PREVENTING EXPERIENTIALLY BASED READING DIFFICULTIES

State University Of New York At Albany, Albany NY

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION: The broad aim is to develop a model for early identification and remediation of reading disabilities in young children "at risk" for this disorder. The first specific aim is to evaluate the long term effects of pull out prevention programs in kindergarten. The second specific aim is to evaluate the long term effects of providing remediation only in kindergarten, only in first grade, or in both kindergarten and first grade. The third specific aim is to compare the effectiveness of phonetic decoding strategies and combined decoding and context-based strategies on word identification in first grade. The fourth specific aim is to investigate the relationship between cognitive abilities underlying reading and growth in reading. The hypothesis is that reading ability has an experiential basis and can be remediated. Approximately 1600 children "at risk" for reading disabilities will be identified at the beginning of kindergarten. They will be randomly assigned to either a kindergarten remediation group or a no remediation group. When they enter first grade, of those still having reading difficulties, half of each of the kindergarten groups will be randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: the phonetic decoding condition, the interactive strategies condition, and a control condition of the regular program. It is anticipated that there will be a total of 240 in the final sample with 40 children in each of six cells in a 2 (intervention or no intervention during kindergarten) x 3 (phonetic, interactive, control) design. A normal reader group (n = 60) will also be identified in first grade and used as a control group for the poor readers. A battery of reading and cognitive skills related to reading will be administered periodically to evaluate the short term effects and the long term effects and long term follow-up effects at third grade.