This week your blog is a reflection on your weekly reading (D & G chapter 7 and K & H chapter 2).  From the reading, define and give examples of reading difficulties, language difficulties, writing difficulties, and other literacy difficulties.  Were there any new ideas that stood out from these chapters or questions you have?  What strategies stood out as strategies you would like to try in your classroom in the future (or currently do use)?

This is due by class time on June 25. 

Key Points and Reading Difficulties

D&G

• adolescents need to be involved in the goal setting process. 
• adolescents need to take responsibility for their disability and changing behaviors that will result in their improvement. 
• talk openly and frankly with the student about his language/communication disability.
• be cognizant of the adolescents stage of development.
• intrinsic motivation is enhanced when we teach what is relevant and interesting to the adolescent learner.

 
K & H defines reading difficulties with a series of diagnostic features; Criterion A –when reading achievement falls substantially below that of what is expected given age, measured intelligence and age appropriate education. Criterion B – when there is significant interference with academic achievement or with activities of daily living that require reading skills. Criterion C – Where individuals have sensory deficits, the reading disorder is greater than would be expected due to that disorder. Oral reading – characterized by distortions, substitutions, and omissions. Oral and silent reading - characterized by slowness and errors in comprehension. I really appreciated reading this list, because it provided me with a specific list of what a reading difficulty really is. Reading difficulties range from issues with decoding words, comprehension and all aspects of literacy. Reading difficulties looks quite different in a variety of situations. One student could be in sixth grade and yet not be able to sound out and decode words, another student could be in high school and still struggle with reading because they have a family living situation that has kept them back.

Language difficulties, like reading difficulties looks different in many varying situations. Language difficulties can range from an ELL student just learning the language to students that are just unable to communicate in the English language. Many students in this situation just can’t communicate what they are thinking. This issue may show up in a student’s writing and oral expression. Again like the reading issue discussed previously language difficulties range from severe to just barely evident. Communication issues can show in a student’s academic performance, to social interactions, cognitive functioning and obviously behavior. In my current teaching situation I see my students as being very much in need of work in their language skills. I see this evident in their social interaction and classroom behavior. After this week’s reading I see myself as needing to work on socialization skills and communication and less on academic issues.

As far as writing difficulties I see K & H as explaining this as almost an extension of communications difficulties. Can and do these students tell or retell a story they know or have read. Can they tell main point? If they can’t decode they probably can’t spell. Then there are the fine motor skills issues. Many students with writing problems have a problem holding a pencil and maybe even tracing shapes. I have seen students that have the ability to explain and retell and even use higher level thinking, but they still can’t put down their thoughts on paper.

Other issues with literacy involve those students that may have issues like intellectual disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, autism and maybe even emotional difficulties. No matter what difficulty a student has it is important for me as a teacher to learn strategies and ways to identify these needs.

As a new teacher with a social work background I find that I combine strategies from both disciplines to meet the needs of my students. I try and normalize their current level of functioning. Since I work with adolescents, they already have a good idea of what they want to do after high school. This actually has a huge impact on what interventions they are willing to engage in with regard to their disability. When we can collectively decide what direction the student is interested in pursuing then developing and implementing an intervention follows effortlessly. My students are more apt to actively participate in interventions they are involved in developing for themselves.

RTI Process

Response to Intervention

Once a students is identified as "at risk" either behaviorally and/or academically by some form of measurable data, school personnel can begin a Tier process to decide on the most appropriate intervention. After the problem has been identified, the next step is to determine why the problem is occurring. The next step involves hashing out the details of the intervention. The intervention can be academically based, behaviorally based or both. 

Once determined, the intervention plan is developed. This lays out what the intervention the components of the intervention will be based on measurable data, who will execute it, when it will be executed, how it will be measured and how often the interventionist and student will meet. The meetings should only take place in a group setting if all the members of the group are identified as having the same problem. The intervention is outlined in document form and followed with purpose from inception to completion.

Data is collected and evaluated for progress throughout every step of the process.

The entire intervention consists of three Tiers. All of these steps mentioned above are part of a Tier I and is implemented and measured over a six week period. If the student does not make measurable improvements in response to the Tier I interventions then the intervention progress to Tier II.

Tier I interventions happen within the general education classroom and are successful 80% to 90% of the time. In the event that there is no measurable success in Tier I, the student moves into Tier II interventions. Tier II interventions may take place within the general education setting as well as small group settings. The interventions are the same as Tier I except there may be more targeted interventions and support staff as well as the general education teacher to implement intervention strategies and record data.

