Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T02:46:00.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Understanding Words Reading Intervention: Evidence From a Case Series Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2012

Craig Wright ,
Elizabeth G. Conlon  and
Michalle Wright
Craig Wright*
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Australia Understanding Minds, Australia
Elizabeth G. Conlon
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Australia
Michalle Wright
Affiliation:
Understanding Minds, Australia
*
Correspondence: Craig Wright, Understanding Minds, Unit 5/2460 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach, Qld 4218, Australia. E-mail: craig@understandingminds.com.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a case-series design with double baseline and 10-week maintenance phase, 5 struggling readers from middle- to high-income families (age range 6.4–7.9 years) completed a 5-times-weekly intervention (96 sessions) administered by a parent. All participants completed the intervention with phonological decoding, text-reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores above the 30th percentile. Regular-word reading improved significantly, and 3 out of 5 participants achieved average levels at postintervention testing. Growth of 0.58 standard deviations (SD) was seen in one participant on a test of irregular-word reading. The other 4 participants made growth of > 0.8 SD. However, only 1 participant achieved average levels at postintervention testing on the irregular-word reading measure. Results provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of the intervention in improving word-level decoding and comprehension in struggling readers. Most important, the data provide preliminary evidence that some parents can function as paraprofessionals and provide effective reading intervention for struggling readers. Special education professionals may be able to work around limited funding for struggling readers by recruiting, training, and supervising parents.

Keywords

reading interventionUnderstanding Wordseffectivenessclinical significance
Type
Articles
Information
Australasian Journal of Special Education , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , December 2012 , pp. 134 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Berninger, V.W., Vermeulen, K., Abbott, R.D., McCutchen, D., Cotton, S., Cude, J., . . . Sharon, T. (2003). Comparison of three approaches to supplementary reading instruction for low-achieving second-grade readers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 101–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bost, L.W., & Riccomini, P.J. (2006). Effective instruction: An inconspicuous strategy for dropout prevention. Remedial and Special Education, 27, 301–311. doi:10.1177/07419325060270050501CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowey, J.A. (2002). Reflections on onset–rime and phoneme sensitivity as predictors of beginning word reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 82, 29–40. doi:10.1006/jecp.2002.2671CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowey, J.A. (2005). Grammatical sensitivity: Its origins and potential contribution to early word reading skill. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 90, 318–343. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2004.12.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowey, J.A. (2006). Need for systematic synthetic phonics teaching within the early reading curriculum. Australian Psychologist, 41, 79–84. doi:10.1080/00050060600610334CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowyer-Crane, C., & Snowling, M.J. (2005). Assessing children's inference generation: What do tests of reading comprehension measure? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 189–201. doi:10.1348/000709904X22674CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P.E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read: A causal connection. Nature, 301, 419–421. doi:10.1038/301419a0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broom, Y.M., & Doctor, E.A. (1995). Developmental surface dyslexia: A case study of the efficacy of a remediation programme. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 12, 69–110. doi: 10.1080/02643299508251992CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunsdon, R.K., Hannan, T.J., Nickels, L., & Coltheart, M. (2002). Successful treatment of sublexical reading deficits in a child with dyslexia of the mixed type. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 12, 199–229. doi:10.1080/09602010244000048CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brynner, J. (2008). Illuminating disadvantage. Education Journal, 2008 (110), 34–35.Google Scholar
Byrne, B., & Fielding-Barnsley, R. (1989). Phonemic awareness and letter knowledge in the child's acquisition of the alphabetic principle. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 313–321. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.81.3.313CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, T.C. (2005). An introduction to clinical significance: An alternative index of intervention effect for group experimental designs. Journal of Early Intervention, 27, 210–227. doi:10.1177/105381510502700307CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnine, D.W. (1976). Similar sound separation and cumulative introduction in learning letter-sound correspondences. Journal of Educational Research, 69, 368–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castles, A., & Coltheart, M. (2004). Is there a causal link from phonological awareness to success in learning to read? Cognition, 91, 77–111. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00164-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castles, A., Coltheart, M., Larsen, L., Jones, P., Saunders, S., & McArthur, G. (2009). Assessing the basic components of reading: A revision of the Castles and Coltheart test with new norms. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 14, 67–88. doi:10.1080/19404150902783435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chall, J.S. (1967). Learning to read: The great debate: An inquiry into the science, art, and ideology of old and new methods of teaching children to read, 1910–1965. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Clarke, P.J., Snowling, M.J., Truelove, E., & Hulme, C. (2010). Ameliorating children's reading-comprehension difficulties: A randomized controlled trial. Psychological Science, 21, 1106–1116. doi:10.1177/0956797610375449CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coltheart, M., & Prior, M. (2007). Learning to read in Australia (Occasional Paper 1/2007, Policy Paper No. 6). Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.assa.edu.au/publications/occasional_papers/2007_No1.phpGoogle Scholar
Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review, 108, 204–256. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.204CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department of Education, Science and Training (2005). Teaching reading: Report and recommendations: National inquiry into the teaching of literacy. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved August 27, 2012, from http://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/5/Google Scholar
Ehri, L.C. (1987). Learning to read and spell words. Journal of Literacy Research, 19, 5–31.Google Scholar
Ehri, L.C. (2003). Systematic phonics instruction: Findings of the national reading panel. Paper presented at the invitational seminar organised by the Standards and Effectiveness Unit, Department for Education and Skills, British Government, London, UK. Retrieved November 4, 2011, from http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED479646.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ehri, L.C., Nunes, S.R., Stahl, S.A., & Willows, D.M. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71, 393–447. doi:10.3102/00346543071003393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehri, L.C., Nunes, S.R., Willows, D.M., Schuster, B.V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 250–287. doi:10.1598/RRQ.36.3.2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ensminger, M.E., & Slusarcick, A.L. (1992). Paths to high school graduation or dropout: A longitudinal study of a first-grade cohort. Sociology of Education, 65, 95–113. doi:10.2307/2112677CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielding, L., Kerr, N., & Rosier, P. (2007). Annual growth for all students, catch-up growth for those who are behind. Kennewick, WA: New Foundation Press.Google Scholar
Frith, U. (1986). A developmental framework for developmental dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 36, 67–81. doi:10.1007/BF02648022CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goswami, U. (1986). Children's use of analogy in learning to read: A developmental study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 42, 73–83. doi:10.1016/0022-0965(86)90016-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goswami, U. (1993). Phonological skills and learning to read. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 682, 296–311. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1993.tb22977.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gough, P.B., & Hillinger, M.L. (1980). Learning to read: An unnatural act. Annals of Dyslexia, 30, 179–196. doi:10.1007/BF02653717Google Scholar
Hatcher, P.J., Hulme, C., Miles, J.N.V., Carroll, J.M., Hatcher, J., Gibbs, S., . . . Snowling, M.J. (2006). Efficacy of small group reading intervention for beginning readers with reading-delay: A randomised controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 820–827. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01559.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kazdin, A.E. (1999). The meanings and measurement of clinical significance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 332–339. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.67.3.332CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, C., Wendling, K., Huettner, P., Ruder, H., & Peper, M. (2006). Intra-subject variability in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 60, 1088–1097. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Brunsdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2008). Patterns of generalisation after treating sub-lexical spelling deficits in a child with mixed dysgraphia. Journal of Research in Reading, 31, 157–177. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2007.00366.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marinus, E., & de Jong, P.F. (2010). Variability in the word-reading performance of dyslexic readers: Effects of letter length, phoneme length and digraph presence. Cortex, 46, 1259–1271. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2010.06.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masterson, J., Stuart, M., Dixon, M., Lovejoy, D., & Lovejoy, S. (2003). The Children's Printed Word Database. Retrieved November, 3, 2010, from University of Essex, Department of Psychology website: http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/cpwd/Google Scholar
Mathes, P.G., Denton, C.A., Fletcher, J.M., Anthony, J.L., Francis, D.J., & Schatschneider, C. (2005). The effects of theoretically different instruction and student characteristics on the skills of struggling readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 40, 148–182. doi:10.1598/RRQ.40.2.2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, F. J., Bachman, H. J., & Connor, C. M. (2005). Improving literacy in America: Guidelines from research. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muter, V., Hulme, C., Snowling, M., & Taylor, S. (1998). Segmentation, not rhyming, predicts early progress in learning to read. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 71, 3–27. doi:10.1006/jecp.1998.2453CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Neale, M. D. (1999). Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Pressley, M. (2002). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Reynolds, M., Wheldall, K., & Madelaine, A. (2010). Components of effective early reading interventions for young struggling readers. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 15, 171–192. doi:10.1080/19404150903579055CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritter, G.W., Barnett, J.H., Denny, G.S., & Albin, G.R. (2009). The effectiveness of volunteer tutoring programs for elementary and middle school students: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 79, 3–38. doi:10.3102/0034654308325690CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, J. (2006). Independent review of the teaching of early reading. Nottingham, UK: Department for Education & Skills Publications.Google Scholar
