Effects of a Tier 2 intervention on literacy measures: Lessons learned

Response to intervention (RTI) provides an opportunity to avoid long-term and sometimes costly intervention. The best models of the tiered approach to intervention are still under investigation. In this study, 23 first-grade students were identified as having below average reading abilities and/ or poor phonemic awareness through classroom-based and standardized assessments and then randomly divided into two groups. One group received explicit phonemic awareness training with the speech—language pathologists (SLP) and multi-sensory reading instruction from a special educator in conjunction with classroom instruction. The remaining group received exclusively classroom reading instruction. No significant differences were found when comparing results of classroom-based intervention to students receiving classroom intervention plus 16 hours of additional intensive instruction. Both groups demonstrated overall improvements in reading efficiency, including segmenting and blending. Implications are discussed comparing Tier 1 and Tier 2 approaches with children scoring below expectations using formal and informal reading measures.