While spelling instruction may enhance reading interventions, there is little experimental evidence to date that examines the benefit of integrating spelling activities above and beyond explicit word reading instruction and practice alone. The study sought to investigate whether a common approach to spelling practice, cover-copy-compare (CCC), uniquely contributed to multisyllabic word reading skills of third to fifth grade students with dyslexia ( n = 32). In this brief experiment, students completed two controlled individual sessions (30-min each). Each session included two instructional components and one practice component. The practice component differed by study condition, with students randomized to either reading practice (Decoding condition) or spelling practice using a modified CCC activity (Decoding+Spelling condition). No between-group differences were observed on researcher-developed or standardized word reading and pseudoword reading measures; however, a small but statistically significant effect favored students in the Decoding condition on a standardized measure of word reading efficiency. Findings suggest students in both conditions improved their reading of multisyllabic words, and there did not appear to be a differential benefit of spelling practice via CCC compared with reading practice. We discuss implications for future research on the contribution of spelling practice to word-level reading interventions for students with dyslexia.

Reading practice is crucial for students with reading difficulties, but locating texts for reading practice can be time-consuming for teachers. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools (e.g., ChatGPT) can rapidly create text according to specified parameters, but the application of creating content for reading intervention has not been examined. We used six AI tools to generate text based on simple prompts (grade level specified), detailed prompts (grade level and science-related topic specified), and decodable text prompts. Results showed that the readability and text complexity of most texts were higher than the grade levels requested in the prompts, and their syntactic simplicity was lower than human-written grade-level science reading materials. Further, holistic ratings found that texts generated with simple and detailed prompts were largely free from odd or contradictory elements and would be appropriate for instruction and practice opportunities. However, several problems were observed with the texts generated through the decodable prompts, such as being too difficult or unnatural for beginning readers.

Word reading disabilities (WRD) represent the most common disability in reading; however, questions remain regarding how to design instruction that results in significant, long-lasting effects on word reading outcomes for individuals who experience considerable difficulties that persist within and beyond primary grades. Two related studies examined effects of variations in targeted sublexical content on word reading efficiency of students in grades 2–4 with WRD. Study 1 addressed effects of instruction and practice targeting complex vs. simple letter units. Study 2 addressed effects of instruction and practice targeting multiple pronunciations of a letter unit vs. standard pronunciations alone. In Study 1, statistically significant differences at posttest on taught ( β =9.43, t(56)=2.32, p= 0.02; g=0.17, 95% CI [0.01, 0.33]) and untaught (β =8.44, t(56)=2.09, p= 0.04; g= 0.15, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.31]) words included in Aligned Word Lists favored the complex letter unit condition. In Study 2, statistically significant differences at posttest on taught words included in Aligned Word Lists favored the standard pronunciations condition (β = -4.15, t(60)= -2.04, p= 0.045; g= -0.18, 95% CI [-0.35, 0.004]) and group differences in average student performance were non-significant on untaught words (β = -0.22, t(60)= -0.06, p= 0.96;g= -0.01, 95% CI [-0.17, 0.17]). Given the modest sample sizes (N = 64) and amount of instruction provided in each study (i.e., 6 lessons), further research is warranted to better understand the impact of variations in targeted sublexical content on word reading outcomes for students with WRD in grades 2–4.

PurposeAn inferential comprehension intervention addressing reading comprehension difficulties of middle schoolers was tested.MethodStudents in Grades 6 to 8 (n = 145; 53.8% female; 71% White; 24% Black) who failed their state literacy test, were randomly assigned to tutor-led, computerized, or business-as-usual [BaU] interventions.ResultsThe tutor-led intervention produced significant effects compared to BaU (g = .40) and computer-led (g = .30) on inference types instructed in the intervention. Students with adequate word reading in tutor-led gained more compared to BaU on WIAT-III Reading Comprehension. Boys gained more from tutor-led and BaU vs. computer-led on several measures.ConclusionInferential comprehension is malleable in middle school, but adequate word reading may be important. The effects for boys vs. girls suggest the need to understand intervention factors beyond the content and instructional procedures of interventions. Findings are discussed with reference to theories of inference and reading comprehension as well as the literature on technology-aided literacy interventions.

