Use of graphic organizers to structure comprehension activities.

Use high-interest topics when doing reading passages (in small group settings or even whole class settings). (Luna, 2023)

- Graphic organizers

- Comprehension strategy bookmarks

- Grade-level appropriate texts

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Assessment and screening, when done properly, is shown to improve outcomes for literacy by a significant amount. Therefore, having proper screening and intervention is an equity issue. To meet the needs of all students, we must create equitable environments based on student need.

"Multiple research reviews and meta-analyses have identified that systematic formative assessment has consistent strong, positive effects on student learning across a variety of factors including student age, measurement frequency, and disability status. In essence, assessment for learning allows educators to identify where students are and inform plans to get students where they need to be." (Malcolm, n.d)

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Language skills in English language learners According to Goldstein (2006), research has led to two conclusions regarding language skills in bilingual children:

• Extensive research comparing typically developing bilingual and monolingual children suggests that both groups have similar, although not identical, language skills

• Research findings suggest that language skills in bilingual children are distributed across the two languages.

Learning English as a second language requires more oral practice of words and reading out loud, in order for students to piggyback their phonetic knowledge.

Often, ELL students will be misdiagnosed with LDs because they are not well understood, or possible not screened appropriately.

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"The Reading Strategies Book" by Jennifer Serravallo

"Speech to Print" by Louisa Moats

"Overcoming Dyslexia" by Sally Shaywitz

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Flyleaf Publishing decodable books provide beginning and struggling readers with abundant opportunities to transfer their newly acquired phonics knowledge to meaningful, engaging, and complex narratives, informational texts, and poetry. Our research-based instructional materials support teachers in explicitly guiding students to develop the skills and habits of competent readers. Our decodable books can authentically stand up to the rigors of both foundational skills and close reading instruction, making them a unique and invaluable resource for teachers and for students, who deserve the guidance that will enable them to become accurate, fluent, comprehensive, and joyful readers.

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decodable books and research-based instructional materials for prek

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Decodable Books: Research Based Readers - Flyleaf Publishing

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Engaging, meaningful, decodable books with fine-art illustrations tied to a systematic phonics scope & sequence.

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Reading Rockets: A wealth of resources on literacy instruction and intervention.

International Dyslexia Association: Information and support for dyslexia and related learning differences.

Intervention Central: Tools and resources for RTI and progress monitoring.

The Meadow's Centre: Resources and sample lessons

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My hope is that this resource hub has given a comprehensive overview of key topics in literacy instruction and intervention.

By leveraging these resources, you can hopefully support all learners, particularly those needing Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. Ensuring that every student achieves literacy success requires a commitment to self-reflection and an understanding of foundational development, ongoing assessment, evidence-based practices, and an awareness of the importance of screening and assessment to diversity and equity.

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Welcome to the Literacy Instruction and Intervention Resource Hub. This resource is designed to support educators in understanding and implementing effective Tier 2 and Tier 3 literacy interventions. The hub provides comprehensive insights into foundational literacy development, assessment methods, instructional strategies, and some of the main issues related to diversity and equity in literacy instruction.

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Sreening and Assessments - Types of Assessments

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Sreening and Assessments - Types of Assessments

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Make sure that there is a clear way to store data and to keep track of progress to know whether students need to move up or down in the tiered supports. Do screening tests regularly, and progress updates through testing on specific skills, using progress monitoring assessments such are CORE.

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The importance of Foundational Literacy Skills

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The importance of Foundational Literacy Skills

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"For all students, a high-quality early education is critical to ensuring their long-term academic success. Early learners need to understand why people read and write in order to be motivated to excel in their own literacy development. Through active engagement in the reading process, children learn ways to use their growing knowledge and skills flexibly and in combination with all domains of development. All children can develop a strong foundation for literacy and reading development when they are given opportunities to engage in purposeful, meaningful language and early print activities. Effective early literacy instruction provides preschool children with developmentally appropriate settings, materials, experiences, and social support that encourage early forms of reading and writing to flourish and develop into conventional literacy" (Brown, 2014).

