Book Reading Intervention Summary

Author note: This paper was prepared for the American Federation of Teachers by Louisa C. Moats, project director, Washington D.C. site of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Interventions Project, and clinical associate professor of pediatrics, University of Texas, Houston, Health Sciences Center. Her work is supported in part by grant HD30995, “Early Interventions for Children with Reading Problems,”

It is the limited range of host cells that each type of virus can infect and parasite.

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

Research indicates that among students, poor readers evolve into poor thinkers, devoid of strategies to structure the writing assignments that contribute to academic success (Alfassi, 2004, p.1), and teachers who fail to model effective literacy strategies to their students, simply compound the problem. For educators attempting to meet the diverse range of learning needs, the ever increasing number of students with learning difficulties is overwhelming. The decisions regarding the types of interventions and the limited research on numerous strategies currently available are both misleading and confusing. However Walker, (2004) warn that reliance on untested methods and dependence on strategies that have limited evidence have resulted in unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for students. Significantly whilst there has been an exponential increase in research evidence collected around many popular interventions, there is very little

The group of students being presented this intervention program are lower performing readers. Data from multiple measures is collected early on in the school year. All students are given universal screeners to see what intervention they would most likely benefit from according to what skills gaps they currently have. The data is collected from a STAR Reading test, a one minute timed reading fluency inventory, as well as teacher classroom observation and assessment data. As the first two measures are normed assessments, the students all receive a percentile rank. The students who fall in the 10th percentile or below show they are in need of intensive targeted intervention. They are placed into a small group of up to 6 students to participate in this intervention called Enhanced Core. Once identified as needing targeted intervention, these students are also given a CORE Phonics survey which gives the teachers specific data about what phonic skills they are missing exactly.

There are several strategies that can be employed to assist those who suffer disadvantage. Early interventions, (the earlier the better), are recommended to target deficit skills through reading recovery or acceleration programs (Sparks, 1999:13-16, Cunha & Heckman, 2007:1-5). The most successful projects appear to be those that also target families, either by providing resources or through family literacy projects. Parents can thus become upskilled themselves, becoming better equipped in the process to support their children’s progress. ‘The remediation efforts that appear to be most effective are those that supplement family environments for disadvantaged

Reading is a skill often taken for granted but it is essential in order to progress in life. For a child being able to read well helps them learn new things, give ideas and enables use of imagination. National literacy trust (2015) suggests that children’s early language skills can have a major impact on a child’s development of literacy skills. Five-year olds with poor language and literacy have a higher risk of underachieving at age seven and beyond. Reading skills encourage more opportunities in life and it can affect a child’s wellbeing if they do not achieve this effectively (Finnegan,2015).

Constructive early language and literacy development can be an ally to opening a child’s (ren) imagination; this will enhance and empower their potential to become successful readers. As the children grow (birth to 3 yrs. old) their brain goes through an extradinary developmental process and they begin to think, learn, communicate and rationalize things. When this early developmental stage is not being nourished the child will feel the affects of it in the long run. Children that come from low-income families that are enrolled in schools are affected the most. Educators and parents can assist these children by giving them the support (early-on) that they need to sustain a healthy learning environment. As educators it is our duty to create an environment that will help in this process.

Research has consistently shown that that reading books to children has a positive effect on literacy outcomes in the following ways:

Reading to a child has a tremendous impact on their language development. The more a child is read to the more connections are made in the brain. Rereading the same book helps the child make connections between the way the words look and sound.

Around 200 million children in Africa and Asia are not able to achieve their potential due to poverty. The potential is affected in their language, cognitive, and literacy skills. In economically developed countries research has shown that book sharing between infant and mother promotes infant language development and development after infancy. South Africa is a great environment to complete this pilot study because there is a great amount of poverty.

Many students around the United States have reading difficulties, which can be due to a variety of reason such as: low socioeconomic status, family history of learning disabilities, a neurological disorder, limited exposure, etc. Reading difficulties can lead to further problems with education and learning, therefore the struggles should be addressed and intervention techniques should be implemented promptly. The interventions need to be individualized for the student based on their needs in order to improve the student’s reading to the best of their abilities.

Of the 27 programs evaluated, six showed strong indication of effectiveness and five had moderate evidence of effectiveness. The results for these programs were on language, literacy and/or phonological awareness. For some of the studies the significant effects were seen at the end of preschool (Direct Instruction, Interactive Book Reading), and for others at the end of kindergarten (Curiosity Corner, ELLM, Ready Set Leap!) (Johns Hopkins University, 35). It is programs that actually show results that improve academic and cognitive strength. That is why it is important to support and fund programs like these.

Reading – the ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has existed for approximately 4000 to 5000 years and is inarguably one of the most fundamental and wonderful technique humans have ever developed. However, despite much effort and funding dedicating to wide literacy development, even now in America for instance, 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level (National Center for Learning Disabilities). In order for the entire population of today’s society to have proper reading skills, scholars and educators around the world realize that literacy movements need to focus on much earlier stages of human development. Researchers in the education field have reached a consensus that reading is crucial in childhood by revealing supporting evidence from studies focused on children aged 0-6 years, 6-12, and young adolescents. Many interesting findings also include that reading proficiency of children is critical because it can reflect society’s criminal and economical status. Moreover, modern studies show that the importance of childhood reading cannot be fully explained without mentioning the environment where children are raised, as the environment greatly affects children’s reading proficiency.

Learning to read is one of the most foundational skills needed for educational success. As children learn to read they develop the ability to decode, interpret, and store information from what they are reading. Reading comprehension allows a child to gain meaning from text and decoding allows a child to process sounds into words. Reading is vital to educational success because it allows a student to learn new information and build upon their prior knowledge. Students who attain reading skills are more likely to achieve academic success while students who have reading difficulties are likely to struggle academically and fall behind their peers. Reading difficulties have been prominent within the US for years. For example, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics shows that only about 33% of fourth graders are at or above proficient at reading (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2011). Studies show that the cause of reading difficulties is based primarily on genes, environment, and instructional experience (Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, Scanlon, 2004). Students with a language learning disorder have difficulty comprehending spoken and written language thus making it difficult to learn new information. Children with reading disabilities are more likely to struggle during elementary school years as students are asked to think about what they read more critically. Speech language pathologists and teachers can help