EvidenceBased Practices in Reading

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Evidence-Based Practices in Reading

• Barbara Foorman, Ph.D.
• University of Texas-Houston
• Center for Academic Reading Skills

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What is Reading?

• the process of simultaneously extracting and
  constructing meaning through interaction and
  involvement with written language (RAND, 2002,
  p. 11)
• Reading is an active and complex process that
  involves
• Understanding written text
• Developing and interpreting meaning and
• Using meaning as appropriate to type of text,
  purpose, and situation (NAEP Framework, 2009)

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A book must be an axe for the frozen seas
within us
Kafka (1904) Letters to Oskar Pollack
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The act of reading a text is like playing music
and listening to it at the same time
Margaret Atwood (2002), Negotiating with the
Dead
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Language
Writing System
Speech Units
Graphic Units
Phonemes
Orthographic System
Syllables
Morphemic Units
(Perfetti, 1997)
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The ability to identify, think about, or
manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in
words
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PA as Concept Development

• 1. In K, identity-based teaching
• First sound of sand is /s/
• /s/ in sand and /s/ in sit are the same
• /s/ is represented by the letter s.
• 2. K-1 writing signals childrens awareness of
  the alphabetic principle. E.g., a typical
  progression for first-grade spelling is
• TGK, THIEK, TANGK, THINGK, THINK
• semiphonetic-phonetic-transitional-conventional

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Alphabetic Principle
This principle is not that letters represent
speech sounds but rather that they represent the
more remote phonological (and morphophonological)
segments conveyed by speech sounds. the spoken
English word bag consists not of one segment but
of three segments (differing from sag in the
first, big in the second, and bat in the third)
that happpen to be opaque in the surface sound
and transparent only in the underlying phonology.
(Lukatela Turvey, 1998, p. 1070)
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Recognizing the letters of the alphabet and
understanding sound-symbol relationships
understanding that written words are composed of
patterns of letters that represent the sounds of
spoken words.
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(Moats, 2000)
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Reading text with speed, accuracy, and proper
expression
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Phonological Recoding

• Recodings of spellings into pronunciations allow
  words to move from a functional to an autonomous
  lexicon.
• With practice, words become high frequency,
  sight words that can be read without effort
  (i.e., automatically)
• Ask, On what words is this student accurate or
  fluent? not, Is this student an accurate or
  fluent reader?

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The Reading Pillar
(NRC, 1998)
Skilled Reading
Fluency
Speed and ease of reading with comprehension
Conceptual Knowledge/vocabulary Strategic
processing of text
Comprehension
Word Recognition
Decoding using alphabetic principle Decoding
using other cues Sight Recognition
Print Awareness Letter Knowledge Motivation to
Read Oral Language including Phonological
Awareness
Emergent Reading
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Understanding word meanings to read text with
fluency and comprehension
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Background on Vocabulary

• Vocabulary knowledge (knowledge of the meanings
  of words) forms the basis for all reading
  comprehension
• If one fails to grasp the meanings of individual
  words in text, one will struggle to grasp the
  meaning of the text as a whole
• Word consciousness goes beyond vocabulary
  knowledge and enables the growth of vocabulary
• When individuals have generative knowledge about
  words, new words are acquired more easily
• Knowledge about the world of words begins early
  and is more a function of experience than of
  direct teaching

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13 higher- SES children (professional)
23 middle/lower- SES children (working class)
Cumulative Vocabulary words
6 welfare children
Age of child in months
Hart Risley, 1995
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Language Experience
Professional
Working-class
Estimated cumulative words addressed to child
Welfare
Age of child in months
Hart Risley, 1995
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(Cunningham Stanovich, 1998, adapted from
Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding,1988)
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Understanding what has been read the
application to written text of (a)
nonlinguistic (conceptual) knowledge and (b)
general language comprehension skills
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Three potential stumbling blocks on the road to
becoming a good reader (NRC report, 1998)

• Difficulty applying the alphabetic principle --
  the idea
• that written spellings systematically represent
  spoken
• words (most common)

• Failure to transfer oral language comprehension
  skills
• to reading, and to acquire new strategies
• that may be specifically needed for reading

3. Loss of initial motivation to read, or
failure to develop a mature appreciation of
the rewards of reading (usually a result of
failure/ lack of opportunity)
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Converging Evidence

• Valid reliable predictors of risk for reading
  difficulty are
• Print concepts and letter names (early K)
• Phonological awareness and letter sounds (K-1)
• Rapid naming of letters (end of K to early G1)
• Word recognition (G1 and beyond)
• Vocabulary and phonological memory within RD
• (Fletcher et al., 2002 Scarsborough, 1998
  Schatschneider et al., 2002 Torgesen, 2002)

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A Theoretical Model Regarding the Brain Circuits
for Reading (Pugh, Shaywitz, Eden, Simos)
Wernickes area
Brocas area
Angular gyrus
Visual association areas
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A Theoretical Model for the Brain Circuit for
Reading (Component Processes)
Phonological processing correspondence between
letter and sound
Relay station Cross-modality integration
Phonological processing articulatory mapping
Graphemic analysis
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Magnetic Source ImagingAndy Papanicolaou Akis
Simos

• Safe painless
• Non-invasive
• Detects small bio-
• magnetic brain signals
• Provides real-time information about which brain
  areas are active and when during task performance