Savage, R., & Carless, S. (2005). Learning support assistants can deliver effective reading interventions for ‘at-risk’ children. Educational Research, 47, 45–61. doi:10.1080/0013188042000337550CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Share, D.L. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition. Cognition, 55, 151–218. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)00645-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaywitz, S.E. (1998). Dyslexia. New England Journal of Medicine, 338, 307–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slavin, R.E., Lake, C., Davis, S., & Madden, N.A. (2009, June). Effective programs for struggling readers: A best-evidence synthesis. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education. Retrieved June 17, 2009, from http://www.bestevidence.org/reading/strug/strug_read.htGoogle Scholar
Snowling, M.J. (2000). Dyslexia. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google ScholarPubMed
Torgerson, C.J., Brooks, G., & Hall, J. (2006). A systematic review of the research literature on the use of systematic phonics in the teaching of reading and spelling (DfES Research Report RR711). London, UK: Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved September 30, 2010, from http://collection.europarchive.org/tna/20060731065549/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR711_.pdfGoogle Scholar
Torgesen, J.K. (2000). Individual differences in response to early interventions in reading: The lingering problem of treatment resisters. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 15, 55–64. doi:10.1207/SLDRP1501_6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgesen, J.K. (2004). Lessons learned from research on interventions for students who have difficulty learning to read. In McCardle, P. & Chhabra, V. (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 355–382). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Torgesen, J.K., Alexander, A.W., Wagner, R.K., Rashotte, C.A., Voeller, K.K.S., & Conway, T. (2001). Intensive remedial instruction for children with severe reading disabilities: Immediate and long-term outcomes from two instructional approaches. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 33–58. doi:10.1177/002221940103400104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R.K., Rashotte, C.A., Herron, J., & Lindamood, P. (2010). Computer-assisted instruction to prevent early reading difficulties in students at risk for dyslexia: Outcomes from two instructional approaches. Annals of Dyslexia, 60, 40–56. doi:10.1007/s11881-009-0032-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vellutino, F.R., Fletcher, J.M., Snowling, M.J., & Scanlon, D.M. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 2–40. doi:10.1046/j.0021-9630.2003.00305.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vellutino, F.R., Scanlon, D.M., Sipay, E.R., Small, S.G., Pratt, A., Chen, R., & Denckla, M.B. (1996). Cognitive profiles of difficult-to-remediate and readily remediated poor readers: Early intervention as a vehicle for distinguishing between cognitive and experiential deficits as basic causes of specific reading disability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 601–638. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.88.4.601CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wasik, B.A. (1997). Volunteer tutoring programs: Do we know what works? Phi Delta Kappan, 79, 282–287.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2003). WISC-IV technical and interpretive manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D., & Naglieri, J.A. (2006). Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Assessment.Google Scholar
Willcutt, E.G., & Pennington, B.F. (2000). Psychiatric comorbidity in children and adolescents with reading disability. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 1039–1048. doi:10.1017/S0021963099006368CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, C. (2011). Understanding Words (Version 2.0). Mermaid Beach, Australia: Understanding Minds Press.Google Scholar
Wright, C., & Conlon, E. (2009). Individual response to reading intervention. Combined Abstracts of 2009 Australian Psychology Conferences [CD-ROM].Google Scholar
Wright, C., & Conlon, E. (2012). The effectiveness of school-based learning support services for children with word-level reading disability. In Andrews, G. & Neumann, D. (Eds.), Beyond the lab: Applications of cognitive research in memory and learning (pp. 249–272). Hauphauge, NY: Nova Science.Google Scholar
Wright, C., Conlon, E.G., & Wright, M. (2011). Voice Over the Internet Protocol as a medium for delivering reading intervention: Evidence from a single case. Sage Open, 1 (3), 1–8. doi:10.1177/2158244011428159CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, C., Conlon, E., Wright, M., & Dyck, M. (2011a). Sub-lexical reading intervention in a student with dyslexia and Asperger's disorder. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 11, 11–26.Google Scholar
Wright, C., Conlon, E.G., Wright, M., & Dyck, M.H. (2011b). An open, pilot trial of the Understanding Words reading intervention program. Sage Open, 1 (2), 1–11. doi:10.1177/2158244011420452CrossRefGoogle Scholar