Explore Types of Reading Disabilities with the presentations and accompanying resources on this page.
Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling: Identifying Common Profiles of Reading Difficulties and their Implications for Intervention
Dr. David Kilpatrick: Recent Advances in Understanding Word-Level Reading Problems-Implications for Instruction & Intervention
Research on reading difficulties suggests that three profiles of reading problems are common. This research is useful not only for understanding the reading problems of students with disabilities, but also for other struggling readers as well, such as English learners. The presentation begins by describing the three profiles of poor reading and how they may be identified within an MTSS framework, including multiple student case examples. Implications of each profile for intervention and ways that each profile may manifest in math and written expression are also discussed. Participants then apply what they have learned using additional case examples with specific assessment data, in small groups in Zoom breakout rooms. Some background in testing will be helpful for this session.
Facilitation Guide Coming Soon!
This session will focus on how children learn to read words and why some children struggle. Understanding the nature of word-level reading development and word-level reading problems will guide both instruction and intervention. Studies consistently show that the most commonly used intervention approaches provide limited benefits for weak readers. However, other studies have shown that some approaches can yield very large reading gains for such students, and these will be the focus of the presentation.