Response to Instruction as a Means of Identifying Students with Reading/Learning Disabilities

TLDR

The study examined whether a response‑to‑treatment model could identify second‑grade students with reading/learning disabilities by providing daily supplemental instruction and evaluating exit criteria after 10 weeks. Students received daily supplemental reading instruction for 10 weeks; those meeting exit criteria stopped instruction, while those who did not were regrouped and continued for additional 10‑week cycles until 30 weeks, with students never meeting criteria classified as no exit. Pre‑test fluency, passage comprehension, and rapid naming scores predicted which students failed to meet exit criteria.

Abstract

To examine a response to treatment model as a means for identifying students with reading/learning disabilities, 45 second-grade students at risk for reading problems were provided daily supplemental reading instruction and assessed after 10 weeks to determine if they met a prior criteria for exit. Students who met criteria no longer received supplemental instruction. Those who did not were regrouped and supplemental instruction was continued for another 10 weeks. After 20 weeks of supplemental instruction, students who still had not met criteria were provided another 10 weeks of supplemental instruction. Students who never met criteria were classified as no exit. Pretest scores on fluency, passage comprehension, and rapid naming were the significant predictors of students who did not meet exit criteria.