Reading Interventions: A Review

There are many programs available to help struggling readers.  Using these interventions can add some variety to your instruction, and make lesson planning easier.  I recommend using them in addition to a Common Core-Based English/Language Arts program, as well as phonics and sight word instruction, such as Recipe for Reading. 

So here are two common reading interventions, and their pros and cons:

Read Naturally

In this intervention, students are timed one minute, when they do a “cold read” of a selection.  They then practice the selection three times, with a CD recording, and do a “hot read,” during which they try to meet a goal that was set, based on their cold read score.

Pros: 

• Students are able to work at their own pace.
• Students are able to work independently, while they listen to the CD.
• Having to meet the goal provides students with positive motivation.
• This program targets fluency, which is not targeted by many programs.

Cons:

• This can not be done effectively in a large group, because students frequently need to read aloud to an adult.
• It is easy for students to refuse to participate, without being noticed.
• Specific decoding strategies are not explicitly taught.
• The stories have comprehension questions, but the emphasis is not on comprehension.

Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS)

This program teaches phonics and reading fluency by having students work in pairs: one student is the reader first, and the other student is the coach.  Then the students switch roles.

Pros:

• The program is fast-paced and maintains student engagement.
• The program teaches phonemic awareness and phoneme blending.
• Students are able to spend a great deal of time practicing.

Cons:

• The program can become monotonous, because the routine is always the same.
• If a student makes a mistake, they are required to begin the line over again.  This can lead to behavioral issues.
• The teacher will have to monitor pairs closely, to make sure students stay on task.

Whatever interventions you use, be sure to tweak them, so that they fit perfectly into your program!

Recipe for Reading

When I was completing my special education student teaching, my host teacher insisted that she could teach any student to read.  She then handed me a very battered copy of Recipe for Reading by Nina Traub. 

“Get this book,” she said emphatically.  “If there is only one book you get, for teaching reading, get this one.”

So I got the book.

Recipe for Reading is based on the Orton-Gillingham program for teaching phonics, and I have been very happy with both its implementation and its results.  My first year of teaching, three of my students were non-readers.  By the end of the year, they had all achieved at least a second grade reading level.

Here are the reasons that I love Recipe for Reading:

–You don’t need any special materials for its implementation.  With a pen, some paper, and a pack of notecards, you can get started right away.

—The lessons are very simple: the sound is introduced, the students complete a multi-sensory activity to help remember the sound, the students write words, phrases, and sentences using the sound, and the students complete reading activities involving the sound.

–Strategies for spelling are taught along-side strategies for reading.

—Multi-syllabic words and syllabication are taught as soon as CVC words are mastered.

–The lessons are intended to be taught one-on-one, but I’ve had a great deal of success teaching them in small groups.  One time, all twelve of my students needed to work on the same skills, so we did the lessons whole group.

–The lessons are quite structured, but there is a great deal of room for the teacher to use their knowledge and judgement.

If you want to use Recipe for Reading in your classroom, I would recommend using the Primary Spelling Inventory, to place students in groups, based on their skill needs.  I have used a number of phonics programs, and I think Recipe will be one that will stand the test of time.

Phonemic Awareness

My first year teaching, none of my students—not even the non-readers—had any difficulty identifying rhyme, segmenting, or blending sounds.  If students could not read, it was because they did not know all of their sounds and phonetic rules.

Ten years later, the vast majority of my non-readers have all of the sounds memorized, but they are not able to blend them into words.  Perhaps it is because students are introduced to phonics so quickly, that they don’t have time to practice working with rhyme and sound.  Whatever the reason, phonemic awareness is a growing problem with our students.  These students tend to “spin their wheels” with reading—learning the sounds but never actually improving their ability to decode.

I now begin my school year with a phonemic awareness assessment for my students.  Those who struggle are given sound-hearing activities, before their reading instruction even begins. 

This is the sequence I use, for teaching phonemic awareness:

–Students are first introduced to rhyme.  They will practice coming up with words that rhyme with a given word.  After they understand the concept, they are given picture sorts to complete.  They will first do these as a whole group, then with a partner, then independently.

–After students have mastered rhyme, they will complete picture sorts based on initial sound, then final sound, then vowel sound.

–Using pictures, we will “clap out” CVC words, based on sound.  The students will be taught to clap once for each sound.

After completing and mastering these simple activities, I have found that phonics instruction becomes markedly easier.  Students are able to hear the sounds in the words, so blending and segmenting phonemes becomes easier.  Not only are they able to memorize all of the sounds, but they are also able to decode and construct words, using the sounds.  Phonemic awareness gives meaning to phonics instruction.