An evaluation of intensive intervention for students with persistent reading difficulties

Area of Science:

• Education
• Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Students with severe reading difficulties often require intensive interventions.
• Many students do not respond adequately to standard reading instruction (Tier 1 and Tier 2).
• Tertiary interventions (Tier 3) are crucial for students with persistent reading deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive tertiary reading intervention program.
• To assess the impact of decoding and fluency skills training on reading outcomes.
• To compare intervention response based on prior educational support.

Main Methods:

• A 16-week intervention package combining decoding (Phono-Graphix) and fluency (Read Naturally) skills.
• Targeted 27 students with severe reading difficulties, including those unresponsive to previous interventions.
• Assessed improvements in decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in decoding, fluency, and comprehension post-intervention.
• 12 out of 27 students demonstrated a significant positive response.
• Students with prior Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions showed a stronger response than those with only Tier 1 or no prior intervention.

Conclusions:

• Intensive tertiary reading interventions can be effective for students with severe reading difficulties.
• The combination of decoding and fluency instruction yields positive reading gains.
• Prior exposure to tiered interventions may predict a better response to intensive tertiary support.