Research on Treatment

A Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

by Bonita Grossen
University of Oregon
November, 1997

Research on Treatment for Reading Difficulties

What is Developmentally Appropriate?
Treatment intervention research has shown that appropriate early direct instruction seems to be the best medicine for reading problems. Reading is not developmental or natural, but is learned. Reading disabilities reflect a persistent deficit, rather than a developmental lag in linguistic (phonological) skills and basic reading skills. Children who fall behind at an early age (K and grade 1) fall further and further behind over time. Longitudinal studies show that of the children who are diagnosed as reading disabled in third grade, 74% remain disabled in ninth grade (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994). Adults with reading problems exhibit the same characteristics that are exhibited by children with reading problems.

These findings contradict the prevalent notion that children will begin to learn to read when they are “ready.” The concept “developmentally appropriate” should not suggest delaying intervention, but using appropriate instructional strategies at an early age—especially in kindergarten. Although we now have the ability to identify children who are at-risk for reading failure, and we now understand some of the instructional conditions that must be considered for teaching, the majority of reading disabilities are not identified until the third grade.

Early Identification and Treatment
The best predictor in K or 1st grade of a future reading disability in grade 3 is a combination of performance on measures of phonemic awareness, rapid naming of letters, numbers, and objects, and print awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units, or phonemes. Converging evidence from all the research centers show that deficits in phonemic awareness reflect the core deficit in reading disabilities. These deficits are characterized by difficulties in segmenting syllables and words into constituent sound units called phonemes—in short, there is a difficulty in turning spelling into sounds.

Lack of phonemic awareness seems to be a major obstacle for learning to read (Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a; Wagner & Torgeson, 1987). This is true for any language, even Chinese. About 2 in 5 children have some level of difficulty with phonemic awareness. For about 1 in 5 children phonemic awareness does not develop or improve over time. These children never catch up but fall further and further behind in reading and in all academic subjects (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994).

Instruction using the following types of phonemic awareness tasks has had a positive effect on reading acquisition and spelling for nonreaders: rhyming, auditorily discriminating sounds that are different, blending spoken sounds into words, word-to-word matching, isolating sounds in words, counting phonemes, segmenting spoken words into sounds, deleting sounds from words (Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Cunningham, 1990; Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, & Fletcher, in press; Lie, 1991; Lundberg, Frost, & Petersen, 1988; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987b; Yopp, 1988).

Explicit instruction in how segmentation and blending are involved in the reading process was superior to instruction that did not explicitly teach the children to apply phonemic awareness to reading (Cunningham, 1990). Kindergarten children with explicit instruction in phonemic awareness did better than a group of first graders who had no instruction, indicating that this crucial preskill for reading can be taught at least by age 5 and is not developmental (Cunningham, 1990).

In a study by Ball and Blachman (1991), 7 weeks of explicit instruction in phonemic awareness combined with explicit instruction in sound-spelling correspondences for kindergarten children was more powerful than instruction in sound-spelling correspondences alone and more powerful than language activities in improving reading skills.

In a study by Foorman, Francis, Beerly, Winikates, & Fletcher (in press), 260 children were randomly assigned to a revised kindergarten curriculum (n=80) and a standard curriculum (n=160) consisting of developmentally appropriate practices described by the state of Texas’ essential elements for kindergarten. The revised curriculum sought to prevent reading disabilities by teaching phonemic awareness for 15 minutes a day using the Lundberg, Frost, and Petersen (1988) curriculum from Sweden and Denmark. Children in the revised curriculum made significant gains in phonemic awareness over the year. Foorman et al. found that the greatest gains occurred when the explicit instruction moved into teaching the sound-spelling relationships concurrently with the instruction in phonemic awareness.

Explicit, Systematic Instruction in Sound-spelling Correspondences
Phonemic awareness alone is not sufficient for many children. Explicit, systematic instruction in common sound-spelling correspondences is also necessary (Adams, 1988; Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Foorman et al., in press; Mann, 1993; Rack, Snowling, & Olson, 1992; Snowling, 1991; Spector, 1995; Stanovich, 1986; Torgesen et al., in press; Vellutino, 1991; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a). Foorman, Francis, Novy, & Liberman (1991) found that more intensive instruction in sound-spelling relationships during reading (45 minutes per day) was more effective than less daily instruction in sound-spelling relationships (sound-spelling instruction occurring only during spelling and not during reading).

