My initial thought upon finishing these chapters is that when it comes to reading, early intervention is key. Both chapters six and seven have made me keenly aware of just how advantageous it can be to begin assessing and screening students when they are younger. By implementing assessments as early as Kindergarten, teachers can be made aware of any weaknesses which may be predictors for future difficulties. Having this information early allows for immediate and intensive intervention, if necessary. Also highlighted is the fact that early interventions can be as simple as exposure to printed materials. Teachers should be mindful that according to Kilpatrick (2015), studies have shown that ‘[…] orthographic knowledge appears to be a product …show more content…
Although we learn that it is always best practice to identify and address red flags as soon as possible this task can be arduous for teachers to accomplish as assessments can have variability, can be costly, and are time consuming. To compound this, most assessment scores are interpreted as a means of identifying students for Special Education rather than as a tool to guide intervention. Incidentally, Kilpatrick has identified a solution to this problem in Chapter 6, where he introduces intervention-oriented assessments. These particular assessments are meant to give teachers insight into their students’ reading difficulties as a means of guiding intervention. While Kilpatrick notes that the current universal screeners for phonological skills are not solely adequate, if paired with a phonological awareness assessment teachers are provided with a comprehensive understanding of their students’ abilities. In addition, it is noted that these assessments have a, “[…] strong track record of predicting reading difficulties and also predicting responsiveness to reading interventions” (Kilpatrick, 2015). It seems that if schools were able to acquire these assessments educators would have the means to efficiently assess their students and thereby, prepare and initiate meaningful
With such high numbers of adolescents falling below basic in reading, illiteracy is a battle that must be fought head on. The largest dilemma with the struggle is the number of variations that cause adolescents to become reluctant, unmotivated or struggling readers. Fortunately, a large number of strategies exist to encourage and strengthen readers of all ages, proving that adolescence is not a time to give up on faltering students. Rather, it is a time to evaluate and intervene in an effort to turn a reluctant reader into an avid one (or near enough). Ultimately, educators must learn to properly assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses (Curtis, 2009) and pair them with the proper intervention techniques. If one method does not work, countless others exist to take its place.
Assessments should guide instruction and material selection. Any likely manner, assessments should measure student progress, as well as help, identify deficiencies in reading (Afflerback, 2012). One important indicator of reading deficiencies is spelling. Morris (2014), advocated the importance of administering a spelling assessment in order to have a better understanding of a student’s reading abilities. My school uses the Words Their Way spelling inventory to assess students’ reading abilities at the beginning of the year and throughout the reading year.
For starters, I would like to have more information on the student prior to assessing. I would like to know about the student classroom experience with reading. As a future Special Education Teacher, I have a passion for helping students who face more challenges. This student did not demonstrate that he faced reading challenges. In hindsight, I would like to have worked with a student with reading challenges in order to start developing a plan to close the achievement gap. Although, all students have room to grow, so I am glad to have worked with
This article provides the rationale for introducing a phonics screening check in Australian schools, detailed explanations of its development, implementation, and result in English schools, and also recommendations for a phonic screening in Australia. Furthermore, the author has attempted to research and document a method that is believed can improve Australian children literacy level and their reading ability not only nationally but also internationally. By implementing the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check and demonstrate how systematic phonics is being taught across the country and in individual schools, it is believed that it can improve teaching methods. The article makes an exceptional initiation to implement new education policy scheme in Australia. Despite there was a lot of research in this teaching method, seeing the result and evaluation in the implantation in Australia will add new knowledge on this
Suppose these learning disabilities are detected earlier in school, some students may receive therapy to correct this disability. Some facts that show how important early learning is for a student's development are: Children who enter school with language skills and pre-reading skills (e.g., understanding that print reads from left to right and top to bottom) are more likely to learn to read well in the early grades and succeed in later years (Department of Education, 2004). The ‘NCLB’ targets resources for early childhood education so that all children begin their education with the right start. The category of Specific Learning Disability, its definition, assessment, and eligibility criteria, are currently the subject of much discussion (Department of Education, 2004.ii). Nearly 3 million school-age students are currently receiving special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) due to identified specific learning disabilities (SLD) (The Advocacy Institute, 2004)....
The causes of reading difficulties often arise because of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, poor preparation before entering school, no value for literacy, low school attendance, insufficient reading instruction, and/or even the way students were taught to read in the early grades. The struggles that students “encounter in school can be seen as socially constructed-by the ways in which schools are organized and scheduled, by assumptions that are made about home life and school abilities, by a curriculum that is often devoid of connections to students’ lives, and by text that may be too difficult for students to read” (Hinchman, and Sheridan-Thomas166). Whatever the reason for the existence of the reading problem initially, by “the time a [student] is in the intermediate grades, there is good evidence that he will show continued reading g...
