How to Evaluate Remedial Reading Programs

What to Look For and What to Avoid

Out of hundreds of remedial reading programs, it can seem overwhelming to figure out how to pick a good one.

Liz is a very bright little girl. But she was not learning to read in her classroom. The reading program and methods lacked the elements she needed: explicit instruction, multi-sensory, daily repetition, slow pace, lots of practice In this photo, she is reading a page of words and sentences from the Wilson program. See her "tapping" out the sounds of a word?

Here I'll present the criteria you can use to evaluate whether a program will really work to teach struggling readers to read.

I'll show you why some remedial reading programs aren't likely to help most struggling readers. And I'll suggest two organizations you can refer to for their reading program evaluations.

In the last decade of a long teaching career, I've specialized in teaching reading to those students who have a hard time learning to read and spell. Many of those students have dyslexia.

See also dyslexia information.

I've used many different remedial reading programs. As I became more and more experienced and learned what it takes for those special children to learn to read, I learned what makes a good remedial reading program.

I've trained hundreds of teachers in the art of teaching reading to the struggling, dyslexic or learning disabled reader.

Not Every Reading Program Will Work for the Struggling Reader

It's usually not effective to take the reading program designed for the average classroom and slow it down or use it one-on-one.

Although this may work for students who are just a little behind, it won't likely meet the needs of those with larger skill gaps and those with learning disabilities like dyslexia (whether they've been officially identified with an IEP or not).

To effectively teach learning disabled or seriously struggling readers, you need remedial reading programs specifically designed for them.

These programs are given many names. They can be referred to as dyslexia reading programs. Or a program might be called a remedial reading program or a corrective reading program.

What you must realize is that the name or label does not make the program effective.

What makes a program effective are its methods and structure, the skill and experience of the teacher, the quality of instruction delivered, the ability and motivation of the student, and the amount of time spent learning to read.

On this page, I'll discuss the methods and structure of the ideal remedial reading program.

What criteria make a reading program effective for helping struggling readers?

Program Design

To be effective for the struggling reader, the remedial reading program needs to include the following:

• Explicit introduction of all concepts - no guessing or hoping the student will intuit the code of the written language (I call that learning to read by osmosis). If that could work for these students, it would have already and the students would be reading.
• Systematic instruction of the elements of the language that relate to reading. These students need everything taught step-by step.
• Comprehensive coverage. Nothing should be skipped. No jumping around.
• Multi-sensory instruction. Teach using all the senses: hearing, seeing, saying, touching, visualizing, whole body movement.
• Introduce small chunks of information at a time.
• Be flexible about speed. The program must be able to move at a pace that is slow enough that the student(s) can succeed without frustration and fast enough to keep everyone interested, attentive and challenged. Since the ideal pace is different for different students, the program must allow for this flexibility in progressing.
• Regular systematic review so nothing important will be forgotten.
• Lots of practice. Include multiple and varied opportunities to practice applying everything that's taught.
• Cover all these areas of instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling (research shows that teaching spelling and reading of the same words simultaneously reinforces the learning of both).
• Research based. Be based on the decades of research collected showing us what it takes to effectively teach everyone to read
• Fun. Will students of any age enjoy the program? The program needs to be interesting, fun and contain enough variety so the student will not get bored.

When "Jazzy" was in 1st grade and we began working together, we used the original version of Language! Later we used the Wilson Reading Program and I took the Wilson supervised practicum training. When we first started working together, Jazzy could not read the simplest 3-sound words. She became a fluent and fast reader, even though spelling remains difficult for her.

• Assessment. There must be means in the program to asses student progress and to easily determine whether the student needs to continue working at the current level or is ready to move forward.

This assessment (formal or informal) should include accuracy and speed in word reading; phrasing, expression and comprehension of sentences and passages; spelling and basic writing mechanics.

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Company and Training

• Program Support. The program authors or publishers should provide support so practitioners can find answers to their questions and know without a doubt that they are implementing the program as the authors intended.
• Resources and Materials. The program needs to come with with adequate resources at a reasonable price so the teacher can provide the students with everything they need to learn to read and spell.
• Teacher Training. It's not easy to teach reading to those who don't learn it easily. It requires special skill and knowledge, that we don't pick up from being readers ourselves.

Any program that teaches reading to students who don't learn easily needs to provide teacher training. Some programs offer what is called a supervised practicum. A trainer observes the teacher implementing the program with a student - usually five or more times over a school-year.

Teachers who have had this level of training are usually much more effective than others because the fully trained teacher develops a much higher level of expertise.

The experience, knowledge and skill of the teacher plays a huge role in determining how effective a reading program will be, and how well the student will learn.

I have been "trained" in the use of many corrective reading programs, or dyslexia reading programs. But only the Wilson Language Program (of the programs I used) offered a supervised practicum.

I thoroughly learned how to use Wilson and my success in teaching reading increased dramatically.

How do you find effective reading programs?

The Florida Center for Reading and Research (FCRR) is a great organization from which to find and compare programs.

FCRR's mission is "1. To conduct basic research on reading, reading growth, reading assessment, and reading instruction that will contribute to the scientific knowledge of reading and benefit students in Florida and throughout the nation. 2. To disseminate information about research-based practices related to literacy instruction and assessment for children in pre-school through 12th grade."

Also the Oregon Reading First Center has created a form and method with which you can evaluate any program. They have used their method to evaluate a limited number of programs.

I've had personal experience with the following corrective reading programs.

• LiPS and Seeing Stars, by Nanci Bell, Patricia Lindamood, and Phyllis Lindamood, Gander Publishing.
• Visualizing and Verbalizing, by Nanci Bell, Patricia Lindamood, and Phyllis Lindamood, Gander Publishing.
• Language!, by Jane Fell Greene, Sopris West.
• Wilson Reading Program, by Barbara Wilson, Wilson Language Training Corporation
• Fundations, by Wilson Language Training Corporation.
• Rewards, by Anita Archer, Mary Gleason, Vicky Vachon, Sopris West.
• Read, Write and Type, Talking Fingers.
• Wordy Qwerty, Talking Fingers.
• Accelerated Reader, Renaissance Learning.
• Great Leaps, Diarmuid, Inc.
• Phonic Reading Lessons, by Nancy Mather and Rhia Roberts, Academic Therapy Publications.

While not all of the above remedial reading programs worked for me, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you about your difficulties and success with various remedial reading programs. I'll add your information to these pages, for the benefit of all who read this.

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