Methods for Increasing the Intensity of Reading …daddcec.org/Portals/0/CEC/Autism_Disabilities/Research/...Methods for Increasing the Intensity of Reading Instruction for Students

Methods for Increasing the Intensity of Reading Instructionfor Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Jill H. Allor, Tammi M. Champlin, Diane B. Gifford, and Patricia G. MathesSouthern Methodist University

Abstract: Current research is demonstrating the effectiveness of comprehensive reading instruction for individ-uals with intellectual disabilities (ID; Allor, Mathes, Roberts, Cheatham, & Champlin, 2010; Allor, Mathes,Roberts, Jones, & Champlin, 2010; Browder, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Courtade, Gibbs, & Flowers, 2008). Oneoverarching finding from these studies is that intense amounts of repetition and practice on critical literacy skillsare needed to produce meaningful gains. Providing intensive instruction in the school setting is extremelychallenging. The purpose of this article is to describe the various strategies used in one research project tointensify early literacy instruction for students with ID, including methods for providing practice outside ofteacher-led instruction. Specifically, we describe (a) key factors in planning intensive instruction, (b) generalstrategies for increasing intensity during teacher-led lessons, and (c) selecting and designing specific activitiesto increase intensity.

The most fundamental job of this nation’seducation system is to teach children to read(National Federation of Teachers, 1999; NoChild Left Behind Act, 2002). In spite of thismanifesto, teaching children with intellectualdisabilities (ID) to read has been largely ig-nored in the national rhetoric. Typically it hasbeen assumed that reading is a skill beyondthe intellectual capabilities of most studentswith ID and that at best they might be taughtto recognize a limited number of sight words(i.e., high frequency words). As such, four infive children with mild to moderate ID neverachieve even minimal levels of literacy (Ka-tims, 2001). Recent research supports the viewthat this group of students should be taught toread in a manner similar to other students

who struggle to learn to read (Allor, Mathes,Roberts, Cheatham, et al., 2010; Allor, Mathes,Roberts, Jones, et al., 2010; Browder et al.,2008). Specifically, students with ID should betaught to read using strategies and techniquesthat will provide them with the skills necessaryto fully process individual words in connectedtext and derive meaning from the text. Thesefindings suggest that when given scientifically-based and rigorously intensive reading in-struction over an extended period of time,these children respond positively, making im-portant gains in literacy development. Instruc-tion must be systematic and explicit, includingall reading components; repetitive in its use ofroutines and instructional language; fast-paced; and highly motivating. Lessons shouldbe fully implemented by teachers skilled ineffective reading instruction. Students with IDrequire large amounts of repetition to makemeaningful progress. Increasing practice ofcritical skills is extremely challenging. Re-sources are finite; therefore, we must find fea-sible methods for increasing the intensity ofinterventions. The purpose of this article is todescribe ways in which teachers may intensifyreading instruction for students with mild ormoderate ID. Intensive instruction is requiredto provide all children with the opportunity todevelop the skills necessary to become literate

The work presented in this article was supportedby Grant No. H324K040011-05 from the Institute ofEducation Sciences. This article does not necessarilyreflect the positions or policies of this fundingagency and no official endorsement should be in-ferred. We thank the teachers and students whoparticipated in this research. Correspondence con-cerning this article should be addressed to Jill H.Allor, Department of Teaching and Learning, An-nette Caldwell Simmons School of Education andHuman Development, Southern Methodist Univer-sity, P.O. Box 750381, Dallas, TX 75275-0381. E-mail: [email protected]

Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 2010, 45(4), 500–511© Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities

500 / Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities-December 2010

adults. Before describing specific techniquesfor increasing intensity, we describe the cur-rent status of the research in teaching readingto students with ID.

Current Status of the Research

In the last decade, several pertinent studieshave been conducted that suggest that indi-viduals with ID can learn isolated word read-ing skills with appropriate instructional inter-ventions (see Browder, Wakeman, Spooner,Ahlgrim-Delzell, & Algozzine, 2006; Browder& Xin, 1998; Joseph & Seery, 2004). Theseskills include sight word recognition and, to alesser extent, phonemic awareness and phon-ics. Until recently, however, no research hasbeen conducted with students with ID thatimplemented a comprehensive approach toteaching reading and included phonemicawareness and systematic decoding, as well asoral language and comprehension. A reviewof these studies follows.

