Linda Bohland
Ginger Mason
Missy Moxley
Beth Scott
Melissa Swaim
• have each had a variety of experiences
working with children who are considered
at-risk.
• have a desire to ensure that the needs of
all students are met
• wanted to learn effective early intervention
strategies in order to prevent
students from becoming at-risk.
Early Intervention…
• targets young children who show signs of
becoming at-risk in reading.
• operates with small group instruction
• focuses on closing the achievement gap while it
is at it’s smallest; early in education
• requires intense, focused, consistent instruction
• small teacher/student ratio – one to three
students per group
• intense instruction that takes place for 30
to 45 minutes, three to five days a week
• re-reading familiar texts for fluency
• introduction of a new book each session
• word study/phonics instruction
• sentence writing
Developed by Marie Clay
An early instructional intervention
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Attempts to prevent possible failure in learning to read
Highly intensive instructional program for at-risk students (daily basis
through one-on one tutoring)
Teachers trained to tutor under close supervision over yr.-long practicum
through graduate course
Students tutored with emphasis on contextual reading & writing
Does Not teach letter or word recognition skills in isolation
Very costly
Emphasis on intervening starting in first grade
Results from studies show students make dramatic gains & continue to
maintain gains with the help of R.R.
However, at second grade drop off in gains when no more intervention is
given
Lowest gains found in letter identification & concepts of print
Paul Van Den Brock
Panayiota Kendeou
Sandra Lousberg
Gootje Visser
Purpose:
•To determine if early interventions could be developed for young children to
start them on their way to becoming good readers.
•The ability to connect pieces of info develops well before reading age.
•Interventions developed for 3rd graders and preschoolers in a listening context
using casual questions like those used with older elementary and high school
students.
•Results-very positive- questioning during reading more effective- “read to”
format.
•Full scale investigations of effectiveness of early intervention and long term
results needed.
Created by: Dr. Darrell Morris of Appalachian State University
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Targets first grade students that are at risk for reading failure
• Similar to Reading Recovery in philosophy and design
• Different from Reading Recovery in two ways
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1. Systematic word-study
Teacher training (team of teachers not limited to reading teachers)
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Lesson plan components include:
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Rereading familiar books (10 min.)
2. Word Study (7 min.)
3. Sentence Writing ( 7 min.)
4. Introduction of a new book (6min.)
• Research Results
Early Steps led to accelerated growth for children most at risk
• Areas of improvement
Spelling, sight word abilities, and passage reading
Susan Neuman
Tanya Wright
Serene Koh
Fran Lehr
• Purpose: A vocabulary intervention program designed to teach
preschoolers the properties and concepts associated with seven
taxonomic categories and the vocabulary that paired with these
concepts.
• Targeted students in a district’s Head Start Classrooms
• The intervention took place over one school year.
• Students were introduced to new vocabulary through a short video, a
rhyme or song, a read aloud, sorting activities, and writing.
• Results: Preschoolers gained the ability to categorize and
conceptualize words. These students out-performed the control
group students on assessments that required them to apply
knowledge to new concepts.
• Early intervention is effective
• The earlier, the better when it comes to intervention.
• The achievement gap grows larger with each passing year
• Ideally should begin in kindergarten, no later than first grade
• Student-teacher ratio should be kept as low as possible
• One-on-one or groups of no more than three
• Teachers must be properly trained in the implementation of the
intervention being used.
• More studies are needed to determine long-term effects of intervention
• Intervention often needs to be continued with at-risk students in
second grade and beyond in order to maintain growth.
• The intervention lesson must contain several components:
• Contextual reading and re-reading on the child’s instructional level
• Contextual writing
• Systematic study of orthographic patterns (letter/sound or spelling
patterns)
• Our research findings indicate that Early Steps is an
effective intervention for the following reasons…
1. Intervention is driven by pre- and post- assessments
2. Inclusion of each crucial component, including
systematic word study
3. More cost-effective than Reading Recovery
• More time spent with students (practicum)
• Variety of instructors can be trained (teachers,
paraprofessionals, volunteers)
• Natural progression of a dynamic lesson plan
4. Targets specific areas of need
5. Longitudinal studies show that students made and
maintained growth (many caught up to averageachieving peers)
6. Because Dr. Morris said so 
“The cost of waiting until midelementary school to identify children
in need of special instruction in
reading is simply too great”.
-Torgenson, 2008