Tutoring with the Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing Reading Curriculum

(An intervention for at-risk readers in grades K-2)

Randomized controlled trial shows sizable positive impacts on reading ability for students with poor phonological processing (e.g., letter naming, and awareness of the sounds within words).

Description of the intervention:  Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing is a curriculum for K-2 students with poor phonological processing.  The curriculum provides intense instruction in word-level skills -- including building awareness of the sounds within words (”phonemic awareness”) and letter-sound correspondences -- to enable students to “decode” individual words.  After the children demonstrate mastery in decoding words, they begin reading text that is readily decodable, followed by oral reading of regular books with tutors focusing on comprehension skills.

In the version of this intervention that was rigorously evaluated, students were provided one-on-one tutoring using Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing, in four 20-minute sessions per week for 2.5 years beginning in the second semester of kindergarten.  Two of the sessions were conducted by a certified reading teacher and two by a teacher's aide who followed the teacher's written instructions.  The teachers received 18 hours of training prior to the intervention, and three hours of in-service training bi-weekly during the intervention.  Their tutoring sessions were periodically videotaped and reviewed by project consultants to identify areas for improvement.  The aides were provided less extensive training.

The cost of the Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing manual and initial 18-hour training is $649 per teacher.  Additional costs include (i) the teachers' time spent tutoring (about one hour per student per week); (ii) the aides' time tutoring (also an hour per student per week); (iii) the bi-weekly in-service training of teachers; and (iv) the training of aides.

Click here for the curriculum's website.

Source

Torgesen, Joseph, Richard Wagner, Carol Rashotte, Elaine Rose, Patricia Lindamood, Tim Conway, & Cyndi Garvan (1999).  “Preventing reading failure in young children with phonological processing disabilities: Group and individual responses to instruction.”  Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 579-593.