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All students should be screened with universal screening measures three times per year (Good et al., 2011).

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All students should be screened with universal screening measures three times per year (Good et al., 2011).

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This is where many students are identified as having learning disabilities and major gaps in reading. Without these screeners, many students will not get the support they need to be successful.

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Screening uses a systematic process for identifying students who may be at risk for poor learning outcomes, including academic, behavioral, social and emotional. Screening data can also be used to identify schools that need support due to large numbers of struggling students. The universal screening process depends on access to and use of data connected to reliable and valid indicators of the desired outcome within the selected grade levels. It can be used for many different things, but in this course, we focused on screening for literacy - which looks at phonemic awareness, vocabulary, oral fluency and comprehension.

Students who fall at or below the cutscore are at risk and will likely need additional support to allow them to meet future goals.  For example, a benchmark cutscore on Acadience Reading assessments is the score needed for a child to have an 80 - 90% probability of meeting successive reading goals (Good et al., 2011).

For some screening tools, if students score below a specific benchmark, they are moved to the next level of screening or (Gate), and then continue until their level of need is accurately assessed. Students who pass the first gate/benchmark, do not require support, but then continuing to gate 2 allows the 'false positives' to be identified and then also identifies the students who need a tier 2 or tier 3 level of support.

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These are how educators can identify specific areas of weakness. Some students may not need any diagnostics, but if a student is below benchmark on the universal screening tool and is not responding to support through in-class interventions, we must figure out a more specific plan. We may use this at tier 2. There are lots of different types of assessments you can use here, depending on the student.

One that we discussed was Acadience Screener, and then the Acadience Reading Diagnostic.

Resources for additional information (As per Reading Rockets.org)

Curriculum Based Measurement (opens in a new window) (CBM):
A progress monitoring assessment tool for lettersound, word-identification, and passage reading fluency. Use in K-6. Administered individually.

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (opens in a new window) (CTOPP-2):
Assesses phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming. Use in K-12 for student performance. Administered individually only.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (opens in a new window) (DIBELS):
A set of standardized measures of early literacy development designed to monitor the development of prereading and early reading skills. Use in K-3. Administered individually only.

Degrees of Reading Power (opens in a new window) (DRP):
Assesses reading comprehension. Use in grades 1-12. Administered individually or group.

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (opens in a new window) (ERDA):
Evaluates early reading skills to help teachers plan instruction targeted to the specific reading needs of a student. Use in K-3. Administered individually only.

Gray Oral Reading Test IV (opens in a new window) (GORT4):
A measure of growth in oral reading. Use with ages 6-18. Administered individually only.

Iowa Test of Basic Skills (opens in a new window) (ITBS):
Assesses the reading areas of vocabulary, word analysis, and reading comprehension. Use in K-8. Administered individually or group.

Multiple Intelligences (opens in a new window) (MI):
A theory that eight intelligences should be used to assess students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Phonological Awareness Test (opens in a new window) (PAT):
Measures five phonemic awareness tasks including segmentation, isolation, deletion, substitution, and blending, as well as sensitivity to rhyme, knowledge of graphemes, and decoding skills. Use in K-3. Administered individually only.

Test of Word Reading Efficiency (opens in a new window) (TOWRE):
A measure of word reading accuracy and fluency. Use in K through Adult. Administered individually only.

Texas Primary Reading Inventory (opens in a new window) (TPRI):
An assessment tool that provides a comprehensive picture of a student’s reading development. Use in K-2. Administered individually only.

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This is usually done at the end of the year, but often in BC this is done through the FSAs and Provincial Literacy Assessments and shows where students are based on their peers.

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Grade 10 Literacy Assessment | Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum

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“The ability to spell is critical for expressing thoughts in writing” (Speer-Swirling, 2022).

Systematic and Sequential Instruction: Implement a structured sequence that progresses from simple to complex spelling patterns and rules. Ensure students master each level before moving on.

