Reading intervention is the specialized instruction that students receive in addition to core reading instruction. It is geared toward students who are lagging behind their peers in developing critical reading skills.
A successful reading program involves boosting a student’s confidence in this area. It should also be individualized to meet the student’s needs.
Identifying the Problem
Many children who struggle to learn to read can experience a variety of reading problems. These problems include decoding words, tracking the flow of the text and comprehending the content of a passage. These are all considered ‘Big 5’ problem areas, as they form the foundation for a child to be able to successfully read and understand texts.
It’s important that teachers are able to identify which of these reading problems their pupils may have, so that they can then offer the right support to help them overcome their difficulties. This can be done through screening tests or through direct observation in the classroom.
Schools can screen students for potential reading problems by using a Response to Intervention framework. This involves administering a series of short assessments to identify students who may be at risk. However, it’s crucial to avoid over-identification as false positives can accrue a cost that’s difficult to measure.
Identifying the Needs
Teachers must use screening and assessment tools to identify students who may need reading intervention. Then, they must use a problem-solving/data-based decision-making method to develop and implement effective interventions.
Students with reading problems need explicit, systematic, intensive instruction in the core components of literacy: phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, patterns and conventions of print, morphology, and syntax. These interventions also must be tailored to the needs of individual students. They are typically supplemental and take place outside of classroom instruction.
Some children are unable to acquire the basic skills that lead to reading success because they have developmental delays or disabilities, while others arrive at school without the early literacy experiences that are essential for developing reading proficiency. Other students struggle because they are not motivated or do not have the cultural fit for the specialized instruction that is often required in reading intervention.
This specialized instruction can take several forms, including:
Developing a Plan
Students who struggle with reading often experience frustration and lack motivation. In order to combat this, teachers should find ways to make sure each student experiences success. This can be done by encouraging students to practice and finding ways to let them know when they are making progress. This can also be done by letting them choose books that interest them.
One effective strategy is called reading intervention or IRI. In this approach, teachers provide intensive instruction to a small group of struggling students. This instruction focuses on the most critical areas of reading development: phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, word analysis and patterns and conventions of print.
The Florida Education Research Foundation maintains a resource that can help identify reading programs with high levels of evidence. The site offers information on program design, evidence ratings and other features to support Florida local education agencies in selecting high-quality reading programs for their schools. The resources are broken down by grade level, student subgroup and intervention type.
Providing Support
Reading intervention focuses on the key areas that are critical for reading development. These include phonological awareness, blending and segmenting sounds into words, recognizing letters and their upper and lower case forms, recognizing the patterns of print and understanding vocabulary. These are known as the Big 5 Reading Areas, and they make up the foundation that students need to be successful readers.
Reading instruction consists of small group and individual reading instruction. Reading intervention varies depending on the needs of each student, and it is offered as supplemental instruction to classroom reading instruction.
Students are eligible for reading intervention based on teacher recommendation, class performance, standardized testing and district local assessments. The assessment data helps to determine students who need supplemental intervention in Tier 1 core instruction, push-in or targeted interventions in Tier 2 or intensive intervention in Tier 3.