Solving mathematics word problems requires skills from multiple domains, including efficient word-decoding skills, text comprehension, problem solving, and arithmetic. Word problems can be especially difficult for students with dyslexia (i.e., word-level reading disability), causing frustration for students and teachers. This article discusses the complex process of solving word problems and outlines four strategies for supporting the co-development of skills in word-problem solving and reading for students with dyslexia: (a) adapt word problems for readability and support word reading; (b) teach students to recognize word-problem types; (c) explicitly teach word-problem specific vocabulary; and (d) integrate writing through student-generated word problems.

A variety of early literacy assessments are available to monitor student response to instruction in early reading skills. The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which growth during the second half of kindergarten on measures of alphabetic principle (i.e., nonsense word fluency [NWF]) and word reading (i.e., decodable real words and word reading fluency [WRF]) predicted oral reading fluency (ORF) at the end of kindergarten and first grade, over and above January baseline performance. A total of 394 kindergarten students were monitored on each assessment every 2 weeks between January and May. The unique contribution of this study was the evaluation of the degree to which the predictive value of growth on these measures differed as a function of student skills in oral reading via quantile regression. Doing so revealed whether different word-level assessments were better suited for less skilled or more skilled readers. In addition, the utility of growth in different metrics on measures of NWF (i.e., correct letter sequences [CLS] and whole words read [WWR]) was explored. Results suggested that measures of more complex skills such as WRF and NWF-WWR were most predictive of general reading outcomes among students with high subsequent ORF. The value of measuring growth, relative to baseline performance, was even more apparent when predicting performance at the end of first grade.

Data-based instruction (DBI) is a process in which teachers use progress data to make ongoing instructional decisions for students with learning disabilities. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a common form of progress monitoring, and CBM data are placed on a graph to guide decision-making. Despite the central role that graph interpretation plays in the successful implementation of DBI, relatively little attention has been devoted to investigating this skill among special education teachers. In the present study, we examined the data decisions of 32 pre-service special education teachers (29 females and 3 males). Participants viewed data presented sequentially on CBM progress graphs and used a think-aloud procedure to explain their reasoning each time they indicated they would make instructional changes. We also asked participants to make the same type of decisions in response to static CBM progress graphs depicting 10 weeks of data. Overall, there was inconsistency in pre-service teachers' responses related to when or why they would make an instructional change. Decisions were often influenced by graph-related features, such as variability in the data. Furthermore, responses suggested misunderstandings that led to premature instructional change decisions and reliance on individual data points.

Most students with reading difficulties struggle to read words. We examined intervention effects for students with significant word reading difficulties (SWRD; standard score of 80 on at least one pretest measure of word reading), which includes individuals with or at risk for dyslexia. We investigated: (a) What are the effects of reading interventions for students in Grades 3-12 with SWRD? and (b) What intervention features (i.e., instructional components and elements of dosage) are related to improved reading outcomes for the target population? A meta-analysis of 22 studies and 208 effect sizes revealed a statistically significant, positive, mean effect (g = 0.14, standard error [SE] = 0.04, p = .01, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [0.04, 0.23]) of interventions for the target population. Subset analyses revealed positive, statistically significant intervention effects on measures of pseudoword reading (g = 0.38, SE = 0.07, p = .0003, 95% CI [0.21, 0.54]) and pseudoword reading fluency (g = 0.29, SE = 0.09, p = .010, 95% CI [0.09, 0.49]). Moderator analyses yielded statistically significant, positive effects associated with increased total hours of intervention, β = 0.003, SE = 0.0009, t(8.31) = 3.58, p = .007. Overall, findings indicate a need for interventions that improve generalized real-world reading for the target population.

