Research shows that having an excellent reading teacher in the classroom is key to preventing reading difficulties. However, teachers often feel unprepared to work with students experiencing reading difficulties. This can be problematic in a school that uses a multi-tiered system of support for students in which the classroom teacher is responsible for core instruction and early reading interventions. This qualitative study examined the influences on elementary teachers' instructional and assessment decisions when teaching reading to students who are experiencing reading difficulties. Data were collected through both survey and interviews and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes were identified that suggest teachers' literacy instructional decisions are influenced by administrators, their knowledge of reading instruction, professional development, their beliefs about using data for instruction, and collaboration. Findings from this study provide evidence that teacher decisions are more heavily influenced by forces when teachers lack a deep understanding of their students or of effective literacy instruction. When this happens, teachers' efficacy is also affected, which research shows can affect student outcomes. Teacher decision-making is supported through professional development on effective literacy instruction and use of data for planning. Teacher efficacy improves with opportunities to work with and learn from colleagues and from having administrators who work alongside them when making literacy decisions. Recommendations for administrators, teacher educators, and teachers are included as well as suggestions for future research.

The efficacy of reading interventions on elementary students’ decoding and word reading skills and reading comprehension has been well-established in the literature. The efficacy of online reading interventions, however, is unknown. This study adapted an in-person reading fluency intervention for synchronous online implementation and examined its effectiveness in a single-case research design. Three struggling readers in grades 2 and 3 participated in an 8-week online reading intervention. Pre-test, post-test, and progress monitoring data were collected and analyzed. The results indicated that the online RAVE-O intervention was effective in increasing the participants’ accurate word reading and decoding skills as well as their reading comprehension. The adapted intervention was implemented with fidelity and maintained its efficacy in an online setting. For struggling readers who cannot access intervention resources in person, an online reading intervention such as the one used in this study could have a positive effect on their reading skills. / Graduate

This essay aims to examine how reading interventions are used  in Swedish elementary schools. The two initial questions examine how many schools that implement reading interventions individually and in small groups with students with reading difficulties and which teaching methods and reading programs that are being used for these interventions. The third question considers which reasons the special needs teachers and special education needs teachers states for choosing  methods and programs for students with reading difficulties.  To answer these questions a survey with special needs teachers and special education needs teachers was completed. The results indicate that 52,1% of the elementary schools in this survey use intensive reading interventions based on phonics. The result also indicates that decoding is the most frequent content in reading interventions and that many different methods and programs are used in reading interventions, both digital and analogue. Finally, there are different reasons for why a program or method has been chosen in the different schools.  The most common cause stated, is that the chosen method has shown good results in the past for students with reading difficulties. Some respondents stated research as a cause for their chosen method, but the majority did not.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Young learners with reading and writing difficulties cannot reach their full potential in school. Teachers, parents and illustrators of children’s books cannot assume the efficacy of illustrations as an aid in developing reading skills as a matter of course. Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus theory explains perceptual diversity. Illustrations, as varied visual contexts, can be interpreted in different ways and, therefore, also provoke different meanings. The thesis proposes that the young learner should be provided with a diversity of visual stimulants. The thesis proposes that such visual stimulants comprise multiple characterising in illustrated form. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Jong leerders met lees- en skryfprobleme kan nie hul volle potensiaal bereik nie. Onderwysers, ouers en illustreerders van kinderboeke kan nie die effektiwiteit van illustrasies as hulpmiddel in die ontwikkeling van leesvaardighede as vanselfsprekend aanvaar nie. Pierre Bourdieu se habitusteorie verduidelik perseptuele verskille in die registrasie van beeld en teks. Illustrasies, as gevarieerde visuele kontekste kan op verskillende maniere geïnterpreteer word en daarom roep dit verskillende betekenisse op. Die tesis stel voor dat die jong leerder variasies in visuele stimulante behoort te ontvang. Die tesis stel ook voor dat sodanige visuele stimulante multikarakterisering in geïllustreerde vorm behels.