If a student does not make identifiable progress as evidenced through measurable data then he/she advances to Tier III where they will receive increased levels of supplementary instruction. Tier III offers supports at more frequent intervals than the other two tiers and the size of the instructional group decreases to maybe one or two students per lesson. The same rigid requirements are used throughout the tiers and data is collected and measured at all times. This ensures a more successful placement for the student once the intervention is complete and all the data is read.

RTI relies on parent involvement and feedback, eliminates a "wait to fail" situation and reduces the number of students who are referred for special education services. The intervention process is based on identified needs of the individual and carefully measured to ensure the student receives only the services he/she need to be successful.

For next week in class, your job will be to teach your assigned literacy development stage to a small-group.  Using your K & H Textbook and your assigned chapter (4, 5, 6, or 7), write a blog entry describing your literacy development stage.

*What are the characteristics of students at this stage?

*What is the focus of reading instruction at this stage (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension)?

*What methods/materials/strategies are used with students in this stage to support literacy (reading/writing/language)?

There are other "overall strategies" that are used with students in all literacy stages.  If you find any methods/materials/strategies that would benefit students in any literacy development stage, list them separately.

This is due by class time on June 4.

Characteristics of the special education, emergent reader student at the high school level are extensive.

I’m not going to speak to all the needs as special education needs are as unpredictable as a very unpredictable thing. However, in my experience, I find that most of my students who struggle with reading are in the orthographic or automatic stages of word learning.

Even with the implementation of various RTI’s in the elementary grades, some special education students at the high school level require intervention to support their reading development.

Characteristics of struggling readers in the later grades include but are not limited to:

1. Late-Emergent Reading Disabled Students: These are students who were able to keep up with early reading demands but for whom later demands became too great. Several research studies confirm that there is a category of students who will progress as typically developing students or respond positively to early intervention, only to develop reading problems in the later grades (Compton, Fuchs, Fuchs, Elleman, & Gilbert, 2008; Leach, Scarborough, & Rescorla, 2003; Lipka, Lesaux, & Siegel, 2006).

2. Instructional Casualties: Although there has been a strong emphasis on improving reading instruction in the early grades, not all schools have strong reading programs in place. There will continue to be students who have not been the recipients of strong reading instruction in the early grades who will require supports in the later grades (Vaughn et al., 2008).

3. English Language Learners: In the past decade, the number of English language learners (ELLs) has increased by 57% (Maxwell, 2009). All schools will need to provide instruction and intervention to meet the needs of a growing ELL population.

4. Students Requiring Ongoing Intervention: Students who received intervention at the early grades may make progress, but perhaps not at a rate that is sufficient to allow them to be successful in the general education program without ongoing intervention. These students may require continued intervention in later grades before they are able to successfully perform at grade-level benchmarks.

Summative assessments from the previous year are valuable in identifying struggling readers and allowing for schools to develop an intervention program that will address the needs of their students.

A common perception is that the problems that older struggling readers face are primarily due to a lack of vocabulary and comprehension skills (Catts, Hogan, & Adlof, 2005). However, evidence suggests that older struggling students may have problems with comprehension, decoding, and/or fluency (Compton et al., 2008; Leach et al., 2003; Lipka et al., 2006). Among the initial pool of identified at-risk students, targeted screening tests of word-level reading skills, fluency, and comprehension can be used to identify students for specific intervention placements within a school (Torgesen & Miller, 2009).

In my work with high school students, I have encountered students who struggle with decoding words that are two or more syllable in length and include vowel digraphs and vowel diphthongs. Many do struggle with fluency and tend to halt their reading. I have found it helpful to provide fluency instruction after a read aloud and then have the student practice re-reading the same passage until they are comfortable with their own performance. Usually, students know when they are under-performing or performing at lower levels than their peers. It is at this stage of their development, among the high school population, that they would rather give up than to risk learning remedial reading skills alongside their peers. 

For this reason, individualized instruction is essential to helping these students build skills and confidence to continue using these skills individually and in group settings.

In my experience, at the high school level, even struggling readers can have good comprehension. However, I have noticed that students with emotional issues usually have the poorest comprehension.

There are many assessments at the 4-12 grade level that measure the specific reading problems of struggling students.

Guided reading, technology, independent reading and buddy reading can be fruitful activities used as RTI’s to aid struggling readers. I believe the most important RTI however, is to identify a strategy, implement it as instructed and make sure the same teacher is consistent with the follow through of the intervention from inception to completion before reassessing.