A Scientific Success Story: Specific Reading Disabilities, or Developmental Dyslexia Dr. Joseph K. Torgesen Florida Stat

1. A Scientific Success Story: Specific Reading Disabilities, or Developmental Dyslexia Dr. Joseph K. Torgesen Florida State University and Florida Center for Reading Research Florida Council for Exceptional Children, October, 2006

2. Alexis….

3. To identify students like Alexis, we developed definitions by exclusion: Alexis, and many other students, have reading difficulties not caused by: • Low intelligence, or general ability • Lack of support, or learning opportunities, at home • Poor instruction • Other disabilities like vision or hearing Made the assumption, that these disabilities were intrinsic to the child, but didn’t know what they actually were

4. A short detour: How do we define a proficient reader – what is our ultimate instructional goal in reading? We want students to be able to read grade level text with a strong level of understanding Reading Comprehension is our ultimate goal – we want children to be able to understand and learn from what they read. This, for example, is what the FCAT measures.

5. What skills, knowledge, and attitudes are required for good reading comprehension?

6. What we know about the factors that affect reading comprehension Proficient comprehension of text is influenced by: Accurate and fluent word reading skills Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension) Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies to improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down. Reasoning and inferential skills Motivation to understand and interest in task and materials

7. LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION Skilled Reading- fluent coordination of word reading and comprehension processes BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE STRUCTURES VERBAL REASONING LITERACY KNOWLEDGE SKILLED READING: fluent execution and coordination of word recognition and text comprehension. increasingly strategic WORD RECOGNITION PHON. AWARENESS DECODING (and SPELLING) SIGHT RECOGNITION increasingly automatic The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled Reading (Scarborough, 2001) Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually acquired over years of instruction and practice.

8. Three potential stumbling blocks to becoming a good reader(NRC Report, 1998) 1. Difficulty learning to read words accurately and fluently 2. Insufficient vocabulary, general knowledge, and reasoning skills to support comprehension of written language 3. Absence or loss of initial motivation to read, or failure to develop a mature appreciation of the rewards of reading.

9. What is the most critical problem for students with specific disabilities in reading, or dyslexia?

10. Three potential stumbling blocks to becoming a good reader(NRC Report, 1998) 1. Difficulty learning to read words accurately and fluently 2. Insufficient vocabulary, general knowledge, and reasoning skills to support comprehension of written language 3. Absence or loss of initial motivation to read, or failure to develop a mature appreciation of the rewards of reading.

11. Extreme difficulties mastering the use of “phonics” skills as an aid to early, independent reading • difficulties with the skills of blending and analyzing the sounds in words (phonemic awareness). • difficulties learning letter-sound correspondences • Slow development of “sight vocabulary” arising from: • limited exposure to text • lack of strategies to reliably identify words in text

12. The nature of the underlying difficulty for most children who have specific reading disabilities or dyslexia Weaknesses in the phonological area of language ability inherent, or intrinsic, disability

13. Recent Functional Neuroimaging findings on Adults Visual Cortex Auditory Cortex Temple, 2001, CONB

14. The nature of the underlying difficulty for most children who have specific reading disabilities or dyslexia Weaknesses in the phonological area of language ability inherent, or intrinsic, disability Expressed primarily by delays in the development of phonemic awareness and phonics skills

15. Growth in “phonics” ability of children who begin first grade in the bottom 20% in Phoneme Awareness and Letter Knowledge (Torgesen & Mathes, 2000) Low Average Reading Grade Level Grade level corresponding to age

16. Growth in word reading ability of children who begin first grade in the bottom 20% in Phoneme Awareness and Letter Knowledge (Torgesen & Mathes, 2000) Low Average Reading grade level 1 2 3 4 5 Grade level corresponding to age

17. Growth in reading comprehension of children who begin first grade in the bottom 20% in Phoneme Awareness and Letter Knowledge (Torgesen & Mathes, 2000) Low Average Reading Grade Level Same verbal ability – very different Reading Comprehension Grade level corresponding to age

18. The Basic Discovery: Specific reading disabilities, or developmental dyslexia, is caused by a weakness, or lack of talent, in the phonological domain of language This weakness makes it difficult to acquire phonemic awareness and alphabetic reading skills—which interferes with the growth of accurate reading skills.

