Day: 4 November 2025

If I’ve learned one thing about reading intervention, it’s this: structure builds freedom.

When students know what to expect, when routines are predictable, lessons are clear, and goals feel reachable, they start to relax. That’s when learning actually sticks.

Dr. Anita Archer (2011) calls this kind of instruction explicit teaching – the idea that we show students exactly what success looks like and walk with them every step of the way. Her “I do, we do, you do” model has become my north star in small-group reading. It’s simple, effective, and most importantly, respectful of every learner’s time and effort.

For students with intellectual disabilities, clarity and repetition aren’t just helpful—they’re oxygen. As Dehaene (2013) explains, the brain literally wires itself to connect letters, sounds, and meaning. That wiring takes practice, patience, and lots of chances to succeed.

Start with What They Can Do

It’s very negative and tiring to start with, listing everything my students are unable to do yet. From my experience and knowledge shared with me through many research papers, it is best to start a student’s intervention by looking at what is working for them.

Vygotsky (1978) called this the Zone of Proximal Development – the sweet spot where learning happens when the teacher offers just enough help. Students with intellectual disabilities often have amazing visual memories or strong listening comprehension. We can use those strengths to scaffold new reading skills.

And like Hattie (2012) reminds us, teacher clarity, being transparent about what we’re learning and why, has one of the biggest impacts on student growth.

So I tell my students exactly what we’re doing:

Today we’re going to learn how to read words that end in -ing. By the end, you’ll be able to find them in any story we read.

It’s a small thing, but it shifts the tone from “intervention” to “learning journey.”

Phonics, Phonemes, and Finding the Right Entry Point

Let’s talk phonics. The word itself can feel like a buzzword lately, but the truth is, it works when it’s systematic and cumulative. Blevins (2020) stresses that new learning has to build on old learning in logical steps.

That starts with phonemic awareness – helping students hear and play with sounds. Brady (2020) explains that when students can separate the m in map or blend the s–a–t in sat, they’re doing the brainwork that makes decoding possible.

Ehri (2022) calls this process orthographic mapping – linking letters to sounds until words become automatic. It’s how readers stop “sounding out” and start recognizing.

But here’s the catch: drills alone don’t make strong readers. Flanigan et al. (2022) remind us that phonics is the gateway to meaning, not the destination. So after decoding comes talking—about what words mean, how they connect, and where students have seen them before.

The Magic of Multisensory Learning

I’ve never met a student who didn’t love hands-on work (anything to get out of reading, I find, works wonders with my grade 9s). When we bring movement, texture, and sound into reading, learning suddenly becomes real.

Lane (2023) explains that multisensory instruction – seeing, saying, hearing, and touching letters—activates more parts of the brain. I’ve seen this firsthand: tracing letters in sand, tapping out syllables on the table, or using colour-coded vowel cards can transform a blank stare into an “Oh! I get it!” moment, or as I like to say a “huzzah” moment.

Yopp (1992) wrote about using Elkonin boxes for phonemic awareness decades ago, and they’re one of my new favourite tools. The tactile act of pushing a counter for each sound is pure magic for students who need concrete experiences.

Words Need a Life of Their Own

Once decoding starts to click, vocabulary is the next mountain. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2013) talk about “robust vocabulary instruction”, choosing powerful, everyday words and revisiting them often.

For my students, that means using words in stories, drawings, and silly skits. Coyne and Loftus-Rattan (2022) found that students with memory challenges learn best when vocabulary is repeated in different contexts. So “fortunate” might pop up in our morning meeting, our read-aloud, and our writing prompt.

When reading aloud, I borrow from Fisher and Frey (2015): I ask text-dependent questions that send students back into the story – “How do you know she was nervous?” – so comprehension grows alongside vocabulary.

Fluency Is More Than Speed

Rasinski (2021) says fluency is “the bridge between decoding and comprehension.” It’s not about reading fast; it’s about reading with feeling.

That’s why we practice with short, meaningful texts, songs, jokes, even scripts for mini plays. Archer (2011) shows that brief, daily fluency practice can double progress for struggling readers. When kids get to perform their reading, they own it.

Mesmer (2023) adds that decodable texts, stories written to match the phonics patterns students are learning, give readers a safe space to practice. They build confidence instead of frustration.

Progress Isn’t Linear—And That’s Okay

Here’s where I check myself: not every student will move through interventions neatly. Some will leap ahead; others will camp out on one skill for weeks.

Hattie (2012) reminds us that visible learning means using data to see learning through the student’s eyes. I keep quick notes after every one-on-one student session I have- what clicked, what didn’t, what sparked joy.

Miles, Ehri, and DeFord (2018) found that the best teachers aren’t the ones who stick rigidly to a program- they’re the ones who adapt. When something isn’t working, change it. The program serves the student, not the other way around.

Teaching for Dignity and Joy

One of the most important shifts for me has been treating every reading session as an act of dignity. These learners deserve high expectations, choice, and stories that reflect who they are.

Goldenberg (2023) talks about bilingual students, but his message applies here too: literacy instruction must never imply deficiency; it must affirm identity.

And as Fountas and Pinnell (2017) remind us, responsive teaching is about meeting readers where they are—and believing they can grow from there.

Takeaways (and a Little Encouragement)

Here’s what I hope you carry into your next reading sessions:

• Teach clearly and consistently.
• Engage multiple senses.
• Give words a life. 
• Celebrate small steps.
• Hold high expectations for all. 

Reading interventions for students with intellectual disabilities aren’t about fixing what’s broken. They’re about unlocking what’s already there: curiosity, persistence, and the human desire to make meaning through words.

So the next time you sit down at that small group table, remember—you’re not just teaching reading. You’re opening doors.

References:

Archer, A. L. (2011). Explicit instruction in reading fluency [Video]. YouTube.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Blevins, W. (2020). Phonics: 10 important research findings. Reading Simplified.

Brady, S. (2020). Phoneme awareness: How knowledge about this component of the science of reading has evolved.Reading Simplified.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert.Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51.

Coyne, M. D., & Loftus-Rattan, S. M. (2022). Structured literacy interventions for vocabulary. Guilford Press.

Dehaene, S. (2013). How the brain learns to read [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo]. WISE Channel.

Duke, N. K., & Mesmer, H. A. (2016). Teach “sight words” as you would other words. Literacy Now.

Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 205–242). International Reading Association.

Ehri, L. C. (2022). What teachers need to know and do to teach letter-sounds, phonemic awareness, word reading, and phonics. The Reading Teacher, 75(5), 613–623.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2015). Text-dependent questions, grades K–5: Pathways to close and critical reading. Corwin Press.

Flanigan, K., Hayes, L., Templeton, S., Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2022). The “P” word revisited: Principles for tackling misconceptions about phonics instruction. The Reading Teacher, 75(3), 341–352.

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2017). Guided reading: Responsive teaching across the grades. Heinemann.

Goldenberg, C. (2023). The bilingual brain and reading research: Questions about teaching English learners to read in English. Colorín Colorado.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.

Lane, H. (2023). Multisensory instruction: What is it and should I bother? Collaborative Classroom.

Mesmer, H. A. (2023). Ep. 132: The research on decodable text. Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast.

Miles, J., Ehri, L. C., & DeFord, D. (2018). Applying reading science to classroom practice: A review of evidence-based methods. Reading Research Quarterly, 53(4), 489–507.

Pressley, M. (2006). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Rasinski, T. V. (2021). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension (2nd ed.). Scholastic.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Yopp, H. K. (1992). Developing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading Teacher, 45(9), 696–703.