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to the results of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) of 2011 in South African schools, approximately 53% of learners in grade 3 and 70% of learners in grade 6 did not reach a partially achieved level of reading. As a result of the reading difficulties, these learners have varying degrees of learning and behavioural difficulties and also experience psychological and emotional challenges. This figure indicates that a high number of people are parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. Bronfenbrenner’s theory of the ecology of human development indicated the importance of interconnections between school, home, and community settings in order to foster children’s learning. Parents may be better supported and empowered to assist their child by collaboration among teachers and families. This collaboration may be strengthened by utilising knowledge gained from parents’ lived experiences of parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. The primary research question guiding this phenomenological study involved understanding the experiences of parents with children identified as having reading difficulties. The study’s research methodology can be described as basic qualitative research which is embedded within an interpretive paradigm. Purposive sampling was used to select three parents as research participants. Three methods of data collection were employed, namely written reflective notes, structured individual interviews and observations. Furthermore, qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that four interconnected contexts emerged concerning parents’ lived experiences, namely their relationship with their identified child, their relationships with other family members, their interactions with teachers and the child’s school, and their perception of social support in raising their child. The study found that parents experienced a variety of dismaying emotions regarding their child’s reading difficulties and that parents adopted roles such as caretaker, motivator and advocate in order to obtain the intervention and educational services needed for their child. The findings of this study inform and encourage educators and other support personnel to support parents and promote collaboration with parents of children identified as having reading difficulties, potentially enabling those parents to better support their identified child. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na aanleiding van die uitslae van die Jaarlikse Nasionale Assessering (ANA) van 2011 in Suid- Afrikaanse skole, het ongeveer 53% van leerders in graad 3 en 70% van leerders in graad 6 nie ‘n gedeeltelik bereikte vlak van lees behaal nie. As gevolg van die struikelblokke met lees, ervaar hierdie leerders verskeie grade van leer- en gedragsuitdagings, asook sielkundige en emosionele uitdagings. Hierdie syfers dui aan dat ‘n beduidende hoeveelheid mense in die rol staan van die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Bronfenbrenner se teorie van die ekologie van menslike ontwikkeling dui op die belangrikheid van interkonneksies tussen die leerder se skool, tuiste en die konteks van sy gemeenskap vir die bevordering van leer. Ouers kan moontlik meer effektief ondersteun en bemagtig word om hul kind meer effektief te ondersteun, indien ‘n medewerking tussen ouers en onderwysers bewerkstellig kan word. Hierdie medewerking kan versterk word deur kennis aan te wend aangaande ouers se ervaringe in hul rol as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Die navorsingsvraag wat hierdie fenomenologiese studie lei, handel oor ’n begrip van die ervaringe van ouers van kinders wat met leesstruikelblokke geïdentifiseer is. Die navorsingsmetodologie wat in hierdie studie gebruik is, kan beskryf word as basiese kwalitatiewe navorsing binne ’n interpretivistiese paradigma. ’n Doelgerigte steekproef is gebruik om drie ouers as deelnemers te identifiseer. Drie metodes van data insameling is gebruik, naamlik geskrewe, reflektiewe notas; gestruktureerde, individuele onderhoude en waarnemings. Verder is kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise gebruik om die data te analiseer. Die data analise het aan die lig gebring dat vier kontekste wat telkens met mekaar verband hou, na vore gekom het rakende ouers se ervaringe as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke, naamlik die ouers se verhouding met hul kind, die ouers se verhoudinge met ander lede van die gesin, die ouers se interaksies met die kind se onderwysers en skool asook die ouers se persepsie van die sosiale ondersteuning wat hulle ontvang in hul rol as ouers. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie het aangetoon dat ouers verskeie ontmoedigende emosies ervaar rakende hul kind se leesstruikelblokke en dat ouers in die rol van versorger, motiveerder en advokaat optree om sodoende die nodige intervensie en opvoedkundige dienste wat hul kind benodig, te bekom. Die bevindinge het ten doel om opvoeders en ander ondersteuningspersoneel in te lig en aan te moedig om ouers te ondersteun en medewerking tussen opvoeders en ouers van kinders met leesstruikelblokke te bevorder. Sodanige medewerking kan ouers in staat stel om hul kinders meer effektief te ondersteun.

