Professor Linda Siegel - Dyslexia International

Early Intervention:Identification andAppropriate TeachingLinda SiegelUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouver, CANADAlinda.siegel@ubc.ca

Why Early Identification+ Intervention• 82 % of the street youth in Torontohad undetected and unremediatedlearning disabilities• All the adolescent suicides in a 3year period in Ontario hadundetected and unremediatedlearning disabilities

Why Early Identification+ Intervention• 75%-95% of individuals in prisonhave significant reading difficulties• Many minority language studentsfail to complete secondary school.• Undiagnosed and unremediatedreading problems result inemotional and social difficulties

Canadian EducationalPolicies• Inclusion – Language minority chldren• Bilingualism• Multiculturalism – Heritage Languagemaintenance• Children start school at age 5 inkindergarten• Very few private schools -99% ofchildren attend government schools

Aims of the Study• Identify children at risk forliteracy difficulties• Provide an appropriateintervention• Assess the effectiveness of theintervention

Longitudinal Study• Screening at age 5 whenchildren enter school• Tested every year onreading, spelling, arithmetic,language and memory skills• Results at grade 7 – age 13

Longitudinal Sample• All the children in the NorthVancouver School District• 30 schools• Varying SES levels• 20% English Language Learners(ESL)

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

nor m a le sKindergartenL1 EnglishELLAt-riskNot at-riskAt-riskNot at-risk

Grade 7L1 EnglishELLDyslexicNormalDyslexicNormal

The children in the studyimproved very significantlyafter good reading instruction.The percentage of dyslexicsdecreased to a small number.

Screening• Effective• Brief – 15-20 minutes• Done by teachers, speechpathologists, psychologists• Provide useful information

Letter Identificationc r m k b w os y t a u d qx l g e z n jp h v i f

PhonologicalAwareness• Ability to break speech downinto smaller units words syllables phonemes

SYLLABLE IDENTIFICATION

RHYME IDENTIFICATION

PHONEME IDENTIFICATION

ORAL CLOZE

Oral cloze• Jane ____her sister went up thehill.• Dad ____ Bobby a letter yesterday.

Reading ReadinessScreening Tool• Designed by teachers, speechtherapists, psychologists• Will be available on the web – freeaccess• Available in English, Spanish,Portuguese• Forthcoming Arabic, Cantonese,Turkish

Intervention Programs• Mostly in the classroom – goodclassroom teaching• Firm Foundations- teaches pre-readingand early phonics skills• Reading 44 – teaches readingcomprehension skills

Firm Foundations• Activities and games designed todevelop–Phonological awareness–Letter sound relationships–Vocabulary–Syntactic skills

• Circle Skills -Teaching the whole class• Centre Skills – Practicing in small groups• Assessment - Working with individualstudents

Results at Grade 7

Word Identificationcatseebookshouldfingergluttonemphasisintrigueusurpidiosyncrasy

Word Identification9080706050403020100Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Woodcock Word Attackdeepogchedgouchcigbetbafmotbemmonglustamer

Word Attack9080706050403020100Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Phoneme/Syllable Deletion20181614121086420Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Spelling9080706050403020100Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Pseudoword Spelling80706050403020100Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Oral Cloze181614121086420Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL

Reading 44• Training readingcomprehension strategies• Vocabulary•Syntax

Stanford ReadingComprehension706050403020Normal L1Normal ELLDyslexic L1Dyslexic ELL100

SES & Reading0.60.50.40.30.20.10K-97 K-98 Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

Conclusions• It is possible to identify children at risk forreading disabilities in kindergarten.• It is possible to provide a classroom basedintervention to bring most of these children toat least average levels of reading.• Children learning English as a secondlanguage can perform at L1 levels andbilingualism may be an advantage.

ConclusionsMost ELL dyslexic children have betterreading, spelling and phonological skillsthan their monolingual peers.Many ELL normal readers have betterEnglish reading, phonological, andspelling skills in their second languagethan children who have English as a firstlanguage.

Caveats• The development of language andliteracy skills in ESL studentsrequires good teaching• First language maintenance isimportant wherever possible

Internet Resourceshttp://www.nvsd44.bc.ca–Click on Firm Foundations–Click on Reading 44