Dr. Sam is a Wonderful Reading Teacher Resource
Thanks to Dr. Sam Bommarito, I was alerted to an incredibly important 2022 paper on reading — full citation included at the end of this blog. One reason I blog is to read research papers and simplify them for those who need the info but don’t have time to read all day.
Meta-analysis of 53 Studies on Reading
The paper we are discussing is Forty Years of Reading Intervention Research for Elementary Students with or at risk for Dyslexia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Here’s a quote about the research.
“This meta-analysis included experimental … studies conducted between 1980 and 2020 that aimed to improve reading outcomes for Grade K-5 students with or at risk for dyslexia… Dosage and reading outcome domain [phonological awareness, comprehension, fluency, etc] were the only variables that significantly moderated intervention effects… with higher dosage studies associated with larger effects…and reading comprehension outcomes associated with smaller effects than word reading/spelling outcomes…”
So, students who need reading intervention should have it on a daily basis if possible and should have both word reading and spelling (phonics) instruction. Yes, of course, but wait, there’s more!
“There appeared to be an advantage for phonics interventions from kindergarten to Grade 1, after which interventions with a comprehension component began to predominate and the advantage for phonics interventions dissipated.”
What this means, dear fellow reading teachers, is that the “science of reading” does NOT indicate we should keep pounding children with phonics year after year IF IT’S NOT WORKING.
Always start with phonics. NEVER assume that’s enough.
Reading Intervention Goes Beyond Multi-Sensory Phonics
This meta-analysis revealed that “multi-sensory” is just a marketing word, not an indicator of the “science of reading.”
“The effects of interventions that were explicitly described as multi-sensory [Orton-Gillingham buzz word] did not differ from interventions not characterized as multi-sensory.” …There is NOT sufficient evidence for the benefit of reading instructional programs that describe themselves as multi-sensory to require that school districts use them in place of other evidence-based instructional approaches (i.e., other explicit, systematic approaches to foundational skills instruction) that do not describe themselves as multi-sensory.”
In fact, my observation of reading teachers has failed to turn up a single teacher who limits their teaching methods to one sense! All good teaching is multi-sensory.
Overcharging and Legal Shenanigans
Many publishers overcharge AND require schools to use ONLY their curriculum or pay huge fines. When any company tries to stifle competition through legal mumbo-jumbo in their contracts, school administrators should run, not walk, to the door.
Here’s an example from a Minneapolis School Board meeting.
“The board voted to immediately terminate its contract with Reading Horizons, the Utah company that provided the curriculum, even as it debated whether that would hurt an effort to get a refund of the $1.2 million the district has spent so far.”
Wasting taxpayer money to pad the pockets of big publishers is a crime against kids.
Good Teaching Uses More than One Method
Good teaching involves trying multiple methods when a child fails to read easily and well. Great teachers try all kinds of approaches and don’t decide a child is unteachable just because the child fails to blossom under one particular method. Unfortunately, great teachers sometimes find themselves in hot water with their schools because they aren’t using the prescribed curriculum. This is nothing less than criminal.
If a Child Fails to Read, Don’t Blame the Child
Blaming the child if they don’t respond well to a specific approach is at least lazy if not evil. Children get shamed far too often for not reading well — they are told to try harder! I’ve never met a child who didn’t want to read. They avoid reading only when reading instruction has failed them and left them feeling inferior and frustrated.
The Definition of Insanity…
When children fail to read the response is often to pull them out of the interesting parts of the class (science and recess) and send them to a small reading group to do exactly the same thing that didn’t work before. Bottom line: if a child fails to read well, don’t keep doing the same thing with them year after year. Try something different; regardless of what you think about phonics or the “science of reading.”
To read the entire research paper, about 30 pages, find it here:
Hall, C., Dahl-Leonard, K., Cho, E., Solari, E.J., Capin, P., Conner, C.L., Henry, A.R., Cook, L., Hayes, L., Vargas, I., Richmond, C.L. and Kehoe, K.F. (2022), Forty Years of Reading Intervention Research for Elementary Students with or at Risk for Dyslexia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Read Res Q. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.477
by Yvonna Graham, M.Ed.
www.dyslexiakit.net