Dyslexia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Dyslexia, including details on learning, reading, education, teaching, treatment.

An investigation of treatment scheduling for phonemic awareness with kindergartners who are at risk for reading difficulties.

Ukrainetz TA, Ross CL, Harm HM

Division of Communication Disorders, University of Wyoming, Department 3311, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071-3311, USA. tukraine@uwyo.edu

PURPOSE: This study examined 2 schedules of treatment for phonemic awareness. METHOD: Forty-one 5- to 6-year-old kindergartners, including 22 English learners, with low letter-name and first-sound knowledge received 11 hr of phonemic awareness treatment: concentrated (CP, 3x/wk to December), dispersed (DP, 1x/wk to March), and dispersed vocabulary control (CON). RESULTS: English learners performed similarly to native English speakers. Participants with moderate deficits in letter-names and first sounds showed significant benefits after both treatment conditions. Three times the intensity had no additional effect on phonemic awareness. CP continued to increase significantly during the no-treatment interval. In March, CP and DP were significantly greater than CON, but the 2 conditions did not differ other than with a minor DP advantage on last sounds. By May, there were no significant differences among the 3 conditions in meeting grade-level expectations for phoneme segmenting. CONCLUSION: For phonemic awareness, over the course of a school year, with concomitant classroom instruction, the gains made from short, intense treatment were similar to those made from continuous weekly treatment. At-risk kindergartners with moderate deficits benefited more than those with mild deficits. Children, particularly those with mild deficits, may improve substantially with only classroom instruction and incidental self-regulatory gains from treatment for another area.

Published 6 January 2009 in Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, 40(1): 86-100.
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