Things to Look for in Successful Reading Interventions
When it comes to helping your struggling reader, there is a wide range of reading interventions available right now. So how do you weed through them and find the right fit? Here are some things to look for based on the latest research on best practices for reading instruction:
Structured Literacy
As opposed to balanced literacy (which focuses on exposure, sight words, and visual cues for reading), a structured literacy reading intervention will build the basic skills your child needs in order to read effectively.
This will include explicit and systematic instruction methods, as well as a gradual increase in complexity (while still mastering the basics).
Kids need to know how to decode words. They cannot just memorize spellings and still be successful in later grades when new vocabulary is constantly being introduced. A foundation of phonics, followed by morphology, semantics, and comprehension is the best approach to helping kids become successful at reading.
Individualized, Diagnostic, and Responsive Methods
Group reading interventions are not as effective for a reason. An individualized, one-on-one approach is the best way to target each child’s unique skill weaknesses to help them become more successful.
Reading programs need to have constant feedback, adjustments, and progress-based assessments to make sure kids gain ground. A successful reading intervention will give each child this individualized approach to making sure they have the skills they need to read.
Multisensory Approach
Reading is not just visual. In fact, more auditory centers in your brain are involved with reading than visual areas. Having a reading intervention that includes listening, writing, seeing, speaking, touching, and other integrated practices will make reading instruction more successful.
Read more about why multisensory instruction is so important.
Based in Phonics and Phonological Awareness
Kids cannot learn to read just by memorizing spellings and sound codes. They need this foundation of phonics and sound manipulation. This foundation enables them to decode new words, rhyme, recognize patterns, spell correctly, and become proficient readers.
Reading interventions with strong phonics training will be more effective, even if your struggling reader is a teenager. Returning to these basics is THE critical starting point to correct reading difficulties and foster independence in kids!
The Goal Is Automaticity and Independence
Is the goal of the reading intervention, whether in the school or separately, getting your child to quickly become more confident and independent? Long, drawn-out programs often are so focused on their program rather than building the skills needed to make your child more successful on their own.
Often school-based reading interventions happen with IEPs or special ed resources. Before you get too far know this: the goal of special ed and accommodations is NOT to make your child more successful on their own or to get them back to mainstream classrooms. The goal is to just get them through.
If you want to foster independence in your child and have reading become an automatic skill that they are successful at, make sure your reading intervention choice has this as its end goal.
LearningRx’s Approach to Reading Interventions
At LearningRx, we align our practices with the latest research about how the brain learns to read. LearningRx’s reading intervention is the only Science of Reading-based structured literacy program with training in memory, attention, processing speed, visual processing and reasoning.
What sets LearningRx apart from all other reading interventions is the focus on building strong cognitive skills first. These skills are the foundation for all learning. And if your child struggles with these things, then of course more difficult tasks (like reading) are going to be harder.
LearningRx’s Science of Reading-based program ReadRx is:
- Formed with a structured literacy approach
- Highly explicit, systematic, diagnostic, and responsive
- Tailored to unique needs of each learner
- Multisensory, with the focus on building automaticity in reading
- Focused on building phonological awareness and phonemic manipulation skills
- The ONLY reading program that also trains underlying cognitive skills that determine how learning happens in the brain
Students who have completed our program improved reading skills by 3.5 years on average compared to peers. In another study, more than 90% of LearningRx graduates improved their performance on state tests for reading achievement!
If this sounds like something you want for your child, don’t just wait it out. Give us a call today to take the first step towards giving your child the independence and confidence to read successfully!
