Reading intervention is individualized instruction for students who need help with the fundamentals of reading. It typically occurs in a small group setting with instruction targeted to the student’s instructional level.
Research shows that students with learning disabilities benefit from reading intervention programs like Lexia(r) Core5. These programs provide explicit, systematic instruction paired with guided practice, corrective feedback and independent practice using aligned student materials.
Identifying the Needs
For students with reading difficulties, identifying their individual needs is the first step in providing intensive interventions. This involves using screening and diagnostic assessments to identify specific skills that need to be addressed.
Effective reading intervention strategies often target foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics decoding and word recognition, or fluency (reading quickly). For older struggling readers, strategies can also address comprehension strategies.
Research indicates that the most successful reading intervention strategies include repeated, systematic, and explicit instruction of a targeted skill. For example, students may repeat the same passage while receiving feedback and support from teachers or peers. Students with more severe reading difficulties are more likely to benefit from individualized, intensive instruction.
These strategies can be provided as supplemental small group instruction, or as separate pull-out classes for extended periods of time. However, these instructional models require a significant commitment of resources and personnel. Obtaining appropriate intervention materials, training teachers in the use of these programs, and allocating space for this type of instruction are challenging in many schools.
Developing a Plan
When a teacher plans a reading intervention program for students who need extra support, it’s important to include multiple evidence-based strategies. Teaching different strategies helps to ensure that a student’s specific weaknesses are addressed and that they’re learning in a way that makes sense for them.
Typically, interventions will include a variety of different strategies, including those that focus on phonics and decoding, vocabulary instruction, and comprehension strategies. The goal of these strategies is to provide students with the skills and tools they need to be successful in their literacy instruction.
Students also need to be inspired to develop positive attitudes toward reading. A good way to encourage this is by establishing a dedicated daily reading time. This creates a habit and makes it easier for students to associate reading with a fun activity rather than a chore or something they’re forced to do. This is especially beneficial for struggling readers.
Providing Explicit Instruction
Reading intervention provides students with direct and intensive instruction on a targeted set of skills, like phonological awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, patterns and conventions of print, morphology and semantics. Students are taught these concepts in a small group setting with their teacher and/or certified Reading Specialist.
In addition to addressing the core reading skills, reading intervention can provide students with strategies that build fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. These strategies can help students bridge the gap between their current reading level and grade-level reading expectations.
Explicit instruction refers to a teaching strategy that makes learning crystal clear by breaking down content into manageable pieces and clearly modeling the steps involved in each lesson. It also offers students lots of practice opportunities and feedback, allowing them to master new skills.
Explicit instruction has been proven effective for students with learning disabilities. It reduces the amount of cognitive load on students as they try to hold both prerequisite knowledge and new material in their working memory. Click here to learn more about this approach.
Providing Practice
A comprehensive reading intervention program is designed to teach foundational skills, such as phonological awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary. These skills are the building blocks that enable students to decode words accurately, make connections between the text and prior knowledge and understand the meaning of the text they read.
Teachers should also provide instruction that helps students develop morphological awareness, which is the ability to recognize prefixes, suffixes and base words in their context. This type of instruction can help students pull apart and define words that do not follow traditional patterns, which can improve their ability to read faster.
The most effective reading interventions are delivered in small, homogenous groups and occur daily or several times per week for 20 to 40 minutes. The length of the reading intervention should be sufficient to allow students plenty of time for practice and application. To find a curriculum that fits your school, consult the What Works Clearinghouse’s list of effective programs.