Sight word recognition. Sight word readingin which students receive stimulus controlprompting techniques has garnered the mostattention. In 1998, Browder and Xin con-ducted a meta-analysis of 48 studies datingback to 1980. The review focused on studiesthat taught systematic sight word recognitionto individuals, most who were classified as hav-ing moderate ID. Overall, the instructionalinterventions used were found to be highlyeffective with students learning to recognize alarge corpus of words. Additionally, in a com-prehensive review of literature, Browder andcolleagues (2006) examined the evidencebase of 128 studies that focused on teachingreading to individuals with significant cogni-tive disabilities. In support of prior research,they found studies of sufficient number, qual-ity and effect size that revealed a strong evi-dence base for teaching sight words systemat-ically in repeated trial formats to individualswith either moderate or severe ID. Findingsalso included evidence for using sight wordsin the context of functional activities and con-crete word to picture matching to teach read-ing comprehension.

Phonics. The teaching of the more iso-lated subskills of phonics, such as letter-soundcorrespondence, has also been examined.Conners (1992) identified seven studies that

promoted teaching phonics to individualswith moderate ID. Particularly beneficial insome of these studies was the use of stimulus-connected prompting and fading techniquesas well as phonics error correction analyses. Ina subsequent review of the literature from1990 to 2002, Joseph and Seery (2004) foundan additional seven studies teaching phonicsto individuals with moderate or mild ID. Re-sults indicated that in spite of the lack ofdirect or explicit instruction students wereable to benefit from phonics instruction. Asfurther support of the effectiveness of phonicsinstruction for students with ID, Conners,Rosenquist, Sligh, Atwell, and Kiser (2006)conducted a 10-week intervention programfor twenty children with ID. Phonologicalreading skills, including some sounding outactivities, were taught. As a result of the inter-vention, students were better able to soundout words compared to a control group, al-though final ability was found to be depen-dent on the initial general language skills ofthe individual participants.

Comprehensive reading instruction. Whilethese studies have been important in showingthat individuals with ID can grow in isolatedskills, recent studies have demonstrated theeffectiveness of instructionally comprehensiveprograms for individuals with below averageIQs (Allor, Mathes, Roberts, Cheatham, et al.,2010; Allor, Mathes, Roberts, Jones, et al.,2010; Browder et al., 2008). Browder and col-leagues reported on the outcome of a studythat evaluated the effect of an early literacycurriculum for students who were either non-verbal or had limited language and cognitiveskills. The Early Literacy Skills Builder curricu-lum (ELSB; Browder, Gibbs, Ahlgrim-Delzell,Courtade, & Lee, 2007) introduced progres-sively more difficult reading skills and gavemultiple opportunities to practice those skillsbefore advancing to more difficult activitiesand lessons. Moreover, the curriculum useddirect instruction strategies to teach phone-mic blending and segmenting, abilities essen-tial for decoding and fully processing print,which leads to the ability to connect print withmeaning. Both the experimental group andthe contrast group also participated in literacyexperiences targeting concepts of print. Tworesearcher-designed assessments of early liter-acy and two standardized measures were ad-

Increasing Intensity / 501

ministered to all students. In a series of mixedanalyses of variances, which looked at the in-teractions between the experimental condi-tions, results indicated that students in thetreatment condition made greater gains thanthose in the control group and that thesedifferences were statistically significant.

In our research we also found importantand meaningful gains in literacy developmentfor students with ID (Allor, Mathes, Roberts,Cheatham, et al., 2010; Allor, Mathes, Roberts,Jones, et al., 2010). We have reported on yeartwo and year three, respectively, of a four-yearlongitudinal study in which we examined theeffectiveness of a comprehensive phonics-based, direct instruction reading program inteaching early reading and language skills tostudents with IQs ranging from 40–79. Thestudents were all verbal and in grades 1 to 4when they began the study. Within IQ cate-gory and schools, students were randomly as-signed to treatment and control conditions.Research teachers followed scripted lessonsand provided the intervention daily for 40–50minutes. After 2–3 years of instruction, resultsindicated that on standardized measures ofreading and language, students in the treat-ment condition made educationally meaning-ful progress at a faster rate than the controlgroup and these differences were statisticallysignificant. On progress monitoring mea-sures, statistically significant differences be-tween the treatment and control groups werealso found for phonemic awareness, phone-mic decoding (word attack and NonsenseWord Fluency), and oral reading fluency. Ef-fect sizes were moderate to high for wordrecognition, vocabulary, and listening com-prehension as well. No differences were foundin reading comprehension. Even though stu-dent performance in these studies was highlyvariable, strong conclusions can be drawn.Specifically, after its third year of implemen-tation, evidence supported the effectiveness ofa reading program that is comprehensive inscope, including multiple dimensions of read-ing development; instruction that is intensive,repetitive and long-term; and teaching that isexplicit in nature. Understanding ways inwhich these conclusions translate to classroompractices is critical for student success.

