The Importance of Reading Intervention

Students in grades 6 and up who are below grade level may need reading intervention. These interventions are individualized and focused on developing foundational reading skills, reading fluency, and comprehension.

Interventions that are individualized predict unique effects on reading outcomes, which is important as previous research has identified group size and hours of instruction as possible moderators.

Phonics

Phonics is a key component of reading instruction that teaches children the correspondence between sounds and letters. Children learn that the letter n represents the sound /n/, and that the sounds of other words (like nose and nice) are represented by other letters (such as i and o).

Phonics instruction is most effective in kindergarten and first grade. However, research has shown that intensive phonics intervention can also improve the reading of at-risk students in grades 2nd through 3rd by reinforcing and building on learned sound-letter correspondences and learning to decode multi-syllable words.

Good implementation of phonics includes explicit teaching and practice in small groups. This type of grouping allows teachers to monitor each child’s progress and intervene as needed. It also allows for the opportunity to review and re-teach as needed. Periodic observation and examination of written work allow teachers to assess consistency and accuracy of students’ use of phonics skills. This information can then be used to inform further instruction and practice.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary development is a key component of reading intervention. Research shows that students’ reading comprehension improves as their vocabulary grows. Vocabulary is important for interpreting words and sentences in written language, including both grammatical and content words. It is also important for comprehending spoken language and determining meanings of unfamiliar words from their context.

Teachers should provide explicit instruction of vocabulary skills and include strategies that allow students to interact with words in multiple ways. This includes learning words before reading, repetition and multiple exposures, learning in rich contexts, and incidental word learning. Teachers should also help students understand that words may have different meanings depending on their context.

Using reading intervention to teach vocabulary, phonics, and fluency can enhance students’ oral and written language skills. Additionally, writing compliments reading by reinforcing letter recognition and phonics skills and expanding students’ knowledge of vocabulary and comprehension strategies. In addition, a universal screener is an assessment used to determine which reading skills students need to focus on.

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension, the ability to extract meaning from written text, is one of the most important aspects of reading. It requires decoding symbols into sound and leveraging background knowledge to build an understanding of the words on a page.

Group and individual reading intervention programs provide individualized instruction and support for students with low proficiency levels. Group interventions promote peer interaction and collaborative learning, which can increase engagement and motivation for struggling readers. Individual interventions allow teachers to provide targeted instruction and support for a single student, which can help improve their skills at their own pace.

To help students improve their comprehension, it is important to expose them to a variety of reading materials and to encourage them to reflect on what they have read. This can be done by facilitating classroom discussions or assigning reflective tasks. Exposing students to diverse texts can also help them develop the flexibility they need to comprehend different genres and writing styles.

Text Structure

The structure of text plays a key role in comprehension. Teaching students to recognize different text structures, such as sequence, compare/contrast, cause and effect, and problem-solution, helps them organize information, improving both reading comprehension and composition skills.

For example, identifying the sequence of events in a story makes it easier to understand the plot and the relationships between characters. In addition, teaching students to use these text structures when writing helps them produce better papers for school assignments.

A recent study examined the effects of a text structure intervention on main idea generation and reading comprehension among students with learning disabilities. Students were randomly assigned to either the structured reading intervention or a business-as-usual control condition. The structured reading intervention taught students about five text structures found in expository texts: description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect, and problem-solution.

Educators can incorporate text structure instruction into their curriculum by using graphic organizers, such as two-column charts, to help students identify and represent these patterns. Educators can also use guided questions to help children locate the relevant information in the text, making it easier for them to comprehend the content.

The Importance of Reading Intervention
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