Banter Speech & Language

Sydney speech pathologists helping adults and children speak for themselves.

reading fluency

New decodable Scatter-Slayer Adventure: The Nervous Furnace Workers’ Well-Earned Liberation

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We can’t think of a better way to work on <er ir ur wor> and <ear> than with a silly tale about an evil surfboard and a bunch of nervous serfs!

Our 8th and latest decodable reader in our Scatter-Slayer Adventure series focusing on the extended code and reading fluency. 

download now

Watch a preview:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Free resources to help our preschoolers and primary school-age kids to read

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To help our kids to read, we need good tools to put independent, peer-reviewed research into practice. Decades of evidence-building tells us that kids need phonological awareness, vocabulary, synthetic phonics, comprehension and fluency skills to read well; and that oral language comprehension and morphological awareness are important, too.

Putting theory into action

The key challenge is how to teach these skills to kids with reading difficulties. It’s time-consuming (and often expensive) to find quality, evidence-based reading resources. But, there are researchers out there focused on how to implement evidence-based reading practices.

You just have to know where to look.

One of our favourite organisations is the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR): a multidisciplinary research centre based at Florida State University.

Free reading resources, activities and ideas 

The FCRR houses a goldmine of free pre-reading and reading resources, ideas, and activities.

Most of the resources we use are found in two sections:

So check out the FCRR! We hope you find their marvellous free resources as useful as we do.

Related articles:

Key source: Florida Center for Reading Research, reviewed by Carol Westby, Word of Mouth 28:5 May/June 2017.

Editor’s note: we’ve used US spelling conventions for FCRR’s name; and Australian spelling conventions for everything else.

Image: https://tinyurl.com/y7ufaan8

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

My loved one has reading problems. Where can I find evidence-based answers to get help? New free eBook

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Instantly download our new, 188-page, free eBook here:

What is it?

There’s so much information out there about reading difficulties, including dyslexia. It’s hard to sort:

  • the good stuff – based on independent, peer-reviewed evidence; from
  • the nonsense – the fads, the snake oil, patent-protected “systems”, “special lenses”, and expensive products and courses that are not backed up by independent evidence.

We wrote this book for parents, carers and other loved ones who have a family member or loved one with reading difficulties.

This book is fad-free. People with reading difficulties don’t have time to waste on stuff that doesn’t work. This book is designed to help you find the quality information you need to get good help, quickly.

What’s in it?

Evidence-based, plain English summaries answering our 24 most frequently asked reading questions.

How to use it

Read the bit (or bits) that seem most relevant to you, and then go from there. We’ve included hundreds of clickable links between the articles, so you can choose your own adventure through the book, at you own pace.

We hope you find it useful. If you have questions or feedback, please get in touch.

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

“I’m not a child!” How to get help for a teenager or adult you love who can’t read

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Imagine for a moment that you can’t read or write; even at a basic level:

  • How would you apply for, find or hold down work?
  • If you found work, how could you review your employment contract? How would you communicate with workmates?
  • If you couldn’t find work, how could you get help with basic needs like unemployment benefits, or with training or housing?
  • How would you stay in touch with friends who text or use Facebook, Discord or WhatsApp to converse?
  • How would you travel to places you’ve never been before? What would happen if your voice-guided app or device failed you?
  • Could you find out about stuff that mattered to you as quickly as friends who could read Google search results?
  • How could you educate yourself about your legal rights or obligations, e.g. when renting or buying a place to live, taking out a car loan, getting married or divorced, or managing a loved one’s affairs?
  • How could you resolve disputes or deal with unexpected tasks, like insurance claims or funerals?
  • How could you read articles like this one?

As we’ve noted before in some detail, poor reading skills can have a big negative life-long effect on your academic, social, and work outcomes (e.g. Snowling et al., 2007).

Now imagine you have a loved one – a teenager or adult in your life – who can’t read properly. How can you find evidence-based help?

