Phonological awareness (PA) is the ability to hear and manipulate the smallest units of sound in our language. It is key to learning to read for typically developing children. Some have suggested that this is not true for children with Down syndrome (DS). The purpose of this review was to provide a better understanding of the role PA plays for…

In this study, a school district adopted Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS), a scientifically based, class-wide peer-tutoring program for reading. Sixteen new K-PALS teachers were assigned randomly to receive ongoing support from a university expert or from experienced K-PALS teachers within the district. K-PALS teachers who…

This study determined the effectiveness of Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS) for students with disabilities. The researchers randomly assigned 89 kindergartners with individualized education programs (IEPs) from 47 classrooms to control (n = 9); K-PALS Level 1 (teachers received 1-day workshop; n = 19); or K-PALS Level 2…

The article describes a procedure for teaching sound-letter relations and sound blending through a verbal/gestural prompting system and a variation of melodic intonation therapy (in which students learn simultaneously to talk and hum a monotone note). The three-step procedure features demonstration, prompting, and practice. (CL)

The purpose of this article is to describe how increasingly intensive, multilevel interventions can be used to ensure the increase in number of children who learn to read. We first review the promise and limitations of empirically validated best practices for mainstream classrooms. We then discuss results from a recent multilevel intervention…

Examined effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. Teachers were assigned randomly to three groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Group differences were identified at the end of…

A study compared the effectiveness of phonemic awareness and decoding training for 58 first graders with and without severe lexical retrieval weaknesses. All students demonstrated poor phonemic awareness. Students with relatively strong lexical retrieval skills responded more favorably to beginning reading instruction than did students with weak…

This article reports on research on the effectiveness of a peer-assisted learning strategy (PALS) intervention to develop fluency in beginning readers with and without disabilities. Pairs of students complete phonically based activities and then repeated readings of a shared text. Evaluation indicated that the peer-mediated, repeated reading…