Explicit Teaching of Spelling Rules and Patterns: Clearly explain and model spelling rules and patterns. Make sure students understand and are given lots of examples  (Templeton, 2020)

Frequent Practice and Review: Provide regular practice opportunities through activities like dictation, word sorts, and writing exercises. Reinforce learned patterns and rules through consistent review. (Templeton, 2020)

Differentiated Instruction and Early Intervention: Tailor instruction to meet the diverse needs of students. Use assessment data to inform instructional decisions and provide additional support or challenge as needed. (Gentry, 2021)

Integrating Spelling with Reading and Writing: Connect spelling instruction with reading and writing activities to reinforce the practical application of spelling knowledge. It is important to include reading, writing, and spelling/phonics together in a reading program.

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Reading A-Z Phonics Lessons and Decodable Texts

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Reading A-Z Phonics Lessons and Decodable Texts

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"Reading comprehension is contingent upon the integration of various reading skills, including word reading, reading fluency, and comprehension strategies. Students who encounter challenges in both word reading and reading comprehension present an opportunity for growth across multiple reading-related domains." (Daniel et al., 2023)

Implementing a Multicomponent Reading Intervention - as per Daniel et al.

1. Utilize the Explicit Instructional Framework: Start with modeling the activity followed by guided practice before expecting students to perform a task independently.

2. Adapt Lessons to Individual Needs: Tailor the instruction to match your students' specific reading difficulties and diverse areas of reading needs. Implement multicomponent reading interventions during small-group sessions, addressing word reading, word meaning, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

3. Incorporate Morphological Analysis: Teach word reading alongside word meaning, incorporating morphological analysis. Utilize images to enhance mastery of words among elementary school children with word reading difficulties.

4. Scaffold Reading Comprehension Activities: Divide grade-level passages into smaller sections for reflection and understanding. Teach reading strategies and keywords explicitly to facilitate main idea statement writing. Engage students in multiple readings of the same text to build background knowledge and ensure comprehension success.

5. Provide Corrective Feedback: Offer constructive feedback when students encounter challenges in writing main idea statements. Emphasize strengths and support students in identifying relevant keywords.

6. Monitor Progress: Regularly assess students' reading fluency accuracy, word meaning growth, and reading comprehension. Record and graph students' growth regularly.

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Afacan, K., Wilkerson, K. L., & Ruppar, A. L. (2018). Multicomponent reading interventions for students with intellectual disability. Remedial and Special Education, 39(3), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932517715001

Daniel, J., Barth, A. and Ankrum, E. (2024), Multicomponent Reading Intervention: A Practitioner's Guide. Read Teach, 77: 473-484. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2265

Gentry, J. R. (2021, January 5). Why spelling instruction should be hot in 2022-2023. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/202101/why-spelling-instruction-should-be-hot-in-2022-2023

Joseph, L. M., Schoeni, A. J., & Nichols, T. (2023). Reading comprehension instruction for students with intellectual disabilities: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2023.1876462

Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at the College of Education, University of Texas at Austin. (2020). 10 Key Policies and Practices for Reading Intervention.

Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. American Federation of Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2020/moats

Rivera, M. O., Moughamian, A. C., Lesaux, N. K., & Francis, D. J. (2008). Language and reading interventions for English language learners and English language learners with disabilities. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.

Simonsen, F., Gunter, L., & National Institute for Direct Instruction. (2001). Best Practices in Spelling Instruction: A Research Summary. Journal of Direct Instruction, 1(2), 97-105.

Spear-Swerling, L. (Ed.). (2022). Structured literacy interventions : Teaching students with reading difficulties, grades k-6. Guilford Publications.

Stone, L. (2021). Suggested spelling and handwriting scope and sequence. In Spelling for life (pp. 185-191). Stenhouse Publishers.

Wanzek, J., Al Otaiba, S. D., & McMaster, K. L. (2020). Intensive reading interventions for the elementary grades. The Guilford Press.