What’s needed most

For people of all ages who can’t read properly, phonics decoding and word reading accuracy are essential skills for reading accuracy, fluency and reading comprehension (Carroll et al., 2011). “The case for synthetic phonics is overwhelming and much strengthened by a systematic approach” (Rose, 2006). Learning speech-sound-based decoding skills in an intense, focused, multi-sensory and systematic way can improve word reading, even for people with severe reading problems (e.g. Fletcher et al., 2007; Shaywitz, 2003; Singleton et al., 2009).

Overcoming additional barriers for teenagers and adults

Many reading programs are intended for primary school-aged kids (Brooks, 2007). For teenagers and adults, being given a garish, cartoonish phonics book designed for a 5 year old can be demoralising; even humiliating. This is a big problem: many teenagers and adults who can’t read already have low self-esteem and confidence (Jeffes, 2016). It’s essential that the materials are age-appropriate and that literacy workers don’t treat clients like young children.

What can help

In our clinic, we use a range of age-appropriate resources to help teenagers and adults to read, including texts tailored to a client’s personal, school or work interests and needs.

One resource we use for teenagers and adults with significant reading difficulties was first suggested to me by one of my co-mentors, Nel MacBean of Positive Speech. It’s called “Toe By Toe”.

Toe By Toe is a highly structured – at time almost pedantically so! – evidence-based multi-sensory reading program developed by Keda and Harry Cowling in the United Kingdom. The program has a close focus on phonics instruction and letter-sound links, but the program does not look like a kids’ reader and is never condescending. The more I use it, the more I like it for a number of reasons.

Does it work?

In 2016, Ben Jeffes published a study about Toe By Toe*, looking at outcomes of a 60-minute, once a week, 10-week reading program administered to 30 teenagers in Years 7-10, using the Toe By Toe program. He found that the students:

Interestingly, students reported that they liked the program more than the teachers, noting that the program gave them a chance to improve their reading one-to-one without “simply reading books”.

Our view

We like Toe By Toe because it helps students to:

  • learn methodically about letter-sound links;
  • overcome unhelpful and non-evidence-based reading “strategies” like word-guessing based on word shapes or the first letter-sound (so-called analytical phonics);
  • improve their phonological awareness (e.g. of words with consonant clusters and more than one syllable); and
  • improve their ability to identify and pronounce common morphemes,

at their own pace with age-appropriate materials. We also find that the later stages of the program (which no student in the study completed) help students with their decoding speed, word recognition and reading fluency skills, although we are not aware of any peer-reviewed studies to date that support our clinical observations to date.

Bottom line

For more than a decade, we’ve known the key skills needed to learn to read: (1) phonological awareness; (2) phonics; (3) fluency; (4) vocabulary; and (5) comprehension. But there is no single reading program that appeals to every age group.

It’s hard to motivate teenagers and adults to learn to read with materials designed for young children, even if the materials are evidence-based. One option for older readers is the Toe By Toe program, which has been shown to increase phonics decoding, word recognition and phonics decoding fluency. But it should be supplemented with instruction in evidence-based reading comprehension strategies, fluency practice (speed and expression), vocabulary instruction relevant to their school/work interests, needs and goals and, in some cases, morphological awareness training.

If you – or someone you know – needs help with their reading, there are many places to look for help – just make sure they are committed to evidenced-based reading instruction.

Related articles:

Principal source: Jeffes, B. (2016). Raising the reading skills of secondary-age students with severe and persistent reading difficulties: evaluation of the efficacy and implementation of a phonics-based intervention programme. Educational Psychology in Practice, 32(1), 73-84.

Additional resource: The Reading Writing Hotline.

* The Jeffes study was designed as a quasi-experimental, two group, baseline/test controlled study, with both groups receiving the training, at different times to measure outcomes. As the author himself notes, the study had lots of limitations, e.g. there was no real control group, the testers weren’t blinded to the groups or the results, and and the results may have been affected by bias, including as a result of the so-called Hawthorne effect where people improve because they know they are being observed and/or establish a good rapport with the people testing them. Importantly, no student completed the full program in 10 weeks, so the study doesn’t necessarily reflect the degree of reading gains that people who complete the program may make.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/lhm3jrz

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

How to find out if your child has a reading problem (and how to choose the right treatment approach)

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There’s so much nonsense out there about kids’ reading problems and treatments. Unfortunately, lots of education, technology, and health businesses cash in on parents’ concerns by selling them expensive products and services unsupported by research evidence.

