Early Identification and Intervention to Prevent Reading Difficulties Linda Siegel University of British Columbia Vancouver, CANADA

Critical Issues Recognize and treat dyslexia (reading disability) early Understand ESL reading difficulties – dyslexia or not

Why Early Identification + Intervention 82 % of the street youth in Toronto had undetected and unremediated learning disabilities All the adolescent suicides in a 3 year period in Ontario had undetected and unremediated learning disabilities

We are missing many children with learning problems!!!!!!!

Traditional Model Detailed Assessment Classification Resources only if criteria are met Reliance on the discrepancy definition

Response to Instruction Model (RTI) –Initial Assessment –Classroom Based Instruction –Evaluation of Progress –Individual Instruction if needed

Aims of the Study Identify children at risk for literacy difficulties Provide an appropriate intervention Assess the effectiveness of the intervention

Longitudinal Study Screening at age 5 when children enter school Tested every year on reading, spelling, arithmetic, language and memory skills Results at grade 6 – age 12

Longitudinal Sample All the children in the North Vancouver School District 30 schools Varying SES levels 20% English as a Second Language (ESL)

Arabic Armenian Bulgarian Cantonese Croatian Czech Dutch Farsi Japanese Korean Kurdish Mandarin Norwegian Polish Punjabi Romanian LANGUAGES IN THE STUDY German Greek Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Finnish Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swedish Tagalog Tamil Turkish

KINDERGARTEN GRADE 5 L1 EnglishESL Kindergarten

KINDERGARTEN GRADE 5 Dyslexic Normal Dyslexic Normal Grade 6 L1 EnglishESL

Why is the North Vancouver School District so successful?

Kindergarten Screening Letter identification Memory Phonological processing Syntax Spelling

Letter Identification c r m k bwo s y t a ud q x l g e zn j p h v i f

Sentence Repetition Sentences are spoken orally to the child and the child is required to repeat them exactly. Examples. Drink milk. I like ice cream. The boy and girl are walking to school. The girl who is very tall is playing basketball.

Reading Test

the and sit when book

anacampersote mithridatism qualtagh ucalegon groak

Phonological Awareness Ability to break speech down into smaller units  words  syllables  phonemes

Terminology Phonological Awareness – the ability to break down speech into smaller segments Phoneme – the smallest unit of sound Phonics – a method of teaching reading that emphasizes the association of sounds with letters

SYLLABLE IDENTIFICATION

RHYME IDENTIFICATION

PHONEME IDENTIFICATION

ORAL CLOZE

Jane ____her sister went up the hill. Dad ____ Bobby a letter yesterday. Oral cloze

child’s name mom dad cat I no SIMPLE SPELLING

Firm Foundations Activities and games designed to develop –Phonological awareness –Letter sound relationships –Vocabulary –Syntactic skills

Circle Skills -Teaching the whole class Centre Skills – Practicing in small groups Resource Withdrawl - Working with individual students

Firm Foundations Rhyme detection Initial sounds Segmentation Blending Sound discrimination

Terminology Phonological awareness training – teaching the sound structure of words –Auditory training Phonics training – teaching the connection between sounds and letters –Training with print

Literacy Activities Listening to stories Acting out stories Singing songs Letter of the week Letter cookies

SES & Reading

SES & Spelling

Other Important Abilities Vocabulary – understanding and producing the meanings of words Syntax – understanding the basic grammar of the language –Differences between Chinese and English Verb tenses Plurals Articles

Reading 44 Training reading comprehension strategies Vocabulary Syntax

Conclusions It is possible to identify children at risk for reading disabilities in kindergarten. It is possible to provide a classroom based intervention to bring these children to at least average levels of reading. Children learning English as a second language can perform at L1 levels and bilingualism may be an advantage.

Internet Resources –Click on Firm Foundations –Click on Reading 44