As would be expected, one overarchingfinding from these studies is that intense

amounts of repetition and practice on criticalliteracy skills were needed to produce mean-ingful gains. Providing intensive instruction inthe school setting is extremely challenging. Inour own research, federal research funds wereavailable to hire teachers specifically to pro-vide our intervention. Yet, even with theseadditional resources, we faced a variety of lo-gistical obstacles common in the school set-ting, including scheduling conflicts, typical in-terruptions to instruction (e.g. field trips,assemblies), and absences, which were some-times excessive due to higher frequencies ofhealth problems within this group of students.Further, students with ID require practice thatis carefully designed to meet their specificability levels. Educators must assess frequentlyand provide targeted practice. Another chal-lenge in providing intensive practice is thatstudents with ID often have difficulty practic-ing independently, particularly in the earlystages of reading development. Support froman experienced teacher is often needed toprovide meaningful practice that targets thespecific needs of students.

The purpose of this article is to describe thevarious strategies we used in our research tointensify early literacy instruction for studentswith ID, including methods for providingpractice outside of teacher-led instruction.Specifically, we describe (a) key factors inplanning intensive instruction, (b) generalstrategies for increasing intensity duringteacher-led lessons, and (c) methods for se-lecting and designing specific activities to in-crease intensity.

Key Factors in Planning Intensive Instruction

In our research we identified four key factorsthat appear to be critical to effectively increas-ing the intensity of reading instruction. Al-though these factors apply to all students whoare learning to read, this article specificallyfocuses on the application of these factors toinstruction for students with ID. When plan-ning instruction and designing specific activi-ties, it is important to consider the following:level of intensity, appropriate level of diffi-culty, motivation, and meaningfulness to thestudent.


Level of Intensity

The most obvious consideration when plan-ning instruction to optimize intensity was sim-ply quantity. We planned daily teacher-led in-structional sessions that were 40–50 minutesin length. Early in our intervention, we devel-oped behavior modification plans for studentswho had difficulty participating actively forthe entire instructional session. Within severalweeks, all students were able to actively partic-ipate for full sessions; however, some studentsrequired ongoing reinforcement for on-taskbehavior. This level of intensity was necessaryto produce meaningful literacy growth. Evenwith these daily sessions, most of our studentsrequired at least three years to reach readinglevels equivalent to those typically achievedapproximately halfway through first grade.For further discussion, see Allor, Mathes,Jones, Champlin, and Cheatham (2010).

We also looked for ways to encourage addi-tional practice outside of teacher-led smallgroup or individual sessions, such as indepen-dent or supported practice. When studentshad very minimal literacy skills, providing in-dependent practice was difficult; however, asstudents’ literacy skills developed, indepen-dent practice became more practical and fea-sible. Throughout our study, we found manyways to encourage supported practice (i.e.reading appropriate texts and/or completingreading activities), including practicing withpeers during the school day, practicing athome with family members, practicing withparaprofessionals or volunteers, and partici-pating in technology-based practice. Technol-ogy-based practice can be highly motivatingand effective; however, we carefully selectedand monitored technology-based practice, asquality varies widely and students often re-quired support for this practice to be effective.We wish to emphasize the critical role of theteacher in encouraging and planning inde-pendent and supported practice. Althoughpeers and other adults were valuable re-sources, the teacher’s role in planning andmonitoring these activities was essential to suc-cess. We planned activities that were easilyimplemented by others and met the needs ofstudents based on current assessment data.We monitored implementation and fosteredmotivation through the selection of activities,

as well as tracking progress and providing re-inforcers.

