Describes preliminary results obtained from preventive, early intervention, and remediation studies with culturally diverse elementary students with significant reading problems. The effects of daily phonological awareness activities, a synthetic phonics approach, and explicit instruction in the alphabet are summarized. Ethnic differences in…

A study compared students at risk for reading disabilities who were provided phonics-based instruction in first grade (n=13), students tutored in comprehension skills in second grade (n=10), and students tutored in both grades (n=26). Students tutored only in first grade performed better than those also tutored in second grade. (Contains…

Trains 94 first graders using a structured phonological reading method emphasizing English phonology and phoneme/grapheme correspondence. Compares to a control group who received a whole-language-plus-phonics approach. Notes that children in all groups improved their phonological awareness by the same amount. Concludes that phonological awareness…

Presents evidence of learning outcomes in reading from the use of software incorporating two very different styles of learning, structured sub-skills tutoring (using an Integrated Learning System) versus free reading (using a talking book), but which both heavily exploit multimedia presentation. Shows that current debates about whole-word versus…

The Dyslexia Training Program, a remedial reading program derived from Orton-Gillingham methods, embodies principles of structured phonetic instruction, drill and repetition, and multisensory methodology. Following the two-year program, dyslexic students (N=22) demonstrated significantly higher reading recognition and comprehension than a control…

Describes the successes of Writing to Read (WTR) program used with students in kindergarten and grade one as well as with two key subgroups (low-socioeconomic students and males who lag behind in reading and writing). Finds that with this program these subgroups can progress in reading and writing, and fewer students are recommended for remedial…

Concludes that in the first stage of reading, students appear to make relatively few nonsense errors on familiar words, whether they are taught with a meaning-based or phonics approach. However, if initial instruction emphasizes phonics, real word substitutions tend to be graphically constrained; with initial meaning-emphasis instruction,…

This study is a follow-up on a previous study of the effects of 2 beginning reading programs implemented in 1st grade. In the previous study, 40 1st-grade students who were matched based on their Concepts About Print Test (Clay, 1979) and Phonological Segmentation Fluency from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good…