Increasing engagement may enable struggling readers to catch up with their peers. This study examined the impact of using multisensory strategies with Elkonin boxes to teach decodable words to first grade students. The study found that student interest impacted engagement, particularly when it was a combination of auditory, tactile, and visual.…

The purpose of this study was to examine how the implementation of the Wilson's Language Training program, Fundations, influences the reading growth of first-grade graders. Reading proficiency at the school in this study was quite low at six percent. During the intervention, emphasis was placed on phonemic awareness. The Wilson's Fundations…

The aim of this study was to examine if--and to what extent--a sensory modality's conceptual congruency influences learning in digital environments. Building on previous work in multimedia and embodied learning, the study used custom software to systematically vary the conceptual congruency of two sensory modalities (aural and bodily-kinesthetic).…

A compulsory foreign language in Finland starts now in Grade 1 instead of Grade 3. The change has forced teachers to adopt new teaching methods. As young learners are not yet literate, teaching should focus on oral skills and awareness of diversity. Video data from 19 early foreign language lessons of five English, German, or French teachers in…

This paper describes a problem of practice that arose from a lack of consistent, systematic phonics instruction within a small rural school with a large percentage of students not mastering skills in a way that builds the needed foundation for reading. To address this problem, action research was conducted through a mixed methods approach to…

The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to examine if and to what extent, there are statistically significant differences in decoding and oral reading fluency scores between at-risk Title I students who receive multisensory phonics-based instruction in first grade and those who do not in the Western United States. Paivio's dual…

The aim of this study is to examine how a structured intensive training period with a phonological multisensory reading training method, at the end of Grade 1, can develop pupils' ability to connect phonemes with the corresponding graphemes as well as their ability to decode. A total of 38 pupils in Grade 1 from four elementary schools…

This study replicates and extends prior research on multisensory mathematics instruction (Grünke, Urton, & Karnes, 2018) by integrating a touch points strategy, performance feedback, reward system, and a reinforcing card game into an instructional package. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of the…

This study examined a literacy program that targeted students most at risk of reading difficulties in kindergarten and first grade of 12 Swedish schools. The program used multi-sensory learning methods that focused on phonological awareness and phonics, and was delivered during 10 weeks over 30-35 sessions by teachers in a one-to-one or one-to-two…

The study analyzed whether participation in a multisensory, structured language intervention for students identified with dyslexia yielded any relationship to progress in reading comprehension as measured on state-mandated assessments of reading comprehension. The study analyzed both the amount of progress made in the curriculum, as well as, the…

This article shares the authors' work with first graders and how, through various reading, writing, and art experiences around picturebooks, the children learned to read and communicate through art along with written language. The work is grounded in multimodality theory and the belief that all modes (particularly art for the purposes of this…

Based on a first grade teacher's search for approaches to promote successful reading acquisition in her first grade classroom, the authors present a curricular engagement in which the teacher explored using music, specifically singing songs, as a fun and motivating way to accelerate reading progress. The premise is that singing (while at the…

Studies by Moats (1995), Mather, Bos, and Babur (2001), and McCutchen, et al (2002) have begun to identify the relationship between teachers' linguistic knowledge and what is known, scientifically, about how literacy is acquired by learners. Findings from these studies support the idea that linguistic knowledge--particularly knowledge of…

This tenth edition of the best-selling book teaches reading using sounds and spelling patterns. These sounds and patterns are introduced one at a time, and slowly built into words, syllables, phrases, and sentences. Simple step-by-step directions begin every lesson. Although originally designed for K-2 emergent readers, this award-winning book is…

This project describes a 12-week program developed to improve student spelling of high frequency words for transfer in written work across the curriculum. The targeted population consists of kindergarten, first, and third graders in two public elementary schools in a community located in central Illinois. Following an extensive literature review,…