Appropriate Skills and Difficulty Level

A second important factor we considered wasdetermining which skills were most critical forstudents to practice at any given point in time.During teacher-led implementation of our in-tervention, teachers routinely monitored stu-dent mastery of skills to determine which les-sons and activities needed to be repeated.With careful monitoring, we could focus in-structional time on key skills, not spendingtime on skills the student no longer needed toreview (i.e., the student has clearly mastered)or on skills that were too difficult for thestudent at that time (i.e., the student wasmaking frequent errors and was likely to befrustrated). Ongoing monitoring duringteacher-led instruction, along with progressmonitoring data, provided us with the infor-mation needed to plan activities to be con-ducted outside teacher-led instruction (i.e.,independent practice or supported practicewith someone other than the teacher). Duringteacher-led sessions and during other practiceactivities, we planned carefully to select activ-ities and implement them with adequate sup-port to ensure that students could performthem with relatively high degrees of accuracy.If students were not successful in an activity,we either returned to the prerequisite skill orincreased scaffolding until student responseswere accurate. Making instructional decisionsbased on assessment data was an ongoing pro-cess throughout the study.

Motivation

A third consideration for increasing intensitywas ensuring high levels of motivation. In ourresearch study, we found that to participateactively in lessons and outside practice moststudents required some type of tangible rein-forcer that was delivered on a frequent basis.For many students we were able to move frommore tangible to less tangible reinforcers, aswell as decrease the frequency with which wedelivered reinforcers. Another technique thatappeared to be helpful with our students wasto set goals with the students, helping them todevelop self-determination and a sense of con-


trol over their learning. In this way studentstook responsibility for their own growth andbecame more independent, though highlysupported, learners. In setting goals, wegraphed both the amount of practice and theamount of progress they made on target skills.

Practice Meaningful to Students

The fourth consideration was ensuring thatpractice was meaningful to students. This wasrelevant to increasing intensity because moremeaningful practice increased the likelihoodthat practice would be effective and fostercomprehension. Our program was compre-hensive, targeting general knowledge, as wellas vocabulary and narrative language. We rec-ognized that these skills were important tocomprehension, as well as the development ofphonics and word recognition skills. If wordswere not in a student’s oral vocabulary, forexample, they would be less likely to success-fully decode the word in print and rememberthe word the next time they come across it intext. Although certain activities targetedsounds and print, teachers routinely con-nected these activities to words and conceptsthat were meaningful to students. We avoidedwords we did not think would be in the stu-dents’ spoken vocabulary even if they weremade up of common letters and sounds. Forexample, we avoided the word fig because ourstudents were unlikely to be familiar with themeaning of fig. In this example fig would func-tion as a nonsense word until the studentswere taught the meaning of the word. We diduse nonsense words in our assessment tools,but we did not use nonsense words in ourteaching. We also connected individual wordsto their meaning through pictures and/orbrief conversation. Words being practicedwere included in sentences and text as soon aspossible. For example, once a student couldidentify a few words (by sounding out or bysight), these words were combined into sen-tences. Examples of how we provided mean-ingful word level practice, sentence level prac-tice, and text level practice will be describedlater in this article.

General Strategies for Increasing Intensityduring Teacher-led Lessons

We employed several management and gen-eral instructional techniques to increase in-tensity during teacher-led lessons. First, les-sons were presented at a fast pace, increasingthe number of opportunities for students torespond. Lessons were designed to introducenew skills quickly and provide cumulative re-view within a series of brief, fast-paced activi-ties. Activities focusing on letter sounds andwords were very short, ranging from 1–5 min-utes, while activities focusing on fluency, vo-cabulary, and comprehension were usually alittle longer. Teachers moved quickly fromone activity to the next. Pacing within activi-ties was as quick as possible, while allowingstudents adequate processing time. Soundand word activities were designed to promoteautomaticity; therefore, teachers gradually re-duced processing time until student responsesbecame quick and automatic. Second, behav-ior management techniques were used to de-crease time off task. Teachers developed rou-tine prompts to quickly remind students tostay on task, and they reinforced on-task be-havior. A third method for increasing inten-sity was to spend less time on clearly masteredskills, allowing more practice time for skillsnot mastered. The students in our study re-quired extensive practice on all skills, yet theirskill development was sometimes unevenacross skills. For example, often students hadclearly mastered letter-sound correspon-dences reviewed in a lesson, yet struggled withthe phonemic awareness activities within thesame lesson. Therefore, we reduced the timespent on letter-sound correspondences, re-viewing these briefly in each lesson or skip-ping that activity on some days.

