5. Fiona Duff - REVI+ Down Syndrome research - University of York

• To evaluate the impact of a reading andlanguage intervention programme on theliteracy skills of young children with Downsyndrome• To equip educators with resources andknowledge to help develop literacy skills ofchildren with Down syndrome

• Effective reading interventions• Combine training in (Hatcher et al., 2004, 2006)▪ letter knowledge▪ awareness of speech sounds (phonological awareness)▪ links between letters and sounds▪ book reading• Evidence suggests this approach works for childrenwith Down syndrome (Goetz et al., 2008)• But, this approach does not improve the reading skillsof all children, with or without Down syndrome (Goetz etal., 2008; Hatcher et al., 2006)

• Spoken language skills• Non-responders tend to have additional weaknessesin vocabulary and grammar (Vadasy et al., 2008; Whiteley et al.,2007)• For such children, interventions that combine trainingin reading and language may be more effective (Duff etal., 2008)• Children with Down syndrome also have poor spokenlanguage (Abeduto et al., 2007)• A combined intervention approach may beparticularly effective for these children (Buckley et al., 1996;Burgoyne, in press)

• Daily 40-minute individual sessions, deliveredby trained teaching assistants• Fortnightly themes (10 sessions)• Teaching sessions (1 to 4, 6 to 9): new material• Consolidation sessions (5 and 10): reflect andreviseThe parkFoodWeatherTransportClothesMybodyCookingIn thehomeAnimalsOccupations

Reading Strand (20 mins)Reading easy level bookReading instructional level bookSight word learningLetters, sounds, phonologyIntroduce new instructional level bookLanguage Strand (20 mins)Vocabulary: Introduce new wordsVocabulary: Reinforce meaning of new wordsExpressive language: Use new words in connected speechExpressive language: Use new words in written language2-3 mins5 mins2-3 mins5 mins5 mins5 mins5 mins5 mins5 mins

Simple gain score12.0010.008.00InterventionControl6.004.002.000.00

Adjusted mean difference at t2 (controlling for t1)8.006.004.002.000.000.42-0.120.010.240.03 0.47 0.340.540.330.010.31-2.00-4.00-6.00-8.00-10.00-12.00

• Following 20 weeks of reading and languageintervention• Small but significant effects on:▪ Letter knowledge, word reading, phoneme awareness,expressive vocabulary• No transfer to:▪ Spelling, standardised tests of vocabulary, decoding• Next steps:• Outstanding data analyses (speech and language)• Replication in second group?

• Claudine Crane• Glynnis Smith• Elizabeth Fieldsend• Emma Truelove• Pam Baylis• Becky Baxter• Cara Hens• Laura Lewis• Louise Nasir• Faye Smith• Alex Petrou• Sarah Watson• Big Lottery Fund• Jolly Learning Ltd.• Jelly & Bean Ltd.• Gardner Ed.• POPs Resources• Not forgetting all theschools, teachingassistants, families andchildren, without whosehelp this research wouldnot be possible.