We address defining and identifying students with dyslexia within the context of multi-tier systems of support (MTSS). We review proposed definitions of dyslexia, evidence for proposed definitional attributes, and emphasize the role of instructional response in identifying students with dyslexia. We identify dyslexia as individuals with specific deficits in reading and spelling single words combined with inadequate response to evidence-based instruction. We propose a hybrid identification process in which assessment is utilized within school-wide MTSS allowing for integration of routinely collected progress monitoring data as well integrating with more formal diagnostic measures. This proposed “hybrid” method demonstrates strong evidence for valid decision-making and directly informs instruction. We close proposing a revised definition of dyslexia that incorporates these elements.

Behavior and academic outcomes in school are interrelated; students who struggle with academics are likelier to exhibit troublesome behavior and students who struggle with behavior tend to fall behind academically. Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) offer frameworks for providing increasingly intensive support for students with academic and behavioral difficulties, but it can be challenging to efficiently integrate academic and behavioral supports rather than implementing separate resource-intensive systems. This article describes how behavior support can be integrated within Tier-2 interventions for reading and mathematics. A strategy that included four evidence-based elements-teaching expectations, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and mystery match-was embedded within academic intervention lessons to target students' academic engagement, respectful behavior, and effort. In this article, we describe our approach as one way that academic and behavioral supports might be integrated within a tiered intervention system.

Language and self-regulation develop bidirectionally, and they synergistically affect most aspects of acquiring reading proficiency. Children and youth from historically marginalized communities tend to have less expansive knowledge of academic vocabulary and dialect common to instruction and academic text (i.e., General American English), and limited self-regulation skills relevant to reading, compared to less-marginalized peers. In this article, we argue that language and self-regulation are factors in demographic-related reading opportunity gaps, and that in addition to improving students' access to high-quality explicit phonics instruction, understanding their interactive relationship offers opportunities for schools to reduce disparities in reading outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Significant attention and legislation have been directed to assessment intervention for students with word-level reading disability (WLRD; i.e., dyslexia). Scholars have called for similar attention to prevention-oriented approaches in which intervention is provided to students at risk for WLRD from the earliest grades. Progress monitoring is a key aspect of early intervention, and although numerous measures exist for monitoring kindergarten reading development across foundational skill areas, little evidence indicates which measure(s) provide data that best reflect progress toward successful reading outcomes or significant word reading difficulties. In this study, a sample of 426 ethnically and linguistically diverse kindergarten students, considered at-risk for reading difficulties at the start of kindergarten, were monitored across kindergarten with seven measures that included tests of letter name and sound fluency, phoneme segmentation, word and pseudoword reading, and a computer adaptive test. Students' word reading skills were assessed at the end of kindergarten and first grade with standardized tests of word reading, pseudoword decoding, and oral reading. Analyses that included latent variable growth modeling (controlling for emergent bilingual status) and latent profile analyses found that growth in letter-sound fluency during the fall of kindergarten, and word reading fluency during the spring, were the most strongly related to subsequent word reading skills and most clearly distinguished a subgroup of students who demonstrated significant word reading difficulties by the end of first grade. These measures may be ideal indices of progress for low-performing kindergarteners and for signaling a need for intervention intensification within a prevention-oriented framework.

The purpose of this special issue was to provide a forum for contemporary research and thoughtful discourse about dyslexia. Scholars from several disciplines contributed articles that advance our understanding of dyslexia with regard to early identification, genetic and neural bases, assessment, instruction and intervention and educators ' perspectives. In this article, we introduce the special issue, discuss current evidence and highlight persistent misunderstandings associated with dyslexia.

ABSTRACTMany seem to believe that researcher‐made tests are unnecessary, if not inappropriate, for evaluating reading comprehension interventions. We suggest that this view reflects a zeitgeist in which researcher‐made (proximal) tests that align with the researchers’ interventions are closely scrutinized and often devalued, whereas commercially developed (distal) tests, typically unaligned with the researchers’ interventions, escape such examination and judgment. We take issue with the zeitgeist. We object to what appears as an unthoughtful rejection of proximal tests and acceptance of the distal ones. We do so first by discussing the multidimensionality of reading comprehension; then, we present evidence that commercial tests explore few of the construct’s many dimensions, differ among themselves in the dimensions they address, and often have little to do with the aims and substance of researchers’ comprehension interventions. We argue that these facts are reason enough to reconsider commercial tests as the gold standard in program evaluation. Finally, we make a case for the supplemental use of researcher‐made tests and offer a framework to help researchers develop tests of reading comprehension that align more and less with their intervention programs.