Templeton, S. Stages, Phases, Repertoires, and Waves: Learning to Spell and Read Words. The Reading teacher 2020, 74 (3), 315–323. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1951.

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The Meadows Center Resources - Learn More & Explore Now

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Explore the variety of resources here at MCPER, sorted by topics, audience and grade levels, just for you. Learn more and visit us today.

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Lesson Resources

The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

Some of the companion lesson resources you will find below include:

Lesson slide decks (in PowerPoint and Google Slide formats)

Decodable passages

Homework sheets

Games and activities for additional practice

We have grouped the lessons into smaller units so you can access these resources more easily. Scroll down to use the buttons below to find the resources for each lesson or groups of lessons.

Please note that we are still building out these free resources, and we will be editing this page over the next few weeks. We wanted you to be able to access some materials as soon as possible, but be sure to come back later to see the rest!
New to UFLI Foundations? Learn about its development, check out a sample lesson plan, view the scope and sequence, and more.

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The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/lists/great-vocabulary-games-apps-and-sites

https://lsa.umich.edu/lrc/language-learning/vocabulary-tools.html

https://www.secondstorywindow.net/vocabulary-tools/

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If you've read my posts about building vocabulary and spelling in a reading rich curriculum, you'll know that I am keen on instilling a love of reading, an interest in the etymology of words and an inquisitive nature about word origins and meanings. I believe the teaching of spelling and vocabulary should be through fun, engaging activities that excite and inspire children.

In no particular order, here's my run-down of my top 20 online tools for teaching vocabulary (which you can also download as a handy 2-page word document or PDF):

1. Vocabulary Ninja is a fantastic website full of useful resources, word banks and games. I particularly like the 100 overused words and their alternatives document and the Vocab Lab App for iPads.

2. Describing Words is a brilliant online tool to help expand vocabulary and expose children to more adventurous words. They simply type in the noun they want to describe (e.g. teacher) and the website will generate a whole host of possible adjectives.

3. Word Hippo is a fantastic vocabulary tool that allows the user to explore synonyms, antonyms, meanings, rhyming words, the word in context (sentences) and audio pronunciations.

4. vocabulary.co.li is one of my favourite vocabulary websites. It offers hundreds of amazing games and activities for building and teaching vocabulary.

5. The Verbivore Teacher's Vocabulary Vault is an incredible resource with a treasure trove of categorised word banks including teaching plans, lesson resources and 'words for the fridge' at home. It also has some excellent free resources to support the explicit vocabulary teaching of greek and latin root words.

6. Vocabulary.com is free and easy to join. This website has multiple uses, from online dictionary, to emoji explanations, vocab resources and word quizzes. One of the most impressive features for teachers is that you can create lists of words for different topics and assign prep, quizzes and tasks based on these words. If you sign up to the newsletter, they'll also send you the 'Word of the Day'.

7. Visuwords.com is self-explanatory: it creates interesting graphic visuals and word webs for your chosen word.

8. Online Etymology Dictionary is a fantastic website for instilling that inquisitive nature in children. The etymology of words is fascinating and, with a quick search, you can gain word origins and histories in a matter of seconds. It gives dates beside a word which indicates the earliest year for which there is a surviving written record of that word.

9. Word Sift is another great web tool that can help children to visualise vocabulary. From word-clouds, to connecting key words, this website has lots of potential for the classroom.

10. Mini MatrixMaker is a great tool for encouraging children to consider how words are 'built'. They can explore the number of prefixes and suffixes through 'word sums' (e.g. for the word joy, a word sum could be joy + ful). From there, building an accurate, attractive matrix is all done for them, producing a word 'Mini-Matrix'.

11. Word Microscope is incredible for examining words. You can download and install it for free and it helps children to unpick the spelling of words (including prefixes and suffixes) and presents the microscope findings in an easily digestible visual format.

12. WordStudySpelling.com is a great website where you'll find word study spelling ideas and resources, with year-group specific planning, word sorts and challenge/extend activities.