Ashley Opp wrote Occupational Therapy in Early Intervention: Helping Children Succeed. The piece starts off by explaining how the first three years of a child’s life are the most important for development. State, local and federal money funds programs called Early Intervention which serves children ages 0 to 3 who have disabilities through a variety of therapy services. These services work to help children to be successful later in life. Occupational therapy is one of the therapies included in Early Intervention.
Early Intervening Services is a hot topic and nonetheless relevant topic for us educators. Early Intervening Services is essential for all students to succeed. “The concept of early intervening services was introduced into public school systems with the implementation of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004” (Mire & Montgomery, 2009). Administrators need to adhere to the educational laws so that all children have the right to learn and grow with their peers in an educational setting. One change in the law is this emphasis of intervening early to meet the needs of children at risk of not succeeding in the classroom. A common thread with the research articles I’ve selected is this notion of effectiveness. Dickman’s (2007) formula and the provided description of IDEA: Early Intervening Services ( ) both support the non negotiable pieces of the puzzle in order to have an effective approach when providing Early Intervening Services. The research heavily emphasizes the importance of Early Intervening Services must be provided with scientific research-based, training to carry out the program, and informed environment. The research strongly suggests that all three are essential to meet the expectations of Early Intervening Services. Dickman’s vital points do align with the definition of IDEA. In Neuman’s (2007) Changing the Odds article, identifies effective principles to an intervention just like Dickman; she also agrees professional training is key to effective Early Intervening Services. Although, her attributes for an effective intervention consist of eight principles and his consist of three, both of them strongly believe children can succeed when provided effective early intervention services by...
Phonological awareness (PA) involves a broad range of skills; This includes being able to identify and manipulate units of language, breaking (separating) words down into syllables and phonemes and being aware of rhymes and onset and rime units. An individual with knowledge of the phonological structure of words is considered phonologically aware. A relationship has been formed between Phonological awareness and literacy which has subsequently resulted in Phonological awareness tasks and interventions.This relationship in particular is seen to develop during early childhood and onwards (Lundberg, Olofsson & Wall 1980). The link between PA and reading is seen to be stronger during these years also (Engen & Holen 2002). As a result Phonological awareness assessments are currently viewed as both a weighted and trusted predictor of a child's reading and spelling and ability.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
SUMMARY “Nobody slips through the net” is an early childhood intervention program implemented in 9 locations in Germany from 2008 to 2010. It was a 19-week home visiting program of 1-2 hours of duration. During the length of the program, they could support 721 overwhelmed families that were facing different risks and insecurities in their new role as a parent. The participant families were cautiously selected, they were families going through some difficult situations such as poverty, mother’s mental health disorders, teenage mothers or lack of social support. This program was delivered by midwives, that had been trained for more than 168 hours.
Reading and writing is a key part of everyone’s life. There has been some encouraging levels of reading development in primary school assessments. According to the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy report (2015), 95.5% of students achieve at or above the national minimum standard of reading. It is important to know effective ways to teach reading so children can become active problem solvers to enable them to read for meaning or for fun. Over the years, there has been a big amount of research into the most effective ways to teach reading skills to students. There are some systematically taught key skills and strategies that help achieve these levels of reading. Some of these skills include phonological awareness, phonemic awareness,
The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation.
Informal Reading Inventories (IRIs) are a commercial test that teachers use to evaluate students’ reading performance. QRI-5’s are just one type of IRI that are available to teachers. These informal tests are often used as a screening instrument to determine whether or not a student is reading on or below grade level. Some of the other uses of IRIs are seeing where students are struggling in their reading; for example fluency versus comprehension, to help them recognize where students are showing signs of frustration, to help teachers set up reading groups or even help with picking out appropriate reading material for their students. While the information gained in these informal tests are vital sometimes the additional information gained
It is a “reading world” we live in and students should be guaranteed every opportunity to succeed in this information driven society. Children today are overwhelmed with more reading material than ever before on billboard, television, the Internet and at school, causing reading to become a relevant and essential need in the life of every child (Lumpkin 1972). Being able to read has become the core of our information driven society. Yet, reading difficulties continue to plague the foundation of our education system creating a problem that only seems to be escalating. Hasselbring affirms that reading difficulties are a serious concern to our nation’s students claiming that, “as many as 20 percent of 17 year olds... [are] functionally illiterate and 44 percent of all high school students…[are] described as semi-illiterate”(2004). This is a harsh reality to face – a reality that stems from difficulties developed at the elementary level where reading complications arise and usually go unchecked. These reading difficulties are carri...