This dissertation consists of two studies, a middle school study and a follow-up study. In the middle school study, the reading ability of a group of middle school students, of which some have reading difficulties, is described and analyzed along with the classroom conditions the students are given for the development of their reading abilities. The overall aim of the follow-up study is to describe and analyze the reading ability development in the same group of students from the beginning of middle school to the end of lower secondary school, as well as examine the students’ use of strategies in grade 9. In lower secondary school decoding, vocabulary and reading comprehension were tested like in middle school. Students’ reading comprehension was tested on both stages based on a reading comprehension test and a national test. Since the use of strategies seems to be important for students’ reading comprehension, even the use of learning strategies were examined by including a question from the PISA (2009) student questionnaire. Furthermore, six students who in the beginning of middle school had shown poor results in one or more of the reading aspects were, referred to as the small sample group and, were interviewed in grade 9 regarding their use of comprehension strategies when reading an age-appropriate historical factual text in a textbook. Analyses show that there is a small development in reading comprehension from the beginning of middle school to the end of lower secondary school. Even the development of correct reading and vocabulary is relatively small. The largest development is shown for the reading rate, but analyses show that the reason for that is not merely a more automated process of decoding. A comparison between the results in the reading comprehension tests and the national tests at both stages show higher results for the national tests, which can depend on the different aims of the two tests. Regarding learning strategies, the entire study group stated in the questionnaire that they mostly use the deeper monitoring strategies, while the students in the small sample group reported that they tended to use the more superficial memory strategies. The results of the interviews show that the small sample group as a group found it more convenient to use comprehension strategies for superficial rather than for deeper comprehension.

A leitura é um processo complexo, consequência de interações entre fatores ambientais, biológicos e cognitivos. Este estudo visou a investigar a relação entre fatores psicossociais (socioeconômicos e familiares) e cognitivos (memória de trabalho) e o desempenho em leitura de crianças participantes de uma coorte populacional. Foram realizados dois estudos relacionando o desempenho em leitura a: 1) fatores psicossociais e 2) fatores cognitivos. As 65 crianças avaliadas (9-11 anos) eram estudantes de 2ª a 5ª séries de escolas públicas de Porto Alegre-RS. Suas mães participaram de entrevistas sobre dados psicossociais da mãe e de desenvolvimento da criança, feitas aos 4 meses, 2 anos e 5/6 anos de idade das crianças. As crianças foram avaliadas em leitura, QI e memória de trabalho. No estudo 1, correlações significativas negativas foram encontradas entre morbidade psiquiátrica (escore do SRQ-20) da mãe e total de acertos na leitura de palavras irregulares da criança e entre o número de familiares que moravam em casa e o escore total na leitura de palavras da criança. Além disso, a renda familiar correlacionou-se significativa e positivamente com o escore em compreensão de leitura textual da criança. Nas análises de regressão linear apenas o número de familiares que moravam na mesma casa que a criança foi preditor do desempenho em leitura de palavras. Pode-se entender que quanto mais pessoas habitam uma mesma residência, menos recursos são disponibilizados para cada um e os pais podem não ter tempo suficiente para envolverem-se em atividades escolares com seus filhos, o que impacta no desempenho da leitura. No segundo artigo, as medidas de memória de trabalho não se correlacionaram significativamente às tarefas de leitura quando o subteste vocabulário (do WASI) foi controlado. Houve diferenças significativas nas comparações das médias das tarefas de leitura por série – os estudantes de 4ª série apresentaram maiores escores do que as de 3ª. Conclui-se que dos fatores estudados, houve contribuição de variáveis socioeconômicas e familiares para o desempenho em leitura de crianças de uma coorte populacional. A relação entre leitura e memória de trabalho foi intermediada pela linguagem (vocabulário). / Reading is a complex process, a consequence of interactions between environmental, biological and cognitive factors. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors (socioeconomic and family) and cognitive (working memory) and reading performance of children participating in a population cohort. Two studies were related to reading performance: 1) psychosocial factors and 2) cognitive factors. The 65 evaluated children (9-11 years) were students from 2nd to 5th grade of public schools in Porto Alegre- RS. Their mothers participated in interviews regarding psychosocial data of mother and child development, at 4 months, 2 years and 5 / 6 year old children. Children were tested in reading, IQ and working memory. In one study, negative correlations were found between the psychiatric morbidity (score of SRQ-20) of the mother and the total score in the reading of irregular words between the child and the number of family members who lived in the same house as the child and the total score in words read by the child. Additionally, family income correlated significantly and positively with the reading comprehension text score of the child. In a linear regression analysis only the number of relatives who lived in the same house as the child was a predictor of performance in word reading. One can understand that as more people inhabit a single residence, fewer resources are available for each individual, and parents may not have enough time to get involved in school activities with their children, which impacts the performance of reading. In the second article, the measures of working memory did not correlate significantly with reading assignments when the vocabulary subtest (from the WASI) was controlled. There were significant differences in comparisons of the mean reading task of the series - the fourth grade students had higher scores than the 3rd grade students. We concluded that in the factors studied there was a correlation between the socioeconomic level and the family to the reading performance of children in a population cohort. The relationship between reading and working memory was mediated by language (vocabulary).

