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.

Upon entering middle school, students within the study district in southeastern Tennessee had low literacy proficiency scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) for 3 consecutive years. Middle school administrators implemented a program called Lexile Framework (LF) into the literacy curriculum in 2011 to improve TCAP scores. However, the change in literacy scores had not been examined following the implementation of LF. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to examine the differences in literacy scores on TCAP of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation into the curriculum (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The theoretical framework for this research study was Vygotsky's social development theory used within the LF to create student-centered learning in order for students to construct new knowledge by making connections with their literacy experiences. With a convenience sample of 225 students, a repeated-measure analysis of variance determined if there was a significant change in the archived matched literacy TCAP scores before and after the implementation of LF. The multivariate tests indicated a significant (Wilk's Î? = .21, F (3, 222) = 276.85, p < .01) and linear effect (F (1, 224) = 709.75, p < .01) with partial eta squared (η2 = .76) of LF on literacy TCAP scores of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation. Positive social change implications include providing school administrators with research findings to inform district-wide decisions regarding the use of LF in the curricula in their middle schools. Increasing students' literacy TCAP scores may ultimately improve graduation rates for students.

A prerequisite in today´s society is to be able to read and write in order to be able to develop fully into a participant community citizen. The aim of the Swedish curriculum is for the pupils to learn to read and write so that they can benefit from the education (Skolverket, 2011a). The school should be able to meet all children´s differences and needs to fulfill this. Several research studies have shown that the earlier the pupils in the risk zone for reading difficulties are identified and the earlier cost-effective reading interventions are implemented the lower the risk of school failure. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether a specific teaching package supports the development of pupil´s knowledge of letters, letter sounds and word decoding. In addition, the pupil´s experiences of participation in the reading intervention were studied. The study included seven pre-school class pupils who were at risk for reading difficulties, they were randomized into a experimentgroup of four and a controlgroup of three pupils. When collecting data, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The pupils conducted a pre- and posttest in the form of the Swedish National Agency for Education´s mapping material for the preschool class (Skolverket, 2018). In addition, observation of the reading data sessions and interviews with the pupils were used after this was completed. As far as the measurable results about the pupil´s knowledge development were concerned there was a positive result, but it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the impact of the reading intervention.  Regarding the pupil´s experiences of the reading intervention they were positive to both the participation and reading. One conclusion we draw from this is that the playful element of the reading intervention together with the multisensory supplement probably contributed to the pupil´s finding it both joyful and motivating. From a special educational perspective early reading intervention enables inclusion and participation. / En förutsättning för att kunna utvecklas till en delaktig samhällsmedborgare är att kunna läsa och skriva. Ett övergripande mål i läroplanen är att eleverna tillägnar sig skriftspråket vilket är ett medel för att kunna tillgodogöra sig utbildningen (Skolverket, 2011a). Skolan ska kunna möta alla barns olikheter så att de får den undervisning och det stöd de behöver för att kunna erövra och utveckla läs- och skrivförmågan. Flera studier har visat att ju tidigare eleverna i riskzonen för lässvårigheter identifieras och ju tidigare kostnadseffektiva läsinsatser genomförs, desto mindre risk för framtida skolmisslyckanden. Syftet med denna studie var att analysera huruvida ett specifikt undervisningspaket stöder utvecklingen av elevernas kunskaper om bokstäver, ljud och ordavkodning. Dessutom studerades elevernas erfarenheter av deltagande i läsinsatsen. Studien omfattade sju förskoleelever som bedömdes vara i riskzonen för lässvårigheter vilka bildade en experimentgrupp om fyra elever och en kontrollgrupp om tre elever. Vid insamling av data användes både kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder. Skolverkets kartläggningsmaterial för förskoleklassen (Skolverket, 2018) användes som för- och eftertest. Dessutom gjordes observationer av läsinsatsen samt elevintervjuer efter avslutad läsinsatsperiod. De mätbara resultaten kring elevernas kunskapsutveckling visade ett positivt resultat, men det gick inte att dra några slutsatser kring undervisningspaketets effektivitet. Utifrån resultatet kring elevernas upplevelser av läsinsatsen fann vi att eleverna var positiva till både läsinsatsen och läsning. En slutsats vi drar av detta är att det lekfulla inslaget i läsinsatsen tillsammans med det multisensoriska tillägget förmodligen har bidragit till att eleverna tyckte att det både var lustfyllt och motiverande. Ur ett specialpedagogiskt perspektiv är det angeläget med tidiga insatser som kan göra eleverna läsförberedda och därmed öka chansen till inkludering och delaktighet.

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Upon entering middle school, students within the study district in southeastern Tennessee had low literacy proficiency scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) for 3 consecutive years. Middle school administrators implemented a program called Lexile Framework (LF) into the literacy curriculum in 2011 to improve TCAP scores. However, the change in literacy scores had not been examined following the implementation of LF. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to examine the differences in literacy scores on TCAP of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation into the curriculum (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The theoretical framework for this research study was Vygotsky’s social development theory used within the LF to create student-centered learning in order for students to construct new knowledge by making connections with their literacy experiences. With a convenience sample of 225 students, a repeated-measure analysis of variance determined if there was a significant change in the archived matched literacy TCAP scores before and after the implementation of LF. The multivariate tests indicated a significant (Wilk’s Λ = .21, F (3, 222) = 276.85, p < .01) and linear effect (F (1, 224) = 709.75, p < .01) with partial eta squared (η2 = .76) of LF on literacy TCAP scores of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation. Positive social change implications include providing school administrators with research findings to inform district-wide decisions regarding the use of LF in the curricula in their middle schools. Increasing students’ literacy TCAP scores may ultimately improve graduation rates for students.