Students with all sorts of cognitive disabilities may lag behind in literacy and numeracy due to not receiving the support they require. Students with dyslexia, language disorders, learning disabilities, intellectual disability, ADHD and other disabilities may find themselves with significant delays in literacy and numeracy at some stage in their schooling. It is important to address these delays as soon as possible in order that they don’t fall further and further behind.
Schools use a range of programs, interventions and strategies to teach children who are lagging behind in literacy and numeracy. Given there are no directives from the Department on this subject, again, schools tend to make their own decisions based on anecdote, history or available resources.
There are remedial literacy and numeracy programs that are “evidence-based”, in that they have been scientifically tested and proven to work, but only if used with “fidelity”. What does this mean? It means that if an evidenced-based program is meant to be given every day, in a certain manner, as soon as the manufacturer’s instructions are not adhered to and the program is, for example, given twice a week, the science falls away. DET evidence in court reflects that they have not yet realised this.
A good example is the program Reading Recovery (which is not an evidence-based program but has been used by schools for years, finally disendorsed by the Minister for Education in 2022). It is a time-limited program designed for children in Grade 1. Despite this, if a child does not make sufficient progress, or does not maintain their gains after the program, teachers often repeat the program year after year – even providing it in secondary school. Repeating a program that failed the first time is unlikely to provide different outcomes the next time.
Silent Sustained Reading (a child silently reading a book), for example, is a ‘technique’ that has been used for students who have language disorders or a learning disability in the hope that extra “reading practice” will assist them in some way. This is despite the fact that when a child is silent, it is impossible to know whether they are reading or not. This is an example of a program with no evidence base but used in Victorian schools. Fountas & Pinnell is another popular program used by schools which is not evidence-based.
Children with disabilities have good reasons why they may fall behind in literacy and numeracy, but these are often to do with how they are taught, not about their capacity. However they do often need explicit teaching. Sitting silently with a book and turning the pages is not explicit teaching. Evidence-based literacy and numeracy programs, and Structured Synthetic Phonics (SSP) Programs are widely accepted as being the standard required for students with learning and language difficulties to learn.
Some examples of evidence-based literacy and numeracy programs are listed below:
Evidence-based remedial literacy and numeracy programs structured synthetic phonics programs are as follows.
- SRA Direct Instruction programs, including:
Corrective Reading;
Spelling Mastery;
Reading Mastery;
Connecting Maths Concepts;
Corrective Maths;
DISTAR Arithmetic;
Phonemic Awareness;
Expressive Writing.
- Elementary Maths Mastery;
- Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar(SSP);
- Spalding;
- MultiLit Reading Tutor Program, MacqLit, Word Attack Skills Extension Program, MiniLit Early Intervention Programme and PreLit Early Literacy Preparation (SSPs);
- Sounds-Write (SSP);
- Phonics Books UK (SSP);
- Letters and Sounds (SSP);
- PLD Literacy and Learning(SSP);
- No-Nonsense Phonics Skills(SSP);
- Little Learner’s Love Literacy;
- Alpha to Omega;
- Word Shark;
- Number Shark;
- Maths U See.
Direct Instruction in particular has a solid evidence base in the successful remedial teaching of children with disabilities. It has been used in Far North Queensland by the Queensland Government for a number of years now, improving the literacy rates in some indigenous schools. Despite that, the formal position of the Department of Education and Training is that it is not a program that is reasonable to provide properly, or at all.
If your child is lagging behind in literacy or numeracy and needs to make up ground in order that they can continue to access the curriculum in the classroom, an evidence-based program will be required. Parents report rarely being offered such programs. It is important to intervene very early on when an academic lag is noticed. The greater the gap between a child and their peers, the more difficult it is to rectify. The issue is made more difficult by subjective student reports which often are designed to emphasise the positive. Sometimes parents obtain an educational assessment through a psychologist and are shocked to realise that despite their child receiving a “C” in their school report, they are two years behind.
How do you know what is evidence-based? Try the “What Works Clearing House” website. It is not the perfect repository for advice, but it is a good start.http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
An excellent book for parents who want to try and make sense of all the different programs on offer is “Making Sense of Interventions for Children with Developmental Disorders-a Guide for Parents and Professionals” Caroline Bowen and Pamela Snow.
The importance of a professional Individual Education Plan for children struggling with literacy and numeracy cannot be underestimated. See attached compiled by Karen Starkiss. What is an Individual Learning Plan