I lärarutbildningen har det funnits möjlighet att tillägna sig olika tillvägagångssätt för hur undervisning i klassrummet planeras och struktureras. Detta har utvecklat ett starkt intresse hos mig för att söka vidare kring hur elever i koncentrationssvårigheter hanteras i klassrum. Inom området koncentrationssvårigheter och läsinlärning fattas det forskning. Därmed är området i behov av vidare forskning. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur lärare i skolans tidigare år beskriver läsinlär- ning hos elever som bedöms vara i koncentrationssvårigheter. Detta gjordes genom semi- strukturerade intervjuer med sex lärare från tre olika skolor och intervjumaterialet analysera- des genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att de lärare som blev intervjuade har en överensstämmande syn på elever i koncentrationssvårigheter. Lärarna anser att undervisningen bör vara strukturerad och väl planerad, men även att undervisningen bör variera inom det igenkända. Möjligheterna att dela på gruppen och att fler lärare arbetar tillsammans ses som mycket positivt. Men att nivåanpassa de texter som eleverna stöter på anses vara en utmaning. Studien visar att koncentrationssvårigheter påverkar läsinlärningen till viss del, men att andra faktorer kan påverka läsinlärningen. / In the teacher education, there has been the opportunity to adopt different approaches to how classroom teaching is planned and structured. This has, for me, developed a strong interest to investigate further how students in concentration difficulties are handled in classrooms. However, in the area of concentration difficulties and reading learning, research is scarce. Thus, the area is in need of further research. The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers in the earlier years of the school describe reading learning among pupils who are considered to be in concentration difficulties. This was done through semi-structured interviews with six teachers from three different schools and the data was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. The result shows that the teachers who were interviewed have a consistent view of pupils in concentration difficulties. The teachers believe that the teaching should be structured and well planned, but also that the teaching should vary within what is familiar to the pupils. The opportunities to divide the group of pupils and the fact that more teachers work together are seen as very positive. Adapting the level of texts that pupils encounter, though, is considered a challenge. The study shows that concentration difficulties affect reading learning partially, but that oth- er factors also affect reading learning.

