Christopher J. Lemons

Phonological awareness of children with Down syndrome: Its role in learning to read and the effectiveness of related interventions

Phonological awareness (PA) is the ability to hear and manipulate the smallest units of sound in our language. It is key to learning to read for typically developing children. Some have suggested that this is not true for children with Down syndrome (DS). The purpose of this review was to provide a better understanding of the role PA plays for children with DS as they learn to read and to provide guidance on whether phonics-based reading instruction is likely to benefit these students. Results from a review of 20 studies indicate that children with DS rely on PA skills in learning to read and suggest that phonics-based reading instruction may be beneficial for at least some of these children.

Evidence-Based Practices in a Changing World Reconsidering the Counterfactual in Education Research

Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used in educational research to establish causality and develop effective practices. These research designs rely on a counterfactual model that, in simple form, calls for a comparison between a treatment group and a control group. Developers of educational practices often assume that the population from which control groups are drawn is unchanging in its behavior or performance. This is not always the case. Populations and study samples can change over time—sometimes dramatically so. We illustrate this important point by presenting data from 5 randomized control trials of the efficacy of Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies, a supplemental, peer-mediated reading program. The studies were conducted across 9 years and involved 2,591 students. Findings demonstrate a dramatic increase in the performance of control students over time, and suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the counterfactual model and its role in establishing evidence-based practices.

Assessing Opportunity-to-Learn for Students With Disabilities in General and Special Education Classes

Current legislation encourages schools to educate students with disabilities (SWDs) in general education settings to the greatest extent appropriate. However, it is unclear whether inclusion in general education settings provides SWDs a sufficient opportunity to learn the academic content assessed by accountability measures. This initial study was designed to (a) describe the extent to which general and special educators provide their eighth-grade classes with an opportunity to learn the state-specific standards and to (b) examine the extent to which SWDs experience a differentiated opportunity to learn compared with their overall class. Across three states, we trained 38 general and special educators to use an online teacher log to report on various opportunity-to-learn (OTL) indices for 46 mathematics and reading classes and 89 nested SWDs. Based on an average logging period of 151 days, the results indicated that this sample’s SWDs included in general education classes experienced less time on standards, more non-instructional time, and less content coverage than their overall class. Limitations and implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Effectiveness of Decoding and Phonological Awareness Interventions for Children with down Syndrome

Many children with intellectual disability, including children with Down syndrome, have teachers who are unsure what type of reading instruction is likely to increase outcomes for their students. Effectiveness of two commercially available, evidence-based reading interventions was evaluated through 3 multiple baseline across participants, single-subject research design studies involving 15 children with Down syndrome between the ages of 5 and 13 years. School staff implemented the phonological awareness and decoding interventions for an average of 25 sessions across approximately 12 weeks. Results indicate improvements in the reading of taught phonetically regular and high frequency words associated with the decoding intervention, but no generalization to oral reading fluency. No reliable gains were associated with the phonological awareness intervention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Response to Intervention in Secondary Schools: Considerations for Administrators

Secondary school administrators are increasingly finding themselves in the position of implementing Response to Intervention (RTI). This system of providing progressively intensive levels of intervention for the purposes of preventing academic failure and identifying children with learning disability may be useful at the secondary level. However, many aspects of RTI are based on research conducted in elementary schools. The purpose of this article is to provide a basic description of RTI, to summarize research conducted at the secondary level, and to provide a set of considerations for secondary administrators regarding RTI implementation.

An Inadvertent Concurrent Replication: Same Roadmap, Different Journey

Replication is a critical aspect of scientific inquiry that presents a variety of challenges to researchers, even under the best of conditions. We conducted a review of replication rates in special education journals similar to the review conducted by Makel et al. in this issue. Unknowingly conducting independent reviews allowed for an unexpected opportunity to examine how two teams of researchers attempted to replicate a previously published study and explore similarities and differences between the outcomes. In our review, we identified 70 replication studies published between 1997 and 2013, indicating that 0.41% of published articles in special education journals are replication studies. Similar to findings reported by Makel et al., our review indicates that most replications are successful and that successful replications are more likely when author overlap occurs. Although there are similar patterns in the two data sets, an examination of exact agreement on article inclusion revealed an agreement rate of 15.2%. Possible explanations for the discrepancy and implications for future directions are provided.