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Neural Response to Intervention

• Does the pattern of brain activation change in
  response to intervention?
• 8 children with severe dyslexia
• 8 week intense phonologically- based intervention
  (2 hours a day up to 80 hours of instruction)
• Simos et al., Neurology, 2002

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Demographic Information
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Interventions

• Phonografix intense phonologically- based
  intervention that extends unit of analysis to
  morpheme and supports orthographic analysis
  (www.readamerica.net)
• Lindamood- Bell rule- based phonological program
  that emphasizes articulatory component
• Both 11, 2 hours a day, 8 weeks (Very intense
  tertiary interventions)

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• Blachman, Schatschneider, Fletcher, Shaywitz,
  Shaywitz- J Ed Psych, 2004

Purpose Evaluate the effects of an intensive
reading intervention emphasizing phonologic and
orthographic connections on the functional
organization of the brain in Grade 2/3 children
with RD randomly assigned to intervention or
standard practice
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INTERVENTION

• Each lesson is built around a 5-step core that
  includes
• Review of sound-symbol associations
• Practice making words to develop a new decoding
  skill (e.g., work on building words with the
  final e pattern)
• Review of previously learned phonetically regular
  words and high frequency sight words
• Oral reading of stories
• Writing to dictation words and sentences from
  earlier steps in the lesson

Each lesson also includes extended activities,
such as additional reading of both narrative and
expository texts to enhance fluency,
comprehension, and a sense of enjoyment, as well
as additional writing activities and games.
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Early Development of Reading Skills A Cognitive
Neuroscience ApproachJack M. Fletcher PI

• Patricia Mathes - PI Early Reading Intervention
  (Reading Research Quarterly, 2005)
• Andrew Papanicolaou - P2Brain Activation
  Patterns (Neuropsychology, in press)

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The Core Sample

• Children sampled across 2 years
• 300 At-Risk Readers identified with the Texas
  Primary Reading Inventory - assigned randomly to
  intervention.
• 100 Typically Developing Readers
• Teachers
• 6 Intervention (3 Proactive 3 Responsive)
• 30 General Education 1st-grade Teachers
• Schools
• 6 non- Title 1 elementary schools in a large
  urban school district with an aggressive, long-
  term reading initiative

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The Interventions

• Enhanced Classroom Instruction
• All children identified as at-risk for principal,
  teachers, and parents
• Progress monitored with feedback to principal,
  teachers, and parents (oral reading probes every
  3 weeks)
• Professional development of classroom teachers in
  strategies for accommodating academic diversity
  and linking assessment to instructional planning
  for struggling readers

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Comparison of Two Interventions

• Proactive and Responsive
• 40 minutes, 5 days per week, all school year (30
  weeks)
• 13 teacher-student ratio
• Taught by certified teachers who are school
  employees, but trained and supervised by
  researchers
• Provided in addition to enhanced classroom
  instruction

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Proactive Intervention

• Explicit instruction in synthetic phonics, with
  emphasis on fluency.
• Integrates decoding, fluency, and comprehension
  strategies.
• 100 decodable text
• Carefully constructed scope and sequence designed
  to prevent possible confusions.
• Every activity taught to 100 mastery everyday.

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Responsive Intervention

• Explicit instruction in synthetic phonics and in
  analogy phonics
• Teaches decoding, using the alphabetic principle,
  fluency, and comprehension strategies in the
  context of reading and writing
• No pre-determined scope and sequence
• Teachers respond to student needs as they are
  observed.
• Leveled text not phonetically decodable

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The Responsive Intervention

• Fluency Work (Repeated Reading) and Assessment
  8-10 minutes
• Word Work 10-12 Minutes
• Supported Reading
• 10-12 Minutes
• Supported Writing
• 8-10 Minutes

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Early Detection of Aberrant Brain Activation
Profiles for Reading
N 45 children 6 yrs old
Simos et al., J Child Neurol, 2002
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At Risk Reader
Left Right
Kindergarten First Grade
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Superior Temporal Gyrus Activity
Left Right
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A Widely Proposed Model

• Level 1 Primary Intervention
• Enhanced general education classroom
  instruction.
• Level 2 Secondary Intervention
• Child receives more intense intervention in
  general education, presumably in small groups.
• Level 3 Tertiary
• Child placed in special education.
• Intervention increases in intensity and
  duration.

If progress is inadequate, move to next level.
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Characteristics of Districts/Schools with
Outstanding Reading Improvement

• Strong instructional leadership positive climate
• Increased amount of time available for reading
  instruction
• Strong accountability
• On-going professional development based on
  demonstrably effective reading strategies
• Continuous monitoring of student achievement
• Integral parent involvement
• Strong boards of education school-based
  decision-making teams

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Instructional Supports Needed

• Structural support Mentors, specialists.
• Sensible curricula those that scaffold work of
  novice teachers, while giving more skilled
  teachers latitude.
• Adequate PD onsite, focus on new practices
• Ongoing teacher engagement mentors help with
  assessment-driven instruction management
• Appropriate incentives

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The End

• We are all born with dyslexia. The difference
  among us is that some are easy to cure and others
  are not.
• - Liberman, 1996
• Reading Must Be Taught!!
• Barbara.R.Foorman_at_uth.tmc.edu