Methods for Selecting and DesigningActivities for Additional Practice

During our project, we developed additionalactivities to enable us to better provide theextensive practice needed for our students tomaster skills. Through these activities studentspracticed the skills and strategies taughtwithin the primary curriculum. Some of theseadditional activities were used during teacher-led sessions, but many were specifically de-


signed to provide independent practice andpractice supported by peers or adults otherthan the teacher. We have organized our rec-ommendations for specific activities into fourprimary categories: (a) word level practice,(b) sentence level practice, (c) text level prac-tice, and (d) words within text practice (i.e.,responding to word level errors occurringduring text reading). As we discuss each ofthese activities, we will explain how we appliedthe key factors described earlier.

Designing Word Level Activities

We created puzzles and games to provide in-teresting and motivating ways to practice indi-vidual words and word recognition strategiestaught in the primary curriculum. As is com-mon practice in teaching early reading, stu-dents were taught to recognize irregularlyspelled, high frequency sight words (e.g., was,come) and they were taught to sound out reg-ularly spelled decodable words (e.g., can, sit).As students advanced, they learned increas-ingly complex spelling patterns (e.g. ar, aw).We developed sets of words designed specifi-cally to provide practice applying strategies,cumulative review, and multiple exposure tocommon words. Many students struggled tounitize words, meaning they experienced dif-ficulty reaching the stage of reading whenwords were recognized quickly and automati-cally without slowly sounding out words onesound at a time. Over time, students masteredsounding out words, but even after repeatedexposure to common words during teacher-led lessons, they were not unitizing thesewords. Rather, they still needed to sound eachword out to identify it. We used the wordgames and puzzles to provide extensive expo-sure to words, particularly common words.

One student who experienced significantchallenges unitizing words was Jacob, a stu-dent with moderate ID who was 11 years old bythe end of the study. His teacher began eachlesson with a quick flashcard review of com-mon words. He also completed puzzle pagesat home and played flashcard games with hispeers. Jacob responded well to these addi-tional activities, generalizing his skills to booksand oral reading fluency passages. By the endof the study, Jacob’s scores on Dynamic Indica-tors of Early Literacy Skills (Good & Kaminski,

2002) improved, with Oral Reading Fluencyscores increasing to 36 correct words perminute (on first-grade level passages) andNonsense Word Fluency scores increasing to76 sounds per minute. Importantly, Jacob be-gan reading the nonsense words as wholewords, rather than reading sound by sound,demonstrating his ability to transfer his abilityto unitize to words he had not practiced. Wealso wish to emphasize the length of timerequired for Jacob to acquire these skills. Heparticipated in our study for four years anddid not begin unitizing words until the finalyear of the study. For further informationabout Jacob’s progress during the first threeyears of the study, see Allor, Mathes, Jones, etal. (2010).

We employed several techniques in select-ing words to practice in activities. We selectedwords from the curriculum and words madeup of the sound patterns taught in the curric-ulum. We targeted high frequency words,both those that students had been taught tomemorize (i.e., irregularly spelled words suchas was and come) and those they had beentaught the necessary skills to sound words out(i.e., regularly spelled words such as had andsit). See Table 1 for a partial list of words thatare both high in frequency and regularlyspelled. The advantage of using these wordswas that students could apply their decodingstrategies to words that they would likely seefrequently in connected text. In addition tothe high frequency words (i.e. both regularlyspelled high frequency words and irregularlyspelled high frequency words), we includedother regularly spelled words that we thoughtwould be meaningful to our students. Al-though these words are not on popular high-frequency word lists, they are words typicallyused by young children in both oral and writ-ten language. They provided students withopportunities to apply their decoding skillsand ensured that students were processing allof the letters in words. For example, we in-cluded the word sand because it was likely tobe meaningful and students needed to look atevery letter in sand to differentiate it fromhigh frequency words, such as said and sad.We avoided words we thought would be unfa-miliar to our students, even if they were regu-larly spelled (e.g., fig, tam). By avoiding these


words, we were able to reinforce the conceptthat reading always includes meaning.

After developing sets of words emphasizinghigh frequency words and meaningful wordsmade up of skills taught in the primary curric-ulum, we created cards and word puzzles forstudents to use both independently and insupported practice (i.e., with a peer or adult).We made sets of cards that included two cardsfor each word in a set of words so studentscould play matching games including Concen-tration, Old Maid, or Go Fish (see Figure 1).We also created word puzzles, such as the onein Figure 2. Occasionally, the games wereplayed during teacher-led sessions, but mostoften they were used during supported prac-tice with peers, volunteers, or paraprofession-als. They were also sent home where theycould be played with family members. Simi-larly, the puzzle pages could be completedeither independently or with the support ofpeers or adults.