We get lots of calls and emails from anxious parents who are – understandably – worried about their children’s reading progress. Many are totally confused by the conflicting advice, jargon, glossy brochures and other clever marketing tricks used by different organisations to describe reading problems and how to “fix them”.

In this article, we discuss reading problems without the jargon. We also highlight reading treatment approaches that have been proven to work by high quality research.

1. Reading problems. Are they the same thing as “dyslexia”, “specific learning disorders with impairments in reading and/or writing” and “reading disabilities”?

Confusing and overlapping terms for reading problems are a big barrier for many parents looking to get reading help for their kids.

To learn to read, children need to acquire the Big Five evidence-based reading skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension skills and reading fluency. Difficulty acquiring one of more of these skills can cause reading and spelling problems.

Some reading problems – particularly to do with problems decoding written words – are called “dyslexia”. The term “dyslexia” is controversial and fiercely debated internationally for a few (good) reasons. One of the many definitions out there says that children with dyslexia usually have a significant impairment in their acquisition of:

which cannot be explained by:

  • low IQ; or
  • vision problems; or
  • neurological damage (e.g. a brain injury); or
  • (controversially) “poor educational opportunities” (Lyon et al., 2003).

You can read more about the dyslexia debate here.

Some researchers refer to statistically significant reading problems as “reading disabilities” (e.g. Galuschka et al., 2014). This term is also controversial – in part because reading (unlike talking) is “biologically unnatural” – everyone has to learn to do it from scratch, and some people can’t do it because they haven’t been taught properly. The word “disability” can also be very confronting for some worried parents.

“Specific learning disorder with impairment in reading (or writing)” is the (very wordy) language used by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, (the DSM-5) the “bible” of mental health professionals in America and in many other countries, including Australia. Meeting the criteria for this disorder can be very important in some situations, e.g. to qualify for funding or special exam allowances (see below).

To side-step all this confusion, we’ll refer to reading problems as….(drum roll): “reading problems”.

2. Are all reading problems the same?

No.

Some are severe. Some are moderate. Some are mild. Some affect mainly one aspect of reading (e.g. comprehension but not decoding, as in hyperlexia). Others affect more than one aspect of reading (e.g. problems with phonological awareness, decoding, reading fluency and reading comprehension).

3. How can you find out if your child has a significant reading problem?

Most parents who contact us know their child is struggling to keep up with peers in reading, e.g. because they have observed the problems directly or have been told by their teachers.

The simplest way to get to the bottom of what’s going on is for your child to undertake a comprehensive and reliable standardised reading test. For example, in our clinic, we administer the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension – Australian Edition (Snowling, et al., 2012) (the YARC), which has been shown to be reliable and valid for Australian school children (see YARC manual, pages 100-103).

4. You’ve seen someone about it. How severe is the problem?

In the best of worlds, your child’s speech pathologist, educator or educational psychologist would tell you clearly in their written assessment report.

In reality, some formal reports are very hard to read and understand unless you have a background in health, education or statistics. If you don’t understand the report, ask the professional to explain it in Plain English. To make reading reports easier for families, I have posted a Plain English guide to understanding standardised test scores: here.

How do we categorise reading problem severities? Consistent with published reading studies (e.g. Galuschka et al., 2014), we are of the view that a:

  • severe reading problem is where your child’s reading performance is below the ~2.5th percentile (at least two standard deviations below the average). In other words, where at least 97.5% of your child’s peers are better readers. Other rules of thumb are where your child is at least two years below grade/year level, or has at least a two-year gap between his/her actual age (also called chronological age) and reading age.
  • moderate reading problem is where your child’s reading performance is below the 16th percentile (at least one standard deviation below the average). In other words, where at least 84% of your child’s peers are better readers. Other rules of thumb are where your child is at least one year below grade/year level, or has at least a one-year gap between his/her actual age (also called chronological age) and reading age.
  • mild reading problem is where your child’s reading performance is below the 25th percentile. In other words, where at least 75% of your child’s peers are better readers.

