Fourth graders whose silent word reading and/or sentence reading rate was, on average, two-thirds standard deviation below their oral reading of real and pseudowords and reading comprehension accuracy were randomly assigned to treatment ("n" = 7) or wait-listed ("n" = 7) control groups. Following nine sessions combining…

Fourth graders with learning disabilities in transcription (handwriting and spelling), LD-TD, and without LD-TD (non-LD), were compared on three writing tasks (letters, sentences, and essays), which differed by level of language, when writing by pen and by keyboard. The two groups did not differ significantly in Verbal IQ but did in handwriting,…

Comparison of first grade children (n=128) who responded either faster or slower to a 24-lesson intervention spaced over 4 months found faster responding children had better initial reading skills and verbal IQs as well as specific reading related language skills. Results have implications for potential instructional cues for enhancing the reading…

This longitudinal, multiple case study describes and compares the early development, instructional history, repeated administrations of a test battery, and response to phonologically driven reading instruction in a science/reading workshop for seven boys (grades 3-5) with dyslexia. Following instruction, phonological skills improved. Early…

Two studies compared the effectiveness of alphabet principle training only versus combined alphabet principle and syllable awareness training with at-risk spellers (grades 2 and 3). Differing results suggest use of a two-tier early intervention model in which first the alphabet principle is taught and applied and then the following year children…

Research evidence is reviewed to show that transcription and working memory processes constrain the development of composition skills in students with and without learning disabilities and that in turn other processes constrain the development of transcription and working memory skills. Interventions for transcription are discussed. (Author/CR)

Sixteen children with severe reading problems in first grade received a year-long individual tutorial intervention. Growth curve analyses found significant gains on measures of orthographic and phonological coding, word identification, word attack skills, reading comprehension, letter automaticity, and spelling and marginally significant gains in…

Elementary students with writing problems (n=24) were given summer instruction in handwriting automaticity, spelling strategies, and composing. Participants improved at a faster rate than controls on some measures, and some differences were maintained at six-month follow-up. Discussion of results stresses the importance of affect and motivation as…