Data-Based Individualization in Reading: Intensifying Interventions for Students With Significant Reading Disabilities

Summary. It is clear the adaptations described made a difference for Rashan. If you look back at Rashan’s progress-monitoring data from his third grade year, you will see he finished the year reading fewer than 60 words correct on oral reading fluency. If Mrs. Arnold had not tried a new approach and adapted her instruction, it is likely his performance would have remained near this level at the end of his fourth grade year. This new approach led Rashan to make substantial gains in reading, narrowing his achievement gap. However, it is clear that more adaptations are necessary; it is likely that ongoing adaptations will remain a necessity for many students like Rashan. We ask you to pause for a moment, review the adaptations Mrs. Arnold made, and consider what you might suggest to Mrs. Arnold to assist her in enhancing Rashan’s comprehension. Conclusion We have provided a detailed demonstration of what DBI implementation might look like in the area of reading. We intend for this hypothetical example to highlight the feasibility of implementing DBI and we provide some additional suggestions in “Tips for Implementing DBI.” Although DBI may require additional work, the effort is well worth the potential improvements in student outcomes. We have shown several exciting aspects of using this process to intensify interventions. These include the opportunity to think creatively about instruction, to use data to see how adaptations affect student performance, and to make new changes to maximize benefits for students. It is worth noting that, although Mrs. Arnold’s efforts were commendable and Rashan made good progress, he did not reach a level where he was able to work in grade-level texts. Students with persistent or severe deficits will likely need multiple years of intensive intervention, and special educators and their students

Math Interventions for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder A Best-Evidence Synthesis

Educators need evidence-based practices to assist students with disabilities in meeting increasingly rigorous standards in mathematics. Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are increasingly expected to demonstrate learning of basic and advanced mathematical concepts. This review identifies math intervention studies involving children and adolescents with ASD and describes participant characteristics, methodological features, interventions, target behaviors, and related outcomes. Included studies met the design standards of the What Works Clearinghouse (2014). Studies focused on functional and computational skills for students with a comorbid diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID). Visual analysis confirmed a functional relation between evaluated interventions and mathematics outcomes in 71% of cases. Interventions generally yielded moderate to large effect sizes. Large confidence intervals were obtained across effects. More high-quality research including students with higher-functioning ASD is required to fully address the needs of this population.

Adapting Phonological Awareness Interventions for Children with Down Syndrome Based on the Behavioral Phenotype: A Promising Approach?.

Many children with Down syndrome demonstrate deficits in phonological awareness, a prerequisite to learning to read in an alphabetic language. The purpose of this study was to determine whether adapting a commercially available phonological awareness program to better align with characteristics associated with the behavioral phenotype of Down syndrome would increase childrens learning of phonological awareness, letter sounds, and words. Five children with Down syndrome, ages 6 to 8 years, participated in a multiple baseline across participants single case design experiment in which response to an adapted phonological awareness intervention was compared with response to the nonadapted program. Results indicate a functional relation between the adapted program and phonological awareness. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are provided.

Mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome: a research synthesis

BACKGROUND Many children and adolescents with Down syndrome fail to achieve proficiency in mathematics. Researchers have suggested that tailoring interventions based on the behavioural phenotype may enhance efficacy. METHOD The research questions that guided this review were (1) what types of mathematics interventions have been empirically evaluated with children and adolescents with Down syndrome?; (2) do the studies demonstrate sufficient methodological rigor?; (3) is there evidence of efficacy for the evaluated mathematics interventions?; and (4) to what extent have researchers considered aspects of the behavioural phenotype in selecting, designing and/or implementing mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome? Nine studies published between 1989 and 2012 were identified for inclusion. RESULTS Interventions predominantly focused on early mathematics skills and reported positive outcomes. However, no study met criteria for methodological rigor. Further, no authors explicitly considered the behavioural phenotype. CONCLUSIONS Additional research using rigorous experimental designs is needed to evaluate the efficacy of mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome. Suggestions for considering the behavioural phenotype in future research are provided.