Designing Sentence Level Activities

As soon as students knew enough words tobuild sentences, sentences were included in

most activities. Most puzzle pages includedpractice with sentences. For example, in theactivity in Figure 3, students cut out words,unscrambled them to form sentences, andthen wrote the sentences on the page. Inother puzzles, students read sentences and

TABLE 1

Partial List of High-Frequency Regular Words

a e i o u

am bed big dog busan best did got butand end hill hop cutask get him hot funat help if lost jumpbag hen in mom justcan left it not mustcat leg its off rundad let miss on sunfast men pig upfat pet sit ushad red sixhand set willhat tellland tenlast wellman wentpanransat

Figure 1. Word Level Activity Example


then matched them to pictures representingthe sentence or they identified words to com-plete sentences, as in the crossword puzzle in

Figure 4. Basic practice pages, such as the onein Figure 5, were also developed to providestudents with targeted reading practice thatcould easily be supported by peers or adultsother than the teacher. These were frequentlyread during the day to peers and volunteers orsent home to be read to a family member.

Another activity we used frequently duringteacher-led lessons was to put the words orphrases of a sentence in order. Teachers wrotesentences on sentence strips and then cut thesentences into words and/or phrases. Stu-dents practiced reading the words and thenused those words to build sentences. In thisactivity they practiced word recognition, com-prehension and oral language skills. Teacherscreated sentences using words the studentshad been taught or they selected sentencesfrom the connected text being read by thestudent. One student who responded well tothis activity was Bart, a student with moderateID who participated in our study three years.He began the study when he was seven yearsold with very few literacy skills and limited oral

Figure 2. Word Puzzle Example

Figure 3. Sentence Puzzle Example

Figure 4. Sentence Puzzle Example


language skills. Bart’s teacher selected sen-tences from the stories that were critical to thestory development. After Bart would read thewords and put them into a meaningful sen-tence, his teacher would discuss the meaningof the sentence with him. When rereading thestory later, his teacher found that his fluency,including prosody improved, along with hiscomprehension as he was able to discuss thebasic events in the story more readily afterhaving practiced sentences in isolation. Al-though Bart’s reading did not reach high lev-els of fluency prior to the end of the study(i.e., his Oral Reading Fluency scores were 38words per minute at the end of the study), hedid read simple mid first-grade level text suc-cessfully, identifying words accurately and de-scribing the main events in stories (See Allor,Mathes, Jones, et al., 2010, for further infor-mation about his progress). To make the ac-tivity even more meaningful to students,teachers added occasional words the studentschose, even if students had not been taught torecognize those words in print (e.g., baseball,gymnastics). These words were used less fre-quently as they did not provide opportunitiesto practice word recognition skills, but theywere helpful in increasing student interest

and fostering oral language development andcomprehension.

Designing Text Level Activities

In our study, we supplemented the text fromour curriculum in two ways. First, for studentswho were successfully moving through ourcurriculum, we worked to ensure that theywere reading books at an appropriate diffi-culty level outside of teacher-led instruction.We taught our students how to select appro-priate text and assisted them in locating textthat would be meaningful and interesting tothem but not frustrating. Students weretaught that if they missed more than one wordout of any ten words in a book, it was probablytoo difficult. We also located books with themusing various resources, including websites ofleveled text such as www.lexile.com/finda-book/ and www.readinga-z.com/. We trackedtheir progress, providing forms on which theycould write down the titles of books read andthe amount of time spent reading. Forms weresigned by family members, teachers, or school-based volunteers. We used incentive programssponsored by corporations who supplied vari-ous rewards for reaching goals. These in-cluded everything from free pizza to freetheme park tickets. We even collaborated witha local professional sports organization to pro-vide incentives for students. Students with dis-abilities may not always be included in thesetypes of programs, so it is important for spe-cial education teachers to ensure that theyhave access to incentive programs. Anotherway we encouraged motivation was by rein-forcing oral reading fluency goals with tangi-ble rewards. Teachers shared graphs ofprogress with students, discussing theirprogress in relation to their goals and workingtogether to map out ways to improve or main-tain growth. Students needed to be explicitlytaught that their hard work and practice re-sulted in meaningful improvement. Ofcourse, ensuring that books were not too dif-ficult for students and were interesting to stu-dents was extremely important.