13. Literacy Wagoll has a bank of example texts for setting descriptions, which can be explored by children seeking new and exciting words.

14. Pobble.com is also incredibly useful for encouraging children to think about vocabulary choice, as it is a library of written work by children. You can search for written work by topic and year group so that the language is both age and content appropriate.

15. Lexipedia is an online, visual, and interactive thesaurus program that displays synonyms as a word web.

16. Word Searcher is great for exploring word families and words which have the same spelling, prefix or suffix. Simply type in your 'sound' (e.g. tion) and it generates a list of words with the same phrase. Brilliant for exploring rules for spelling and creating word webs.

17. Snappy Words is an online dictionary and thesaurus that helps children find the meanings of words as well as connections to associated words.

18. Graphwords is similar to Snappy Words but it's a thesaurus that helps you find the meanings of words and show connections among associated words in a visual word web.

19. Word Spy is 'the word lover's guide to new words'. It helpfully explains the meaning of new words and phrases with new entries added regularly so you can stay up to speed.

20. Free Rice is a fun word matching game where pupils can match vocabulary words to the correct definition. For every correct answer you choose, 10 grains of rice are raised to help end world hunger through the World Food Programme.

If you have any other suggestions of useful vocabulary resources - please add them to the comments box below!

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If you've read my posts about building vocabulary and spelling in a reading rich curriculum, you'll know that I am keen on instilling a love of reading, an interest in the etymology of words and an inquisitive nature about word origins and meanings. I believe the teaching of spelling and vocabulary should be through fun,...

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Decodable Texts - Comprehension and Phonics

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Decodable Texts - Comprehension and Phonics

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Heggerty has resources to help you at every step of your literacy journey.

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https://www.lexialearning.com/core5

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Reading specialists and interventionists have a critical role in developing the literacy skills of students with intellectual disabilities (ID). Designing effective reading interventions requires understanding and implementing evidence-based strategies tailored to the unique needs of these students. Some important Strategies:

Intensive Reading Interventions:

Wanzek, Al Otaiba, and McMaster (2020) underscore the need for intensive, targeted interventions for elementary students with significant reading difficulties. These interventions often involve more frequent and longer instructional sessions, personalized to the student's specific needs.

Spear-Swerling (2022) discusses structured literacy approaches that are systematic, cumulative, and explicit, making them particularly beneficial for students with reading difficulties. These approaches focus on foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary development.

Important practical tips:

Create and foster a supportive envuronment

Multisensory and multicompnent learning is important

Use technology like audiobooks and games

Differentiate based on student interest (Personalized learning plans)

Choose material that is interesting to the student

Model and directly teach skills and give feedback regularly

Use data to guide instructional focus (Afacan et al, 2018)

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Spelling and writing skills directly connect to literacy, and according to research by Spear-Swerling, and Dr.  Susan Brady, when students can spell and write well, they free up cognitive space and the ability to contextualize information.

“The ability to spell is critical for expressing thoughts in writing” (Speer-Swirling, 2022). Systematic and explicit spelling instruction is crucial because it directly impacts students' reading and writing abilities.

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1. Protect small group time.

2. Use universal screening to identify students with reading difficulties.

3. Use informal diagnostic assessment to identify where gaps are.

4. Group and regroup students based on similar needs.

5. Monitor progress and track goals.

6. Provide explicit instruction with modeling and practice.

7. Provide systematic instruction with scaffolding.

8. Give feedback regularly.

9. Make sure teachers know how to provide reading interventions (Prod)

10. Make sure intervention is supported by research based materials!

In a secondary setting, this might look like a universal screening and then having students either put into an elective Reading program, or doing pull out small groups OR using a built in invervention time to work on skills WHILE ALSO having teachers implementing a more explicit instructional system with all students around vocabulary.

The example lesson is above!

(The Meadows Center, 2020)

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Here are a few key takeaways I got from the coursework:

Many times, students with disabilities are missed or misdiagnosed without proper universal screening.