5. Does my child need to undergo a battery of expensive IQ and other tests before he or she can get help with reading?

No. No. No.

Read the next sentence carefully:

The best evidence-based treatments for kids with reading problems are exactly the same for:

  • kids with a formal diagnosis of dyslexia or learning disorder; and
  • kids without a formal diagnosis of dyslexia or learning disorder.

(This is something many “dyslexia assessment specialists” don’t tell you.)

In some situations, a formal and expensive diagnosis (e.g. of “dyslexia” or a “Specific learning disorder with impairment in reading”) might get your child special funding or exam allowances (or both). Again, this is controversial because it favours children from families who can afford to pay health and education experts to complete batteries of expensive IQ and other tests.

But a simple (much cheaper) standardised reading assessment like the YARC will tell you if your child has a significant reading problem and needs help to learn how to read.

6. Where should professionals look for the best evidence about reading treatment approaches that work?

As with any question about evidence-based treatments for our clients, we look first to the results of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in peer reviewed, quality journals. RCTs reduce the risk of bias and are the most rigorous way of determining whether a treatment actually works (Sibbald & Roland, 1998). RCTs about reading treatments are particularly important because of the very opinionated squabbles that break out between different reading “experts” over the best approach to reading instruction. You can read more about RCTs and why they are considered the “gold standard” of good research here.

Interested readers can also access the full texts of several landmark reports published about effective reading instruction by following the links at the bottom of our article about what works in reading instruction, including the US National Reading Panel report of 2000.

7. So what kinds of reading treatments work?

In 2014, a so-called “Meta-Analysis” of the then-published RCTs of reading treatments was published (see citation below). Here are some of the key findings made by the authors:

  • Phonics instruction is the “only approach whose effectiveness on reading and spelling performance in children and adolescents with reading disabilities is statistically confirmed“. This finding is consistent with earlier meta-analyses published in 2001 and 2012 (McArthur et al., 2012; Ehri et al., 2001).
  • Systematic instruction of letter-sound correspondence and decoding strategies, and the application of these skills in reading and writing activities, is the most effective method for improving literacy skills of children and adolescents with reading disabilities.
  • Phonics instruction has been shown by RCTs to work in English-speaking countries, but also in studies conducted in Spain, Finland and Italy.
  • Reading fluency training alone is not an effective way to enhance the reading or spelling ability of children and adolescents with reading disabilities.
  • Phonemic awareness training has been shown to be effective for preschool children at risk for reading disabilities (e.g.  Ehri et al., 2001; Bus et al., 1999). However, as a standalone treatment, it does not appear to have a significant effect on school children’s reading or spelling performance.
  • Phonics instruction combines elements of reading fluency and phonemic awareness training; and has the potential to increase the reading and spelling performance of children and adolescents with reading disabilities.
  • Using Irlen tinted lenses and overlays does not improve literacy: positive results reported in some lower quality studies are mainly due to placebo effects. (You can read independent research about why Irlen tinted lenses and overlays are not recommended here.)
  • Auditory training focused on sub-skills underpinning reading does not significantly improve children’s reading and spelling skills.

Bottom line

High quality, peer-reviewed research evidence demonstrates that even severe reading and spelling difficulties can be ameliorated with appropriate treatment. At this stage, the best treatment approach available for children and teenagers with significant reading problems is phonics instruction. In our clinic, we’ve applied these findings to inform our approach to helping children with reading problems to read.

Related articles:

Principal source: Galuschka, K., Ise, E., Krickm K., & Schulte-Korne, G. (2014). Effectiveness of Treatment Approaches for Children and Adolescents with Reading Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials, PLOS One, 9(2), open access (full text) available here. Note the correction.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/m7qzuog

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

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