Instruction in specific sound-spelling relationships was more effective than a strategy for using analogous word parts on transfer to new words and on standardized reading measures (Lovett, Borden, DeLuca, Lacerenza, Benson, & Brackstone, 1994). Torgesen et al. (in press) also found that explicitly teaching the sound-spelling relationships was superior to teaching explicitly using word families and word analogies and superior to an implicit approach.

Foorman, Francis, Beerly, Winikates, and Fletcher (in press) found that explicit, systematic instruction in sound-spelling relationships in the classroom was more effective in reducing reading disabilities than a print-rich environment characterized by interesting stories, even with children who had benefited from phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten.

“[Explicit, systematic instruction in sound-spelling relationships] brought economically disadvantaged, low-achieving first and second graders close to the national average in reading on the Woodcock-Johnson-R, whereas whole language instruction placed these [Title] 1 students near the 25th percentile. Children scoring below the 25th percentile are often identified as reading disabled under traditional diagnostic criteria. These results suggest that [explicit, systematic instruction] in sound-spelling patterns in first and second grade classrooms can prevent reading difficulties in a population of children at-risk of reading failure.” (Foorman et al., in press)

Figure 1 graphically displays the effects on reading comprehension for the three treatments Foorman et al. compared. The whole language treatment offered children a print-rich environment with interesting stories. The embedded phonics treatment included a more structured approach to phonics in a print-rich environment. The systematic, explicit phonic approach included phonemic awareness instruction, explicit instruction in sound-spelling relationships, and extensive practice in decodable text. Details of the explicit, systematic approach are described in the next section.

Phonics Instruction | Research

Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, and Fletcher, in press

Foorman et al. (in press) also found that changing instruction from whole language to explicit, systematic phonics at the classroom level was more effective in reducing the occurrence of reading problems than any of three types of one-on-one tutorial programs that were evaluated. Foorman and her colleagues concluded that in order to avoid reading failure, the focus should be on prevention, not intervention.

“It was the classroom curriculum effect, not the tutorial method effect that was significant. The tutorial effect was not particularly strong, given the weak association between growth in word reading and number of days in tutorial. But at least the tutorial may have kept children from falling further behind in reading. These curriculum effects have important implications for urban school districts with large numbers of students at risk for reading failure. The morbidity of reading failure and subsequent placement in special education can possibly be reduced with explicit, systematic phonics in the alphabetic code during first grade.” (p. 16)

Prediction From Context is not a Useful Strategy for Word Recognition
Research quite clearly shows that overemphasizing prediction from context for word recognition can be counterproductive, possibly delaying reading acquisition. Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) recently summarized the research findings regarding the predictability of authentic text:

“An emphasis on the role of contextual guessing actually represents a classic case of mistaken analogy in science and has been recognized as such for over a decade….It is often incorrectly assumed that predicting upcoming words in sentences is a relatively easy and highly accurate activity. Actually, many different empirical studies have indicated that naturalistic text is not that predictable. Alford (1980) found that for a set of moderately long expository passages of text, subjects needed an average of more than four guesses to correctly anticipate upcoming words in the passage (the method of scoring actually makes this a considerable underestimate). Across a variety of subject populations and texts, a reader’s probability of predicting the next word in a passage is usually between .20 and .35 (Aborn, Rubenstein, & Sterling, 1959; Gough, 1983; Miller & Coleman, 1967; Perfetti, Goldman, & Hogaboam, 1979; Rubenstein & Aborn, 1958). Indeed, as Gough (1983) has shown, the figure is highest for function words, and is often quite low for the very words in the passage that carry the most information content.” (p. 90)

Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) also summarize the findings regarding the role of context in reading acquisition. Of the three cueing systems frequently mentioned in reading (semantic, syntactic, and graphophonemic cues), the semantic and syntactic cueing systems seem to play a minor role. Recent eye movement research indicates that good readers do not sample the text and predict to recognize words efficiently, but rather see every single letter on the page.

“The key error of the whole language movement is the assumption that contextual dependency is always associated with good reading. In fact, the word recognition skills of the good reader are so rapid, automatic, and efficient that the skilled reader need not rely on contextual information. In fact, it is poor readers who guess from context-out of necessity because their decoding skillls are so weak.” (p. 92)

In the NICHD intervention studies (Foorman et al., in press; Torgesen et al., in press) teaching children to use context and prediction as strategies for word recognition resulted in greater numbers of reading disabilities than instruction that taught children to use their sound-spelling knowledge as the primary strategy for word recognition.

