I’ve spent the last couple of months reading David Kilpatrick’s Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties (2015). The first two-thirds of the book covers a lot of history and reviews much research. While it is somewhat tedious and I was tempted to jump ahead to chapters 10 and 11 where he gets to the good stuff—preventing reading difficulties and effectively intervening when such difficulties are not prevented—I did as the author suggested and took the time to build up my background knowledge in order to better understand what was forthcoming.
In this post, I will attempt to summarize chapter ten of Kilpatrick’s book. All these points get me thinking. I hope it all gets you thinking, too.
1. It was interesting to read about the origins of RTI. RTI is Response to Intervention. If you’ve been teaching anywhere as long as I have, you might remember that back in the good old days—hehe—if we were concerned about a student we used to just go ask the special education teacher to test them. Seriously. Then along came RTI. It made sense, but it was a bother since it meant we had to do a bunch of extra work and documentation before a student would be tested for a disability. The interesting thing is that the RTI concept was born after research proved that students were found to respond really well to phonemic awareness training and systematic and explicit phonics instruction. In other words, they were trying to say, way back then, that hey, how about you give this student some phonemic awareness training and systematic and explicit phonics instruction and then we’ll see if they have a disability. The sad thing is, when RTI was established, the process was put into place but the amazing intervention techniques that were proven by research were left behind. We’ve been floundering ever since with all sorts of other, less effective interventions. (p. 249)
2. It’s obvious that phonemic awareness training and systematic phonics instruction have not been a part of Tier 1 instruction (i.e., regular classroom instruction) in kindergarten and first grade because the percentage of students with reading disabilities in the United States has not decreased. (p. 250)
3. Tier 2 instruction is usually considered an intervention. It is important to realize that Tier 2 instruction can be viewed as either an intervention or prevention, depending on whether a student is an at-risk reader or an already struggling reader. For the most part, we kindergarten teachers are trying to prevent reading difficulties. (p. 251)
4. Students who progress at a typical pace in reading will acquire phonological awareness skills simply by being exposed to instruction. Those who struggle most likely have a phonological-core deficit and direct phonological awareness training is a must for them. (p. 258)
5. For RTI to work, Tier 1 instruction must be effective. In other words, it’s up to us. Kindergarten instruction has to include phonemic awareness and systematic and explicit phonics instruction; otherwise, there will be way too many kids going into Tier 2 instruction (interventions).
6. Phonemic awareness training has the greatest impact when it is coupled with phonics. In other words, tie them together whenever possible. “What sounds do you hear in me? What letters would we use to write those sounds?” (p. 263)
7. Kilpatrick emphasizes that providing kindergartners with additional letter-sound learning is no substitute for doing explicit phonemic awareness training. (p. 265)
8. Explicit phonics is recommended for Tier 1 instruction. If such instruction is delivered with integrity, we should expect a decrease in the number of struggling readers. (p. 267)
9. Explicit instruction means the teacher provides clear and precise instruction regarding letter-sound relationships and directly teaches phonic blending. Systematic instruction means that the teacher has a specific plan or sequence for introducing letter-sound relationships. (p. 268)
10. The whole-word approach to teaching reading as well as the three-cueing systems approach are meaning-based approaches. Phonics is a code-based approach. We must explicitly teach students the code.
11. Early, explicit phonics instruction provides long-term reading comprehension benefits to children at risk for reading disabilities. (p. 269)
12. Orton-Gillingham, “considered by some to be the gold standard in responding to poor word-level readers,” is a complex approach with many rules that may be too difficult for students with disabilities. Also, the information in these elaborate rules is not a requirement for skilled reading. (p. 269-270)
13. Typical readers require only one to four exposures to words before the words become a part of their permanent sight vocabulary. However, letter-sound knowledge is based on visual-phonological paired-associate learning and this means students require dozens or even hundreds of exposures to learn letters and their corresponding names and sounds before they become permanently stored. That is why these two skills—letter names and sounds—end up being such good predictors of later reading success. (p. 271)
14. Research shows that when information is presented in small chunks multiple times per day, it becomes more well established in memory. That is, students should hear information during whole group instruction, small group instruction, intervention/prevention time, and then apply it in real reading and writing throughout the course of one day. (p. 271)
15. Students may benefit from embedded picture mnemonics—letters that are embedded in a picture (mittens inside the curves of the letter m). (p. 272)
16. Spelling—including invented spelling—is an excellent way to instruct and reinforce letter-sound knowledge and phonemic awareness. Teachers must encourage correct spelling, however, before too long. (p. 273)
17. After children learn all the sounds in the alphabet, it is crucial to start teaching digraphs, diphthongs, and vowel digraphs. This can start in kindergarten and should be systematically taught and reinforced throughout first and second grades.
18. Phonological skills are at the heart of every student’s reading development. If phonological awareness is not a part of Tier 1 instruction at a school, there is little reason to expect RTI to work. (p. 275)
19. A direct quote: “The combination of explicit phonics and phonological awareness training for all students in kindergarten and first grade provides far greater results in word-level reading skills than any other teaching practice that has been studied. This combination of instructional elements is the very essence of research-based practice in early word-level reading and spelling skills.” (p. 276)
20. And let’s not forget about the other component of reading—language comprehension. The best way to develop language skills is dialogic reading, where the adult reader asks questions about the story or the pictures in the book and provides feedback in the form of repetitions, expansions, and modeling of answers. And, schooling is all about developing background knowledge. Reading can provide background knowledge, but those with less background knowledge and weak reading skills read less. Kindergarten teachers must provide a “background knowledge-enriched” learning experience. (p. 283)
So, do these points get you thinking? Leave me a comment. I would love to dialogue.
I use Abeka in my school. It is all phonics. Looking for ways to incorporate writing, and high frequency words.