The importance of letter sound knowledge (LSK) as a precursor to later literacy skills has been well-documented. Since English language learners (ELLs), or students who first acquired a language other than English, continue to underperform in reading compared to their English-speaking peers, they are particularly at-risk for reading and academic…

This randomized-control trial examined the learning of preservice teachers taking an initial Early Literacy course in an early childhood education program and of the kindergarten or first grade students they tutored in their field experience. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring programs: Book Buddies and Tutor…

Tutoring sessions within a LATCH-ON (Literacy and Technology-Hands On) program were provided to a 19-year-old woman with Down syndrome. Instruction focused primarily on phonics instruction, as well as other decoding strategies. She developed the ability to associate consonant and vowel sounds with letter presentations and to recognize whole word…

This study evaluated the adaptation of individual reading tutorial methods to small-group instruction with 24 low-achieving readers in Grades 2 and 3. Students were instructed in phonemic awareness, phonetic decoding, high-frequency sight words, application of word identification strategies, and rereading of familiar text. Results support use of…

Twenty-three first-graders at risk for learning disabilities received one-to-one tutoring from noncertified tutors for 30 minutes, 4 days a week, for one school year. Tutoring included instruction in phonological skills, explicit decoding, writing, spelling, and reading phonically controlled text. Participants significantly outperformed controls…

Sixteen children with severe reading problems in first grade received a year-long individual tutorial intervention. Growth curve analyses found significant gains on measures of orthographic and phonological coding, word identification, word attack skills, reading comprehension, letter automaticity, and spelling and marginally significant gains in…