An Evaluation of Intensive Intervention for Students with Persistent Reading Difficulties

TLDR

The study evaluated the impact of a 16‑week intensive tertiary reading intervention on 27 students with severe reading difficulties who had largely failed prior Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction. The intervention combined 2 h/day of Phono‑Graphix decoding instruction for 8 weeks with 1 h/day of Read Naturally fluency training for the remaining 8 weeks. Results showed significant gains in decoding, fluency, and comprehension, with 12 of 27 students responding markedly, especially those who had previously received both Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction.

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of an intensive tertiary reading intervention, 27 students with severe reading difficulties and disabilities, 14 of whom had demonstrated an inadequate response to 1—2 tiers of prior reading instruction, received a 16-week intervention package involving decoding and fluency skills. The decoding intervention was provided for 2 hours per day for 8 weeks and was based on the Phono-Graphix program. The fluency intervention followed the decoding intervention and involved 1 hour of daily instruction for 8 weeks based on the Read Naturally program. The 16-week intervention resulted in significant improvement in reading decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Although individual responses to the intervention were variable, 12 of the 27 students showed a significant response to these interventions. Students who had participated in previous Tier 1 plus Tier 2 interventions but remained impaired had a stronger response to intervention in the current study than students who had previously participated only in Tier 1 intervention and students who had not received prior intervention outside of special education.