The simple view of reading is a theory in which reading is divided into decoding and linguistic comprehension. The theory has been used to explain and to subgroup reading disabilities. Research has also investigated if additional factors are of relevance to reading. In the present study, decoding was divided into the factors orthographic decoding and phonological decoding, while comprehension was divided into word comprehension and grammatical comprehension. The purpose was to analyze these factors and their contribution to reading ability in children in fourth grade: one group with reading difficulties (n=36) and one group with typical reading ability (n=36). Results were analyzed using multiple regression and the two groups were compared. The contribution of non-verbal ability and general processing speed was also studied. The results showed differences between the groups. Decoding made the largest contribution to reading ability for the children with reading difficulties, while linguistic comprehension contributed the most for the children with typical reading ability. Differences were also found in how much the underlying factors contributed to decoding and linguistic comprehension, respectively. Non-verbal ability and general processing speed made small contributions, for both groups, to reading ability, decoding and linguistic comprehension, respectively. However, the two factors increased the explained variance in reading ability for the children with reading difficulties. In this group the two factors in The simple view of reading explained somewhat less of the variance in reading ability than for the children with typical reading ability. The study shows that decoding and comprehension are useful predictors of reading ability, and also indicates that The simple view of reading is less appropriate for children with reading difficulties. / The simple view of reading är en teori om läsning där läsförmåga delas in i vkodning och språkförståelse. Teorin har bland annat använts för att kartlägga lässvårigheter. Forskning har undersökt om ytterligare faktorer har betydelse för läsning. I föreliggande studie delades avkodning in i faktorerna ortografisk avkodning och fonologisk avkodning, medan språkförståelse delades in i ordförståelse och satsförståelse. Syftet var att undersöka faktorernas bidrag till läsförmåga hos barn i skolår fyra: en grupp med lässvårigheter (n=36) och en grupp med typisk läsförmåga (n=36). Testresultaten analyserades med multipel regressionsanalys och de båda grupperna jämfördes. Bidragen från icke-verbal förmåga och generell processhastighet studerades också. Resultaten visade att profilerna skilde sig åt mellan grupperna. För barnen med lässvårigheter gav avkodning störst bidrag till läsförmåga, medan språkförståelse var den mest bidragande faktorn för barnen med typisk läsförmåga. Skillnader fanns även i hur underliggande faktorer bidrog till avkodning respektive språkförståelse. Icke-verbal förmåga och generell processhastighet visade sig ge små bidrag till läsförmåga, avkodning respektive språkförståelse, för båda grupperna. När dessa två faktorer lades till framkom dock en relativt stor ökning av den förklarade variansen i läsförmåga hos barnen med lässvårigheter. Hos denna grupp var den förklarade variansen i läsförmåga av de två faktorerna i The simple view of reading något mindre än hos barnen med typisk läsförmåga. Sammantaget visar studien att avkodning och förståelse är användbara prediktorer till läsförmåga, samtidigt som resultaten antyder att The simple view of reading är mindre tillämpbar för barn med lässvårigheter.

I vilken grad ett barn är fonologiskt medvetet är i många fall avgörande för hur barnets läsinlärning kommer att fortlöpa, varför det är av stor vikt att redan tidigt arbeta för att stärka den fonologiska medvetenheten. En tillfredsställande läsförmåga är central för inlärningen även i andra skolämnen än svenska. Forskning har på senare tid visat att det finns ett tydligt samband mellan läs- och skrivsvårigheter och svårigheter i matematik. I denna studie undersöks huruvida det finns någon koppling mellan tidiga fonologiska svårigheter och matematiksvårigheter två år senare hos en grupp elever. Med kvantitativa metoder och genom analyser av bedömningar i olika diagnos- och kartläggningsmaterial har ett resultat kunnat presenteras som visar att majoriteten av de elever som i förskoleklassen uppvisade tecken på fonologiska svårigheter även hade matematiksvårigheter i år 2. Sambandet är dock inte entydigt, då det samtidigt påvisats att svårigheterna i matematik i år 2 var mer utbredda än väntat och långt ifrån alla dessa elever hade fonologiska svårigheter i förskoleklassen. / The degree to which a child is phonologically aware is in many cases crucial to the child's ability to learn how to read. Therefore it is vital, at a young age, to work towards strengthening the phonological awareness among young children. Satisfactory reading skills are central to learning in other school subjects besides reading and writing. Recent research has shown that there is a clear link between reading problems and difficulties in mathematics. This study examines whether there is any connection within a group of students between early phonological difficulties and difficulties in mathematics two years later. With quantitative methods, and through analysis of assessments of different diagnostic and mapping materials, results have been presented showing that the majority of the students in the preschool class that showed signs of phonological difficulties also had difficulties in mathematics in second grade. However, the relationship is not unambiguous, since the results also demonstrated that the difficulties in mathematics in second grade were more widespread than expected, and far from all of these students had phonological difficulties in the preschool class.