Screening tools can vary but there are A LOT of them, and they also often have progress monitoring and specific diagnostic tests included as well.

The younger a student is screened, the more effective the intervention can be.

Bilingual students learn in similar ways to monolingual students.

Tier 1 supports can be useful for all students, but tier 2 and 3 supports should be specific to the needs of the student and fit within a MTSS.

MTSS needs to exist (RTI and other) for these interventions to really be effective.

Explicit and systematic instruction is key - using material that is reasearch based. This might vary depending on the level, school, and the area of weakness.

Students need to have foundational skills and if one area is missing, they will struggle.

Even older students benefit from phonics instruction.

Reading, writing, comprehension, etc. are all important to do together. A lesson should combine all areas of literacy.

The more practice students get, the better.

Modelling is a really effective strategy for fluency.

Comprehension requires background knowledge, decoding skills, fluency, and vocabulary knowledge.

Spelling should be taught using patterns, not rules.

Giving choice and making content interesting can sometimes be more important than making it "on level".

Students need to be engaged in their reading.

Teaching vocabulary before or during reading is a useful strategy.

Focus on the vocabulary that is more important to understand the text. Use thematic units to revisit vocabulary over time.

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Acadience - Reading Screener + Diagnostic Testing

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Acadience - Reading Screener + Diagnostic Testing

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This can be used for middle/highschool but there are also K-6 options!

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Goals of Acadience Reading 7-8

Acadience Reading 7-8 includes passage reading and comprehension measures that were developed specifically for higher grade levels. Acadience Reading 7-8:

serves as universal screening

provides gating procedures for more efficient testing

can be used to monitor student progress

passages cover content areas specific to instruction in grades 7-8

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Acadience Reading 7-8 | Acadience Learning

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Acadience Reading 7-8 includes passage reading and comprehension measures that were developed specifically for higher grade levels. Acadience Reading 7-8: serves as universal screening provides gating procedures for more efficient testing can be used to monitor student progress passages cover content areas specific to instruction in grades 7-8

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Research has identified that four components-alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension-are essential in how reading develops, and essential in the reading process.

Use these freely available diagnostic assessments of reading to determine the reading strengths and areas of growth for your students. Then use the results to set instructional priorities.
Please note that it takes knowledge and skill to administer and interpret these tests effectively: get trained through STAR or through Evidence-Based Reading Instruction: Diagnostic Assessments of Reading. (This calendar post is for informational purposes; search the SABES PD Calendar for the next scheduled offering.)
Each of these assessments is available in MS Word and PDF formats (see below):
Related Materials and Information:

1. The QARI: Quick Adult Reading Inventory (includes the student pages)

2. Word Meaning Test (oral; there are no student pages)

3. Fluency Response

Fluency Response Record

Fluency Student Copy

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Research has identified that four components-alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension-are essential in how reading develops, and essential in the reading process. Use these freely available diagnostic assessments of reading to determine the reading strengths and areas of growth for your students. Then use the results to set instructional priorities.

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Diagnostic and progress monitoring tools

Many of the universal screening tools have additional subtests to diagnose reading problems and monitor student progress. Here are a few common tools used to diagnose (D) and/or monitor (PM)  student reading. Note that some formal normed diagnostic tests can also be used for summative assessment (Sum)

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) (opens in a new window) — PM

Virginia Literacy Partnership - PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) (opens in a new window) — D, PM

TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) (opens in a new window) — D, PM

AIMSweb (opens in a new window) (Assessments and Curriculum-Based Measurement) — PM

EasyCBM (Curriculum-Based Measurement) (opens in a new window) — PM

Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement (opens in a new window) — D, Sum

Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT) (opens in a new window) — D

Test of Reading Comprehension (TORC) (opens in a new window) — D, Sum

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) (opens in a new window) — D, Sum

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) (opens in a new window) — D

Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) (opens in a new window) — D

Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) (opens in a new window) — D

Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI) (opens in a new window) — D

Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) (opens in a new window) — D

Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (opens in a new window) — D, Sum