David J. Chard

A Synthesis of Research on Effective Interventions for Building Reading Fluency with Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities

Fluent reading, often defined as speed and accuracy, is an important skill for all readers to develop. Students with learning disabilities (LD) often struggle to read fluently, leading to difficulties in reading comprehension. Despite recent attention to reading fluency and ways to improve fluency, it is not clear which features of interventions that are designed to enhance fluency are beneficial for the most struggling readers. The purpose of this study is to synthesize research on interventions that are designed primarily to build reading fluency for students with LD. The search yielded 24 published and unpublished studies that reported findings on intervention features, including repeated reading with and without a model, sustained reading, number of repetitions, text difficulty, and specific improvement criteria. Our findings suggest that effective interventions for building fluency include an explicit model of fluent reading, multiple opportunities to repeatedly read familiar text independently and with corrective feedback, and established performance criteria for increasing text difficulty.

The Underlying Message in LD Intervention Research: Findings from Research Syntheses:

This article summarizes the critical findings of recent research syntheses funded by the Office of Special Education Programs and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. The syntheses examined research on higher-order processing and problem-solving, reading comprehension, written expression, and grouping practices associated with improved outcomes in reading for students with learning disabilities. Common principles of instruction are identified across the syntheses. These principles are summarized and illustrated with research-based exemplars of best practice.

Number Sense: Rethinking Arithmetic Instruction for Students with Mathematical Disabilities

We describe the concept of number sense, an analog as important to mathematics learning as phonemic awareness has been to the reading research field. Understanding the concept of number sense and relevant research from cognitive science can help the research community pull together fragmented pieces of earlier knowledge to yield a much richer, more subtle, and more effective means of improving instructional practice. This article demonstrates how the number sense concept can offer a useful framework for conceptualizing interventions that will significantly enhance mathematics instruction for students with mathematical disabilities.

Fluency: Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension

A deep, developmental construct and definition of fluency, in which fluency and reading comprehension have a reciprocal relationship, is explicated and contrasted with superficial approaches to that construct. The historical development of fluency is outlined, along with conclusions of the U.S. National Reading Panel, to explore why fluency has moved from being “the neglected aspect of reading” to a popular topic in the field. A practical, developmental instructional program based largely on the theoretical framework and research findings of Linnea Ehri is delineated. The nine essential components of that program include building the graphophonic foundations for fluency; building and extending vocabulary and oral language skills; providing expert instruction and practice in the recognition of high-frequency vocabulary; teaching common word parts and spelling patterns; teaching, modeling, and providing practice in the application of a decoding strategy; using appropriate texts to coach strategic behaviors and to build reading speed; using repeated reading procedures as an intervention approach for struggling readers; extending growing fluency through wide independent reading; and monitoring fluency development through appropriate assessment procedures. The position is taken throughout that teaching, developing, and assessing fluency must always be done in the context of reading comprehension.

Factors Enhancing Sustained Use of Research-Based Instructional Practices

ers, family members, and researchers, this topic emerges as a primary source of disappointment among all three groups (Gersten & McInerney, 1997). Two years ago, the Office of Special Education Programs of the U. S. Department of Education identified the sustainability of research-based practices as a major research priority area, and, for many years, it has been a major priority of the National Science Foundation.

Demonstration of Combined Efforts in School-Wide Academic and Behavioral Systems and Incidence of Reading and Behavior Challenges in Early Elementary Grades.

This study provides descriptive data on the rates of office discipline referrals and beginning reading skills for students in grades K—3 for one school district that is implementing a three-tier prevention model for both reading and behavior support. Students in the district are provided a continuum of reading and/or behavioral support based on screening measures that indicate response to universal, targeted, and intensive support. This combined approach may be more successful due to the number of shared critical features in both systems. Results document positive outcomes in prevalence of students needing additional reading and/or behavior support (in comparison to national figures) and are reported with recommendations for future experimental analyses.

Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines

This article defines phonological awareness and discusses historic and contemporary research findings regarding its relation to early reading. Common misconceptions about phonological awareness are addressed. Research-based guidelines for teaching phonological awareness and phonemic awareness to all children are described. Additional instructional design guidelines are offered for teaching children with learning disabilities who are experiencing difficulties with early reading. Considerations for assessing childrens phonological awareness are discussed, and descriptions of available measures are provided.

Repeated Reading Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities: Status of the Evidence:

For students with or at risk for learning disabilities, developing fluency with reading connected texts remains a formidable challenge. In response, teachers often use repeated reading practices designed to provide students with multiple exposures to the same words. This study examined research focused on determining the efficacy of repeated reading approaches for improving reading fluency for students with or at risk for learning disabilities. Studies employed experimental/quasi-experimental and single-subject research designs. Results suggest that repeated reading is not supported by rigorous research as defined by the quality indicators used and, therefore, is not an evidence-based practice based on those criteria for students with and at risk for learning disabilities. Implications for future research and for practice are discussed.

Using Measures of Number Sense to Screen for Difficulties in Mathematics: Preliminary Findings

As recent research efforts have focused on preventing reading difficulties and enhancing the effectiveness of special education services for students with reading problems, similar efforts in mathematics have not been realized. This article describes the development and preliminary field testing of a set of measures designed to screen students in kindergarten and first grade to identify those at risk for potential mathematics difficulties. Evidence-based steps to streamline the screening process are described, and plans for testing the predictive validity of the measures are outlined.

Teaching Writing to At-Risk Students: The Quality of Evidence for Self-Regulated Strategy Development

This study evaluates the quality of the research and evidence base for a writing intervention called Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD; Graham & Harris, 1989; Harris & Graham, 1996) for students with and at risk for learning disabilities, using criteria for group research studies suggested by Gersten et al. (2005) and single-subject research studies suggested by Horner et al. (2005). Five experimental and quasi-experimental studies and 16 single-subject studies investigating SRSD were analyzed on numerous methodological dimensions. Both the group design and single-subject studies also met proposed standards for an evidence-based practice. The potential value of analyzing approaches and interventions using the proposed quality indicators and standards for evidence-based practices is discussed, as are implications for research and practice.