Research Based Reading Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities

Emily Lopez

Seton Hall University

August 2017
 Reading development is a crucial aspect of a childs development and a key focus of

schools. The curriculum, units and lessons that schools and teachers utilize must be using

research based best practice strategies in order to ensure that their students achieve as much

growth as possible in their reading development. Additionally, when we look at the student

populations in our classrooms, we need to consider the needs of our students with special needs.

Students with learning disabilities have different needs than their typical peers and schools and

teachers need to do due diligence with these students to help them reach their full potential.

Research shows that the most common learning disabilities in our classrooms are reading

disabilities (Wanzek & Kent, 2012, p. 5). Of students in upper elementary school grades, about

37% as of 2012 were identified as having a learning disability (Wanzek & Kent, 2012, p. 5).

There are many children in our classrooms who have learning disabilities and reading difficulties

in particular. The research shows that there are many things that teachers and schools can do in

order to ensure that their students with learning disabilities are having their needs met.

When looking at students with learning disabilities in regard to their reading, it is

important to first understand the types of difficulties that these students have. Louise Spear

Swerling, the author of the article Common Types of Reading Problems and How to Help

Children Who Have Them, uses her article to help teachers, parents and the public understand the

types of reading disabilities that are most commonly found in the classroom. She identified the

following three reading difficulties as being the most common: Specific Word Reading

Difficulties (SWRD), Mixed Reading Difficulties (MRD) and Specific Reading Comprehension

Difficulties (SRCD) (Spear-Swerling, 2016, p. 514). The differences between these reading

difficulties is clearly outlined by Swerling. Students with SWRD have difficulty with the reading

of words and the act of decoding while students who have SRCD have difficulty with
comprehension of what they read. Unfortunately, students who have MRD have difficulty with

both reading comprehension and the action of reading words and decoding (Spear-Swerling,

2016, p. 514). Swerling also offers descriptions about the strengths students with these

disabilities typically show and the types of interventions that the commonly need. Her article

offers a strong background information to inform the reader of the types of difficulties that these

students may encounter and allows the reader to be prepared to learn more about useful research

based strategies.

When providing students with intervention, it is well understood in the education

community that early intervention is important. In their study, a team consisting of Maureen W.

Lovett, Jan C. Frijters, Maryanne Wolf, and Karen A. Steinbach, looked to see if there was a

difference in student growth if the same interventions were utilized in first, second and third

grade. The researchers studied students in first, second and third grade who were given the

Triple-Focus intervention. The Triple Focus intervention is identified in the study as an

intervention program that has multiple components including explicit phonological instruction

with word identification strategy training, reading comprehension strategy training, and

instructional activities that foster enriched lexical representation and increased engagement with

word play, read and text comprehension (Lovett, Frijters, Wolf & Steinbach, 2017, p. 5). Based

on their findings, they concluded that the Triple-Focus intervention had benefits for struggling

readers across 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, on all reading and reading related outcomes (Lovett et al.,

2017, p. 19). However, they also found that the students who had received earlier intervention

in 1st and 2nd grade, made gains relative to control children almost twice that of children

receiving intervention in 3rd grade (Lovett et al., 2017, p. 19). Their research again highlighted
the importance of early intervention and the difference that a year or two can make in affecting a

childs reading development growth.

Before students were learning disabilities ore reading difficulties become classified under

special education law, they often are exposed to the Response to Intervention (RTI) which

consists of three tiers. The first tier occurs mainly in the general education classroom with the

teacher implementing strategies to assist the student. Then if tier one is unsuccessful for the

student, they move on to tier two which utilizes small groups and more targeted interventions.

After tier two, comes tier three which is categorized by one-on-one interventions that are even

more targeted (Dunn, 2011, p. 29-31). Utilizing the RTI model is shown to be beneficial as it

helps schools identify students with reading difficulties and disabilities earlier and will allow the

schools to provide intervention as early as possible which as shown in previous studies has a

tremendous effect (Dunn, 2011, p. 35). Research has shown that for majority of students, around

80%, that Tier 1 will be sufficient to meet their academic needs (Stahl, 2016, p. 660). For

students who need additional help to meet their needs, the additional tiers offer opportunities for

them to receive the interventions that they need.

Other studies that have been done recently about the needs of students with reading

disabilities has focused more on the effectiveness of certain strategies in the classroom.

