Research

Treatment intervention research has shown that appropriate early direct instruction seems to be the best medicine for reading problems. Reading difficulties reflect a persistent deficit, rather than a developmental lag in linguistic (phonological) skills and basic reading skills.  Children who fall behind at an early grade (K and gr. 1) fall further and further behind over time. Longitudinal studies show that of the children who are diagnosed as reading disabled in third grade, 74% remain disabled in the ninth grade (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher & Makuch, 1992; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994). Adults with reading problems exhibit the same characteristics that are exhibited by children with reading problems. 

Developing adequate awareness of phonemes is not dependent on intelligence, SES, or parents' education, but can be effectively fostered through instruction. Such instruction is shown to accelerate reading acquisition in general even as it reduces the incidence of reading failure.

Classroom Implications

Instruction that provides explicit instruction and practise with sound structures lead to familiarity with spelling-sound conventions and their use in identifying printed words. All children have to learn to sound out words rather than relying on context and pictures as their primary strategies to determine meaning. 

Teachers provide instruction that involves both frequent interactions with children and constructive feedback.