Stephanie Al Otaiba

Is Reading Important in Reading-Readiness Programs? A Randomized Field Trial with Teachers as Program Implementers.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. Thirty-three teachers in 8 urban schools were assigned randomly within their schools to 3 groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Following training, teachers in the 2 treatment groups conducted the treatments for about 20 weeks. In each teachers class, pre- and posttreatment data were collected on 12-14 children (N = 404); 312 children were tested again the following fall. At the end of kindergarten, the 2 treatment groups performed comparably and outperformed controls on the phonological awareness measures. On alphabetic (reading and spelling) tasks, however, the group participating in phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction did better than the other 2 groups. In the fall of the next year, many of these between-group differences remained but were less impressive. Implications are discussed for bridging research and practice.

Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Legislation mandates that all children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), be taught to read in ways that are consistent with reading research and target the five components of evidence-based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. This review synthesized the literature on reading instruction for children with ASD that encompassed one or more of the five components of reading. The review included 11 studies with 61 participants ages 4 to 17 years. Results indicated that children with ASD can benefit from reading instruction consistent with reading research. Research in this area is still preliminary, and more research is needed to guide practice. Possible directions for future research are provided.

Exploring the Importance of Reading Programs for Kindergartners with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms

This studys purpose was to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness (PA) training with and without a beginning decoding component for kindergartners with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Nineteen general educators, who taught at least one student with a disability, were assigned randomly within their schools to three groups: control, PA training, or PA training with beginning decoding instruction. Teachers in the two treatment groups conducted the treatments for about 20 weeks. Pre- and posttreatment data were collected on 25 children with disabilities. Statistical analyses indicated that the group of students with special needs participating in PA training with beginning decoding instruction did better than the other two groups. However, many children, including many of those in the most effective treatment, did not improve their reading skills.

Effects of a Peer-Mediated Program on Reading Skill Acquisition for Two-Way Bilingual First-Grade Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a supplemental peer-mediated reading program on reading achievement of first graders (N = 76) in a two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) program. Nearly 80% of students were Hispanic; of these, 24 were identified as English language learners (ELLs). Classrooms were randomly assigned to peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) or contrast condition. PALS students participated in a 30-hour peer-mediated early literacy intervention that was conducted three times a week. Results showed statistically significant differences, with large effect sizes favoring PALS on phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency. Additionally, disaggregated results analyzed by subgroups (ELLs and English proficient) revealed a differential pattern in response to intervention. Implications of findings in relation to research and practice are discussed.

A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students’ Reading From First Through Third Grade

Using a longitudinal cluster-randomized controlled design, we examined whether students’ reading outcomes differed when they received 1, 2, or 3 years of individualized reading instruction from first through third grade, compared with a treated control group. More than 45% of students came from families living in poverty. Following students, we randomly assigned their teachers each year to deliver individualized reading instruction or a treated control condition intervention focused on mathematics. Students who received individualized reading instruction in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade compared with those who received fewer years of such instruction. There was inconsistent evidence supporting a sustained first-grade treatment effect: Individualized instruction in first grade was necessary but not sufficient for stronger third-grade reading outcomes. These effects were achieved by regular classroom teachers who received professional development, which indicates that policies that support the use of evidence-based reading instruction and teacher training can yield increased student achievement.

Providing Effective Literacy Instruction to Students with down Syndrome

Rhonda and Jane are middle-school students with Down syndrome who joined 2 first-grade students with Down syndrome, Carl and Laura, and 14 additional students with reading difficulties in an after-school University Reading Clinic. The parents of the students with Down syndrome wanted their children to learn to read for enjoyment, for safety, and for employment but were concerned that their children were receiving as little as 1 hour of reading instruction per week at school. Moreover, the parents reported that their children’s individualized education programs (IEPs) reflected no clearly articulated reading goals and contained no plan to monitor the children’s progress in reading. Students like Rhonda have little instructional time to waste. Commonly, children with disabilities begin their school careers with less than half the exposure to print than children without disabilities (Fitzgerald, Roberts, Pierce, & Schuele, 1995); receive fewer opportunities to engage in literacy activities than peers in early childhood programs (Koppenhaver, 1993; Marvin & Mirenda, 1994); and may be less likely to benefit from generally effective reading interventions (Al Otaiba & Fuchs, 2002). Their teachers are not to blame. Current standards for the preparation and certification of special education teachers do not provide guidelines about instructional strategies for teaching reading to students with mental retardation (Katims, 1999). As a result, many special education teachers report that they feel unprepared to teach reading to these students (Moats & Lyon, 1996). Further, little is known about what level of reading achievement is attainable for students with mental retardation in general and for students with Down syndrome in particular (Carr, 1988; Oelwein, 1995). The problem, therefore, is that a limited research base is available to teachers on effective reading instruction strategies for student with mental retardation.

