Guest Blog Post by Eileen Catizone, M.Ed. of EarlyBird Education

Eileen is a curriculum developer and dyslexia practitioner, translating the scores of struggling readers into evidence-based practices that can be carried out through targeted remediation.  With more than 20 years in education, Eileen holds state licenses in Early Childhood Education PreK-2 and Reading Specialist K-12.  As an Orton-Gillingham and IDA Dyslexia Practitioner, Eileen serves as the Literacy Lead at EarlyBird Education.

What is early reading intervention?

What the research around learning to read tells us

We know from research that the window of opportunity for developing language begins very early in a child’s life. The acquisition of sound and language structures in a child’s native language happens well before a child reaches Kindergarten. Studies have even shown that in order to sound like a native speaker of another language, a child needs to be exposed to that other language by the age of four. That’s very young!

The ideal time for a child to get screened for their literacy skills

Through this type of research, we have learned that identifying children with skill deficits in the critical areas of sound and language structures and providing remediation in grades PreK-1st grade, can lead to positive reading outcomes in up to 92% of children (Torgesen, 2004). This is due to the brain’s plasticity in these early years. Providing intervention while the brain is optimal for learning language is proven most effective. Essentially, we are helping children to develop connections to language and sounds, often referred to as “wiring the brain” for reading.  

Some children develop these connections through daily exposure to language, rhyming, and playing with sounds in language. Other children need to be explicitly taught in order to develop these pathways. Early screening is the key.

Early screening and dyslexia identification

What is the key to helping children who have challenges with language and phonological awareness? Finding them! And as early as possible. A screening process with a holistic view of a child’s literacy skills can help with this.

At a very young age, children are typically screened for difficulties in hearing and sight, but screening for phonological processing is not a common occurrence. Dyslexia, a more severe reading struggle, is often related to skill deficits in phonemic and phonological processing (International Dyslexia Association, 2002). The inability to identify and organize the sounds (phonemes) in language, can keep a student from being able to read and spell, so it is critical to find children who are at risk as early as possible. We don’t have to wait until 1st or 2nd Grade when issues become clearly noticeable. The reading struggles associated with dyslexia are preventable with proper identification and instruction.

What a parent should look for in a screener

Even before a child can read, they should be screened for dyslexia and for other reading struggles. Areas of screening include rhyming, blending, segmenting, and repeating sounds in words. Children can also be screened in the number of words or sounds they can remember in a sequence, or how long it takes to name familiar objects in a quick and automatic manner. We call this “rapid automatized naming” or “RAN”. Each of these tasks is part of the foundation of early reading.

What the EarlyBird Literacy Assessment tests

EarlyBird has taken the research and the skills that are most predictive of reading success and developed a screener for all children. In a child-friendly gamified app, EarlyBird screens these critical areas: the ability to rhyme, segment sounds, repeat words, identify letters and sounds, demonstrate comprehension, vocabulary, and even follow directions. It is one of the most comprehensive early literacy screeners available to children as young as 4 years old.

Through a scientific formula, EarlyBird combines the scores of specific subtests to provide a risk flag for dyslexia and a prediction of successful reading outcomes. Our algorithms use data from tens of thousands of children to make these predictions in the most accurate way possible. Parents gain an understanding of their child’s strengths and weaknesses and areas of need for early reading intervention.

When is it time to get a reading intervention?

As soon as a child is identified as having a specific skill deficit in one of the components of reading, there should be an action plan for intervention. Remember, the window of optimal intervention occurs when the brain is more plastic for language during PreK-1st grade (Gilmore, Knickmeyer, & Gao, 2018). Waiting to see if the child will “catch up” is a model that the data shows does not work and often results in low self-esteem and lost time for effective instruction.

What reading intervention can look like

Targeted reading intervention can happen as young as age four. Providing activities that are evidence-based should always be considered. These can include activities such as clapping the rhythm to popular nursery rhymes or songs while emphasizing the words that rhyme; repeating and switching words in a sentence while using manipulatives to represent the words; or seeing how many objects you can name in a room that start with a particular letter sound.

What’s most important is that the instruction is explicit and systematic, with opportunities for multimodal interaction (see it, hear it, touch it, move it). The sequence of the instruction will become important as the child begins to deepen their understanding of language and the sound structures, and moves towards the individual sounds in language and the letters that represent those sounds.

How parents can take action

Unfortunately, not all schools provide screening in these early years of reading development, nor do pediatricians. It is important for parents to advocate for their child when they suspect a risk of reading difficulty. We know that neuropsychology evaluations can be extremely expensive and take quite a long time to get results. There are also checklists and questionnaires available on the internet where parents can get a sense if dyslexia or reading struggles are a consideration, but they can be vague in outcomes.

The best bet for a parent is to:

1. Use a comprehensive screener that assesses the key skill areas in early reading. This can be administered right in your home.  Finding a screener that will give you an understanding of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, with actionable next steps in lessons and materials, will help begin to build those skills for your child. This is crucial. We recommend ensuring that your screener is evidence-based in addition to several other factors.
2. Look for a tutor or online intervention program that can begin to build important foundational skills for your child. You may find providing direct instruction to your child can be difficult and time-consuming. Affordable options like EarlyBird at Home give you the support of a dedicated Literacy Specialist while ensuring your child stays engaged through a kid-loved game called Pip School.
3. Give children exposure to good language and phonological instruction in the critical years of brain development. It is a good practice for all children to have strong phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, as well as oral language comprehension skills. This gives them the solid foundation to become good readers and share in the joy of a good book. Here’s one example activity that you can do at home.

When it comes to helping your child on their reading journey, earlier is better.

Sources:

Gilmore, J. H., Knickmeyer, R. C., & Gao, W. (2018). Imaging structural and functional brain development in early childhood. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(3), 123-137.

International Dyslexia Association, (2002).  Dyslexia Definition. https://dyslexiaida.org/definition-of-dyslexia/

Torgesen, J. K. (2004). Lessons learned from research on interventions for students who have difficulty learning to read. In P. McCardle & V. Chhabra (Eds.), The voice of evidence in reading research (pp. 355–382). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Looking for early reading intervention options? Visit our services tab to find virtual year-round, in-person year-round, and summer options for your child.