The focus on improving children's readiness for kindergarten has intensified globally. While most studies examine this issue prior to children entering kindergarten, little is known about how education stakeholders make sense of readiness once children enter kindergarten. This article addresses this gap by examining how a range of stakeholders…

Researchers report that early intervention can reduce and eliminate reading difficulties for early readers. What Works Clearinghouse evaluated several phonological awareness interventions, but only one had positive effects on alphabetics and one had potentially positive effects on phonological processing and alphabetics. Additionally, the most…

This review highlights some areas of current interest in teaching students to spell and how spelling skills develop. The topics covered in the paper include: theories of spelling acquisition, theories guiding effective teaching, the importance of word study approaches across the age range, the influence of technology on learning to spell, spelling…

Early literacy skills are essential to later reading success, yet minimal empirical understanding exists about preparing students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to read. Since 1 in 59 children are currently diagnosed with ASD, understanding how to teach reading to this population in critical. Decoding is necessary for successful reading, per…

Many English language learners (ELLs) experience difficulties with basic English reading due in part to low language proficiency. The authors examined the relationship between English language proficiency and growth during reading interventions for ELLs. A total of 201 second- and third-grade students with a variety of home languages participated.…

This study explored the effects of literacy-rich sociodramatic guided play on kindergarten student literacy performance and behavior. Kindergarten students of varying socioeconomic status attending two elementary schools in the same school district participated in this repeated measures, counterbalanced design study. Students received the mandated…

The purpose of this article is to question the suitability of the phonics screening check in relation to models and theories of reading development. The article questions the appropriateness of the check by drawing on theoretical frameworks which underpin typical reading development. I examine the Simple View of Reading developed by Gough and…

Individual telephone interviews with 11 Australian beginning teachers who were newly appointed, or seeking a teaching position, were used to explore their perceptions of their preparation to teach early reading. Interviewees provided self-ratings of preparedness and ability to teach early reading, information about their knowledge of early reading…

The role of phonics instruction in early reading development has been the subject of significant conjecture. Recently, England implemented a phonics screening check to assess the phonetic decoding of 6-year-old students, to ensure that all students master this foundational literacy skill and attain adequate phonemic awareness in the early years of…

Upon entering high school, students with ID who may be able to read simple texts often have difficulty grasping meaning when required to understand more complex texts. This failure affects their overall academic performance, since at this age, it is no longer just a question of learning to read, but rather of reading to learn, in all disciplines.…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a supplemental reading program that emphasizes phoneme awareness and phonics with small groups composed of both at-risk native English-speakers and at-risk English language learners (ELLs) whose first language is not Spanish. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was utilized to investigate the…

Background: Teaching English as home language (EHL) could be a complicated process in a country like South Africa, where there are eleven official languages operating in a multicultural society. This requires capacitating teachers with appropriate and relevant strategies to strengthen their teaching, especially in the foundation phase. Aim: This…

"The Comprehensive Intervention Model: Fostering Self-Regulated Readers Through Responsive Teaching" by Linda Dorn, Carla Soffos, and Adria Klein introduces educators to an innovative intervention model that puts theory to practice then gives that practice a framework. When implemented with fidelity, the framework has the potential to…

Given the focus on phonological attainment in the National Phonics Screening Check, small-scale school-based action research was undertaken to improve phonological recognition and assess the impact on progress and attainment in a sample drawn from Key Stage 1 which included pupils on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Register. The research…

Due to their unique brain profile, children with dyslexia struggle with acquiring basic literacy skills. Even after basic reading skills have been learned students with dyslexia may still struggle greatly with generalizing their skills to new contexts. Researchers have found that 75 percent of children identified with reading problems in third…