Reviewing Core Kindergarten and First-Grade Reading Programs in Light of No Child Left Behind: An Exploratory Study.

ABSTRACT This article describes the findings of our review process for core reading programs and provides a preliminary rubric emanating from this process for rating core reading programs. To our knowledge, this is the first published review of the current Reading First guidelines and includes all five components of scientifically based reading research (SBRR): phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. A research team independently examined all six core reading programs, completed a coding sheet, and recorded field notes. The research team was reliable in rating whether all five components were present and if the instructional routines were of good quality. Core programs aligned with Reading First shared several features that could support teachers in their mission to leave no child behind: a clearly articulated theoretical rationale for SBRR, explicit instructional strategies, and consistent instructional routines and organization.

To Wait in Tier 1 or Intervene Immediately: A Randomized Experiment Examining First-Grade Response to Intervention in Reading

This randomized controlled experiment compared the efficacy of two response-to-intervention (RTI) models—typical RTI and dynamic RTI—and included 34 first-grade classrooms (n = 522 students) across 10 socioeconomically and culturally diverse schools. Typical RTI was designed to follow the two-stage RTI decision rules that wait to assess response to Tier 1 in many districts, whereas dynamic RTI provided Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions immediately according to students’ initial screening results. Interventions were identical across conditions except for when intervention began. Reading assessments included letter-sound, word, passage reading, and teacher-reported severity of reading difficulties. An intent-to-treat analysis based on multilevel modeling indicated an overall effect favoring the dynamic RTI condition (d = .36); growth curve analyses demonstrated that students in dynamic RTI showed an immediate score advantage and that effects accumulated across the year. Analyses of standard score outcomes confirmed that students in the dynamic condition who received Tier 2 and Tier 3 ended the study with significantly higher reading performances than students in the typical condition. Implications for RTI implementation practice and future research are discussed.

Effects from Intensive Standardized Kindergarten and First-Grade Interventions for the Prevention of Reading Difficulties

The purpose of this chapter is to describe reading interventions that might be used within a responseto-intervention (RTI) framework when students do not show adequate progress in learning to read from their current instruction. We will provide information about the nature of these interventions, the settings in which they have been studied, and the strength of their impact on early reading growth. There is a critical need for effective early interventions in reading, since current data (NAEP, 2005) indicate that 36% of students in the United States cannot meet basic standards of reading competence by the end of fourth grade. The situation is even more troublesome for poor and minority students, in that the latest national assessment indicates that 56% of poor, 61% of African American, and 57% of Hispanic students currently fail to meet basic reading standards in fourth grade. The need for strengthening early reading instruction is underlined when we consider that the incidence of students identified as learning disabled during elementary school has grown exponentially since the establishment of the category in 1977 (over 200%), and most LD students are identified because of difficulties in learning to read. The importance of work to develop effective early identification and interventions for students who struggle in reading is also supported by the fact that it becomes much more difficult to remediate reading difficulties after students have struggled in learning to read for several years. For example, Torgesen (2005) has recently reported data showing that, once students fall seriously behind in reading fluency, even the most powerful remedial interventions are not able to help them “close the gap” in fluency with students who are learning to read normally. Other data point out a variety of negative consequences for early difficulties in reading that include relatively weak vocabulary growth (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1998), changes in attitude and motivation for reading (Wigfield and Guthrie, 1997), and loss of opportunities for development of increasingly sophisticated reading strategies (Brown, Palinscar, and Purcell, 1986). Finally, there is the sobering fact obtained in several longitudinal studies that children who are poor readers at the end of first grade almost never acquire average-level reading skills by the end of elementary school (Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, and Fletcher, 1996; Juel, 1988; Torgesen and Burgess, 1998).

Tutor-Assisted Intensive Learning Strategies in Kindergarten: How Much Is Enough?.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a tutoring intervention provided by community tutors to kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties. The 73 students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) tutoring 4 days a week, (b) tutoring 2 days a week, or (c) a control condition that provided small-group storybook reading 2 days a week. Children were administered reading and phonemic awareness pre- and posttreatment tests. Analyses revealed that students in the 4-day condition outperformed students in either the 2-day or control conditions on 3 reading measures. Effect sizes were .79, .90, and .83 on word identification, passage comprehension, and basic reading skills, respectively. Challenges and implications for managing community tutoring programs are discussed.