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

    
    

Home environment and language

Socioeconomic Status

Learning Disabilities

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).

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.

Explicit teaching

Differentiated instruction

Multisensory Approaches

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)

• 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. 

• 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.

• 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)

• 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 

• 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.

  
  

  
  

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)

"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)

• 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.

• 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

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.

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)

  
  

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)

• 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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. 

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

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

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)

“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.

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)

• 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.

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