In this study, we examined the extent to which teachers' treatment adherence, instructional quality, and the interaction of these variables influenced eighth-grade students' content knowledge and reading comprehension. We examined treatment fidelity for students (n = 775) in classes randomly assigned to receive an evidence-based content area reading program called Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text. Results indicate that teachers' instructional quality was a statistically significant, positive predictor of student content knowledge and reading comprehension performance, whereas teachers' treatment adherence was not. Statistically significant interactions between treatment adherence and instructional quality were present, such that teachers' treatment adherence had a stronger impact on student learning outcomes when their overall instructional quality was low. Moderator analyses also revealed that students' pretest performance and English learner status influenced the effects of treatment adherence and instructional quality on student outcomes. These findings help elucidate the conditions under which Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text leads to improved outcomes, and more broadly, underscore the importance of carefully examining dimensions of treatment fidelity when testing the effects of treatment programs.

Research on universal screening in reading has primarily focused on the psychometric adequacy of screening procedures without critically considering costs and value. Educators in upper elementary and middle school have access to a great deal of extant student achievement data, which makes the evaluation of the costs associated with collecting new data for screening purposes paramount. We conducted a retrospective analysis of four approaches to reading screening using cost-effectiveness analysis. Universal screening (i.e., aimswebPlus reading) and statewide reading test data were collected in a midsize school district in Texas for 19,417 students in Grades 4-8. We analyzed the total cost, the classification accuracy based on local cut-scores derived using receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the cost-effectiveness of each approach. Full implementation of the fall administration of aimswebPlus reading cost the district $55,199 in upper elementary and $76,832 in middle school. Both the use of prior-year state achievement test data alone (which represented no additional costs for screening) and the multivariate model (i.e., prior-year state achievement test data plus aimswebPlus) met typical recommendations for classification accuracy. A multiple-gate model that used prior-year state test data and fall aimswebPlus reading on a low-achieving subset of students produced the lowest cost-effectiveness ratio at $156 per additional student accurately classified in upper elementary and $181 in middle school, but this model also led to the highest number of false negatives. The use of aimswebPlus alone resulted in the highest costs and lowest classification accuracy. The results suggest that the use of prior-year statewide achievement test data alone in Grades 4-8 is an efficient approach to universal screening for reading risk that may allow schools to shift resources from screening to other educational priorities.

Much has been learned across the past 30 years about how to improve reading skills. However, some areas of reading difficulty remain particularly resistant to remediation (e.g., reading fluency), and a sizable proportion of students show little improvement following evidence-based interventions. This chapter will focus on the two most common forms of reading difficulties: word-level reading and reading comprehension. We review best practices in reading interventions, identify shortcomings in the knowledge base, and review contemporary research that has offered new insights and techniques for improving reading outcomes for children and adolescents.

This within-subjects experimental study investigated the relative effects of word reading and word meaning instruction (WR+WM) compared to word-reading instruction alone (WR) on the accuracy, fluency, and word meaning knowledge of 4th-5th graders with dyslexia. We matched word lists on syllables, phonemes, frequency, number of definitions, and concreteness. We assigned half the words to WR and half to WR+WM. Word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, and word meaning knowledge were measured at pretest, immediately following each intervention session, and at posttest, administered immediately following the 12, 45-minute, daily instructional sessions. Compared to WR instruction alone, WR+WM significantly improved accuracy (d = 0.65), fluency (d = 0.43), and word meaning knowledge (d = 1.92) immediately following intervention, and significantly improved accuracy (d = 0.74), fluency (d = 0.84), and word meaning knowledge (d = 1.03) at posttest. Findings support the premise that word meaning knowledge facilitates accurate and fluent word reading, and that instruction explicitly integrating word reading and word meaning may be an effective support for upper elementary students with dyslexia.