19. A recent definition of dyslexia that incorporates the new knowledge “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.” (Lyon & Shaywitz, 2003)

20. Important facts about talent in the phonological language domain: It is like most other talents in that it is distributed normally in the population

21. Children can be strong in this talent-like my grandson Andrew “Phonological talent” is normally distributed in the population Percentile Ranks 50th 16th 84th 2nd 98th 70 85 100 115 130 Standard Scores

22. Children can be moderately weak in this talent-like David “Phonological ability” is normally distributed in the population Percentile Ranks 50th 16th 84th 2nd 98th 70 85 100 115 130 Standard Scores

23. David

24. Each of these kinds of weakness is normally distributed in the population Serious difficulties-probably require special interventions and a lot of extra support-like Alexis Percentile Ranks 50th 16th 84th 2nd 98th 70 85 100 115 130 Standard Scores

25. Another important fact about talent in the phonological language domain: It is only weakly correlated with broad verbal ability or general intelligence

26. Phonological Language Ability is not highly Correlated with General Verbal Ability as measured by IQ tests High Phonological Ability Low High Dyslexic Low Verbal Intelligence

27. Phonological Language Ability is not highly Correlated with General Verbal Ability as measured by IQ tests High Phonological Ability Low High Dyslexic Low Verbal Intelligence

28. One more important fact about talent in the phonological language domain: Children’s ability in this area when they come to school is influenced both by biologically based talent, and by opportunities to learn from their pre-school environment

29. Children come to school very different from one another in the experience they have had that prepares them for learning to read

30. Development of Phonological Sensitivity Cross-sectional study comparing the performance of 250 children from higher income families to 170 children from lower income families. • Children were between two- and five-years of age.

33. To summarize: Children can come to school weak in phonological ability either because of their biology or their language experience Regardless of whether they also have broader weaknesses in verbal ability, both types of children need similar intensive early reading support in order to prevent reading failure

34. Do we know how to prevent reading failure in children who come to school with weaknesses in the phonological domain?

35. An Example of an Effective Interventention

36. Design of Study in which intervention occurred 1. Most “at risk” first graders from five elementary school - PPVT above 70 2.Instruction provided in 45 min. sessions every day from October through May in groups of 3 or 5 by experienced teachers or well-trained paraprofessionals 3. Used a structured (scripted) reading program that contained instruction and practice in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension 4. Used a number of methods to achieve fidelity of implementation 3 days of initial training Weekly supervisory visits Monthly inservice (3 hours)

37. Work on phonemic awareness

38. Blending sounds into words

39. Directly building sight recognition of high utility words

40. Reading text…

41. 70 30 Growth in Word Reading Ability 75th 50th 25th National Percentile October January May

42. Growth in Correct Words Per Minute on First Grade Level Passages 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 58.1 55.9 52.4 56.6 T3 T5 P3 P5 Comprehension on SAT9 = 50th percentile Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May

43. Growth in Correct Words Per Minute on First Grade Level Passages for four lowest performers 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 55.7 22 21 17 15 Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May

44. What about remediation for older students who did not get effective preventive interventions?

45. A study of intensive, highly skilled intervention with 60 children who had severe reading disabilities Children were between 8 and 10 years of age Had been receiving special education services for an average of 16 months Nominated as worst readers: at least 1.5 S.D’s below grade level Average Word Attack=69, Word Identification=69, Verbal IQ=93 Randomly assigned to two instructional conditions that both taught “phonics” explicitly, but used different procedures with different emphasis Children in both conditions received 67.5 hours of one-on-one instruction, 2 hours a day for 8 weeks Children were followed for two years after the intervention was completed

46. Growth in Total Reading Skill Before, During, and Following Intensive Intervention 95 90 Standard Score 85 LIPS EP 80 75 P-Pretest Pre Post 1 year 2 year Interval in Months Between Measurements

47. The challenge for this group-- As we acquire more and more knowledge of what works….. Another set of questions assumes more and more importance…. How do we make this kind of instruction available to every child who needs it?

48. The essential elements for success Scientific research in reading and reading instruction Practices from effective Districts, Schools, and Classrooms Provides information about the instructional and assessment procedures that are most effective Provides information about how to assemble and integrate all the components that are effective in improving achievement.

49. A reason for working toward effective solutions for all students…

50. Thank You www.fcrr.org Science of reading section