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	Home The Phonics Way NICHD Research A Note About NICHD Research How the NICHD Program is Different Developing a New Understand of Reading Difficulties Research on Treatment Major Implications for Early Reading Instruction Other Important Research Questions and Findings Future Directions References Bibliography Teacher & Parent Resources Blog Site map	Research on Treatment A Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development *by Bonita Grossen* University of Oregon November, 1997 Research on Treatment for Reading Difficulties What is Developmentally Appropriate? Treatment intervention research has shown that appropriate early direct instruction seems to be the best medicine for reading problems. Reading is not developmental or natural, but is learned. Reading disabilities reflect a persistent deficit, rather than a developmental lag in linguistic (phonological) skills and basic reading skills. Children who fall behind at an early age (K and grade 1) fall further and further behind over time. Longitudinal studies show that of the children who are diagnosed as reading disabled in third grade, 74% remain disabled in ninth grade (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994). Adults with reading problems exhibit the same characteristics that are exhibited by children with reading problems. These findings contradict the prevalent notion that children will begin to learn to read when they are “ready.” The concept “developmentally appropriate” should not suggest delaying intervention, but using appropriate instructional strategies at an early age—especially in kindergarten. Although we now have the ability to identify children who are at-risk for reading failure, and we now understand some of the instructional conditions that must be considered for teaching, the majority of reading disabilities are not identified until the third grade. Early Identification and Treatment The best predictor in K or 1st grade of a future reading disability in grade 3 is a combination of performance on measures of phonemic awareness, rapid naming of letters, numbers, and objects, and print awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units, or phonemes. Converging evidence from all the research centers show that deficits in phonemic awareness reflect the core deficit in reading disabilities. These deficits are characterized by difficulties in segmenting syllables and words into constituent sound units called phonemes—in short, there is a difficulty in turning spelling into sounds. Lack of phonemic awareness seems to be a major obstacle for learning to read (Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a; Wagner & Torgeson, 1987). This is true for any language, even Chinese. About 2 in 5 children have some level of difficulty with phonemic awareness. For about 1 in 5 children phonemic awareness does not develop or improve over time. These children never catch up but fall further and further behind in reading and in all academic subjects (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994). Instruction using the following types of phonemic awareness tasks has had a positive effect on reading acquisition and spelling for nonreaders: rhyming, auditorily discriminating sounds that are different, blending spoken sounds into words, word-to-word matching, isolating sounds in words, counting phonemes, segmenting spoken words into sounds, deleting sounds from words (Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Cunningham, 1990; Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, & Fletcher, in press; Lie, 1991; Lundberg, Frost, & Petersen, 1988; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987b; Yopp, 1988). Explicit instruction in how segmentation and blending are involved in the reading process was superior to instruction that did not explicitly teach the children to apply phonemic awareness to reading (Cunningham, 1990). Kindergarten children with explicit instruction in phonemic awareness did better than a group of first graders who had no instruction, indicating that this crucial preskill for reading can be taught at least by age 5 and is not developmental (Cunningham, 1990). In a study by Ball and Blachman (1991), 7 weeks of explicit instruction in phonemic awareness combined with explicit instruction in sound-spelling correspondences for kindergarten children was more powerful than instruction in sound-spelling correspondences alone and more powerful than language activities in improving reading skills. In a study by Foorman, Francis, Beerly, Winikates, & Fletcher (in press), 260 children were randomly assigned to a revised kindergarten curriculum (n=80) and a standard curriculum (n=160) consisting of developmentally appropriate practices described by the state of Texas’ essential elements for kindergarten. The revised curriculum sought to prevent reading disabilities by teaching phonemic awareness for 15 minutes a day using the Lundberg, Frost, and Petersen (1988) curriculum from Sweden and Denmark. Children in the revised curriculum made significant gains in phonemic awareness over the year. Foorman et al. found that the greatest gains occurred when the explicit instruction moved into teaching the sound-spelling relationships concurrently with the instruction in phonemic awareness. Explicit, Systematic Instruction in Sound-spelling Correspondences Phonemic awareness alone is not sufficient for many children. Explicit, systematic instruction in common sound-spelling correspondences is also necessary (Adams, 1988; Ball & Blachman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Foorman et al., in press; Mann, 1993; Rack, Snowling, & Olson, 1992; Snowling, 1991; Spector, 1995; Stanovich, 1986; Torgesen et al., in press; Vellutino, 1991; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a). Foorman, Francis, Novy, & Liberman (1991) found that more intensive instruction in sound-spelling relationships during reading (45 minutes per day) was more effective than less daily instruction in sound-spelling relationships (sound-spelling instruction occurring only during spelling and not during reading). Instruction in specific sound-spelling relationships was more effective than a strategy for using analogous word parts on transfer to new words and on standardized reading measures (Lovett, Borden, DeLuca, Lacerenza, Benson, & Brackstone, 1994). Torgesen et al. (in press) also found that explicitly teaching the sound-spelling relationships was superior to teaching explicitly using word families and word analogies and superior to an implicit approach. Foorman, Francis, Beerly, Winikates, and Fletcher (in press) found that explicit, systematic instruction in sound-spelling relationships in the classroom was more effective in reducing reading disabilities than a print-rich environment characterized by interesting stories, even with children who had benefited from phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten. “[Explicit, systematic instruction in sound-spelling relationships] brought economically disadvantaged, low-achieving first and second graders close to the national average in reading on the Woodcock-Johnson-R, whereas whole language instruction placed these [Title] 1 students near the 25th percentile. Children scoring below the 25th percentile are often identified as reading disabled under traditional diagnostic criteria. These results suggest that [explicit, systematic instruction] in sound-spelling patterns in first and second grade classrooms can prevent reading difficulties in a population of children at-risk of reading failure.” (Foorman et al., in press) Figure 1 graphically displays the effects on reading comprehension for the three treatments Foorman et al. compared. The whole language treatment offered children a print-rich environment with interesting stories. The embedded phonics treatment included a more structured approach to phonics in a print-rich environment. The systematic, explicit phonic approach included phonemic awareness instruction, explicit instruction in sound-spelling relationships, and extensive practice in decodable text. Details of the explicit, systematic approach are described in the next section. Phonics Instruction \| Research Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, and Fletcher, in press Foorman et al. (in press) also found that changing instruction from whole language to explicit, systematic phonics at the classroom level was more effective in reducing the occurrence of reading problems than any of three types of one-on-one tutorial programs that were evaluated. Foorman and her colleagues concluded that in order to avoid reading failure, the focus should be on prevention, not intervention. “It was the classroom curriculum effect, not the tutorial method effect that was significant. The tutorial effect was not particularly strong, given the weak association between growth in word reading and number of days in tutorial. But at least the tutorial may have kept children from falling further behind in reading. These curriculum effects have important implications for urban school districts with large numbers of students at risk for reading failure. The morbidity of reading failure and subsequent placement in special education can possibly be reduced with explicit, systematic phonics in the alphabetic code during first grade.” (p. 16) Prediction From Context is not a Useful Strategy for Word Recognition Research quite clearly shows that overemphasizing prediction from context for word recognition can be counterproductive, possibly delaying reading acquisition. Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) recently summarized the research findings regarding the predictability of authentic text: “An emphasis on the role of contextual guessing actually represents a classic case of mistaken analogy in science and has been recognized as such for over a decade….It is often incorrectly assumed that predicting upcoming words in sentences is a relatively easy and highly accurate activity. Actually, many different empirical studies have indicated that naturalistic text is not that predictable. Alford (1980) found that for a set of moderately long expository passages of text, subjects needed an average of more than four guesses to correctly anticipate upcoming words in the passage (the method of scoring actually makes this a considerable underestimate). Across a variety of subject populations and texts, a reader’s probability of predicting the next word in a passage is usually between .20 and .35 (Aborn, Rubenstein, & Sterling, 1959; Gough, 1983; Miller & Coleman, 1967; Perfetti, Goldman, & Hogaboam, 1979; Rubenstein & Aborn, 1958). Indeed, as Gough (1983) has shown, the figure is highest for function words, and is often quite low for the very words in the passage that carry the most information content.” (p. 90) Stanovich and Stanovich (1995) also summarize the findings regarding the role of context in reading acquisition. Of the three cueing systems frequently mentioned in reading (semantic, syntactic, and graphophonemic cues), the semantic and syntactic cueing systems seem to play a minor role. Recent eye movement research indicates that good readers do not sample the text and predict to recognize words efficiently, but rather see every single letter on the page. “The key error of the whole language movement is the assumption that contextual dependency is always associated with good reading. In fact, the word recognition skills of the good reader are so rapid, automatic, and efficient that the skilled reader need not rely on contextual information. In fact, it is poor readers who guess from context-out of necessity because their decoding skillls are so weak.” (p. 92) In the NICHD intervention studies (Foorman et al., in press; Torgesen et al., in press) teaching children to use context and prediction as strategies for word recognition resulted in greater numbers of reading disabilities than instruction that taught children to use their sound-spelling knowledge as the primary strategy for word recognition. Share and Enjoy:

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