Interventions to Fluency - Success

Combined reading fluency interventions work for small groups of students with learning disabilities! 

In February and March, I conducted an action research project at my school. The problem investigated was that the students with learning disabilities in grades 1 through 3 were not showing progress toward end of year fluency benchmarks as measured by district assessments. I designed a study using combined interventions that included repeated reading, choral reading, listening passage preview, and error correction. The intervention package resulted in fluency gains for all five students in my study.  The study involved 18 intervention sessions over an eight-week period and fortunately, ended just in time to avoid the scheduling disruptions of the PARCC testing window. Importantly, three of the five students appear to be on track to attaining end of year grade level fluency benchmarks. The other two students increased their reading fluency over the course of the study, but will not reach the end of year benchmarks at this point. 

The study findings are limited by several factors. First, the study was conducted over a short window in the middle of the school year. More fluency progress may have been possible with a longer intervention period. Second, the participant sample was small with only five students and two types of learning disabilities. The results may be different with more students from a variety of school settings and with different types of learning disabilities. 

I concluded that the study left questions open for further research. There is a need for studies that validate repeated reading as an evidence-based practice for students with learning disabilities. Repeated reading does not have a standard set of protocols and procedures for conducting the intervention. Additionally, there is the problem that with a combined intervention it was impossible to determine which of the components were effective. There is a need for more research so ineffective components can be eliminated. Moreover, there is a need to study the benefit of combined fluency interventions on different types of disabilities, including speech/language, intellectual disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. 

In concluding the research, I felt I made progress on determining an effective and efficient fluency intervention combination to aid the students with learning disabilities at my school. The study has finished, but I am continuing to use the interventions with success through the end of the school year.