A second way we supplemented the text inthe curriculum was by creating lessons specif-ically designed to teach students to transferskills to connected text. Several students expe-rienced extreme difficulty applying skills in

Figure 5. Word and Sentence Level Practice Activity


text. Words they read correctly during ourintervention were frequently missed in con-nected text. Further, these students read thestories in our curriculum multiple times;therefore, new stories were needed to increasemotivation. In our study, we wrote several sto-ries that were at an appropriate difficulty leveland then created a series of lessons for stu-dents to practice the exact words from thosestories. See Figure 6 for sample text. Althoughteachers do not have the time to write booksspecifically for their students, they could cre-ate application lessons that parallel their cur-riculum and prepare students to read newtext. We did this by implementing the sameactivities used in our curriculum (Mathes &Torgesen, 2005) with the exact words fromthe new text. See Figures 7 and 8 for examplescripts and presentation pages from one ofour application lessons. To create these, weused the same language as the lessons in ourprimary curriculum.

One student who responded particularlywell to the application lessons was Kristen, astudent with moderate ID who participated inour study for three years. Kristen, who was 12years old by the end of the study, was able tosuccessfully participate in many activitieswithin the curriculum and showed progresson letter-sound correspondence and phone-mic awareness. She was not successful in con-nected text even though she was able to de-

code a few very simple regular words andrecognize a few sight words during teacher-ledlessons. After participating in the applicationlessons, she recognized the words in con-nected text more readily and began to see therelationship between reading lessons andreading books. Before participating in the ap-plication lessons, Kristen was able to quickly(within two to three seconds each) identifyonly five of the words in the newly writtenbooks. After participating in application les-sons and reading three books, she was able toidentify 50 words quickly. These were a com-bination of regularly spelled short vowel wordsand a set of irregularly spelled high frequencywords. (See Allor, Gifford, Champlin,Oliphint, & Miller, 2010 for further informa-tion.)

Designing Activities to Target Words within Text

In addition to increasing the amount of textread, we also worked to ensure that the errorsstudents made when reading text were cor-

Figure 6. Sample text from book, Up at Bat

Figure 7. Application Lessons: Sounding OutExample


rected and individual words requiring moreinstruction or practice were identified and in-corporated into future lessons or practice ac-tivities. When reading passages during teach-er-led instruction, teachers kept notes ofwhich words were missed. We used a simpleerror analysis chart (see Figure 9) to keeptrack of errors. The chart included a columnto write the word from the text as well as acolumn to write the way the student pro-nounced the word. For example, from thechart in Figure 9 we see that the student didnot correctly identify the word sport. Teachers

then responded to errors by including theword and/or skill (e.g. words with or) in teach-er-led lessons or in other practice activities.The teachers also taught volunteers and para-professionals to complete the same chart asthe students read to them.

Another technique we used was to encour-age the students to write any words they werelearning in a word journal or mark them withremovable adhesive flags. Students were in-structed to write or mark any words that theydid not read very quickly. This technique washelpful, particularly for older students, be-cause it increased their independence andmotivation. In this way they could see difficultwords as opportunities to learn new words,rather than be frustrated by them. This alsohelped teachers to quickly and easily recog-nize when books were too difficult and stu-dents needed to be encouraged to select moreappropriate books. These words were thenincorporated into teacher-led lessons and ad-ditional practice activities.

Summary

In summary, educators who teach studentswith ID to read need to provide instructionand practice that is extremely intense. Stu-dents need consistent, explicit, systematicteacher-led instruction over a long period oftime. Students with ID require extensive prac-tice on critical skills to make meaningful liter-acy gains. Educators must be creative and per-sistent as they plan instruction and readingpractice that is intense, motivating, and mean-ingful. Further, educators must use ongoingprogress monitoring data to ensure that in-struction and practice matches the student’scurrent stage of reading development. Wehope the techniques and activities describedin this article will assist educators in effectivelyteaching reading to students with ID.

References

Allor, J. H., Gifford, D. B., Champlin, T. M.,Oliphint, M. M, & Miller, S. J. (manuscript inprogress). Teaching students with intellectual dis-abilities to unitize words and transfer early read-ing skills to connected text.

Allor, J. H., Mathes, P. G., Jones, F. G., Champlin, T.M, & Cheatham, J. P. (2010). Individualized re-

Figure 8. Application Lessons: Sight Word Example

Figure 9. Error Analysis Chart Example


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