Researchers have identified a number of easy and practical strategies that teachers can apply to

their lessons in the classroom to help students experience growth in their reading development.

One strategy that was identified included ensuring that the types of texts selected are novel. In

their article, Suzanne M. Beike and Sydney S. Zentall, studied the affect of introducing texts that

have content novelty. Content novelty can best be described as a text that has colorful

expressions/exciting words, human action, unusual characters, surprise endings, and incongruity
(Beike & Zentall, 2012, p.530). Through their study they were able to determine that the

beneficial effects of added novelty were significant for both groups of boys with mild

disabilities (Beike & Zentall, 2012, p.538). This has easy practical application for classroom

teachers. While Beike and Zentall found benefits to finding texts with content novelty to

integrate into the classroom, Christina Stagliano and Richard T. Boon looked at the effects of

story mapping on comprehension of texts. Their findings aligned with previous research that

identified story mapping as an effective reading comprehension technique (Stagliano & Boon,

2009, p.52). Their research also showed that the biggest challenge on the story maps for the

students was identifying the main idea of the text (Stagliano & Boon, 2009, p. 52). Through the

work of these researchers, they have been able to identify sound research based strategies that

teachers can implement in the classroom.

A read aloud is a common activity that students participate in throughout their early

elementary years. Research has shown that a read aloud provides a great opportunity for teachers

to provide added interventions for students. A read aloud is an opportunity for teachers to work

on expressive vocabulary with students. Teachers can have explicit vocabulary instruction as a

part of their read aloud and help facilitate student dealings with new vocabulary words (Santoro,

Baker, Fien, Smith & Chard, 2016, p. 289). During a read aloud, teachers can integrate important

reading instruction such as facilitating a whole class discussion, modeling comprehension skills,

and teaching new vocabulary. These opportunities allow students to practice these important

skills and see a model of how to use these skills on your own.

In the article, The First R : Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Students with

Learning Disabilities, Kristen D. Ritchey looked at what makes a strong reading intervention

program. Her research identified three principles that all reading intervention programs should
integrate. First, it is important that the reading instruction being provided is explicit which means

that students are receiving direct instruction and intervention. Teachers are modelling, using

guided practice, and think alouds as some strategies (Ritchey, 2011, p. 29). The second, principle

identified was that intervention needs to be intensive. Ritchey identified two ways to increase the

intensity of a reading intervention program. The teacher could either increase the time of reading

intervention or the teacher could decrease the group size. Both of these actions will increase the

intensity of the reading intervention that students are receiving (Ritchey, 2011, p. 31-32). Finally,

the instruction needs to be systematic which means that the instruction is broken into chunks,

skills and strategies are taught in a logical and developmental order. (Ritchey, 2011, p. 32).

When assessing a schools reading intervention program, the program should follow these three

principles in order to be effective.

Literacy education is a crucial part of our students education and development. Students

with learning disabilities have greater difficulty learning to reading and comprehending what

they read. Research has been done to better help teachers, parents and students better understand

the types of reading difficulties these students experience and the best strategies for each reading

difficulty. Additionally, the use of early intervention and the implementation of a Response to

Intervention model has shown to be beneficial in helping students with learning disabilities and

difficulties. Finally, when teachers are implementing reading instruction, there are certain

research based strategies such as adding content novelty, using story-mapping, and using

vocabulary and text based intervention to help students. More research needs to be continually

done to better understand the ways that teachers can assist their students with learning

disabilities, however, the current research offers many options to help students develop into

strong readers and reach their true potential.

 References

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of Early Intervention. BMH Medical Journal, Vol 4, Iss 1, Pp 31-37 (2017), (1), 31.

Beike, S. M., & Zentall, S. S. (2012). 'The snake raised its head': Content novelty alters the
reading performance of students at risk for reading disabilities and ADHD. Journal Of
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Dunn, M. (2010). Response to Intervention and Reading Difficulties: A Conceptual Model That
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Lovett, M. W., Frijters, J. C., Wolf, M., Steinbach, K. A., Sevcik, R. A., & Morris, R. D. (2017).
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Stahl, K. D. (2016). Response to Intervention. Reading Teacher, 69(6), 659-663.

doi:10.1002/trtr.1457

Wanzek, J., & Kent, S. C. (2012). Reading Interventions for Students With Learning Disabilities
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