More Intensive, More Explicit and More Supportive

According to reading expert and researcher Professor Joseph K. Torgesen, in an ideal world, if all children could receive the proper developmental cognitive skill training there is a high degree of certainty that almost all reading deficiencies could be eliminated.

“…we must insure that classroom instruction in kindergarten through Grade 3 is skillfully delivered with…reading comprehension skills…procedures in place to accurately identify children who fall behind…[and] we must provide these at-risk children with reading instruction that is more intensive, more explicit, and more supportive than can be provided in a classroom of 20 to 30 children.”

“Prevention of Reading Difficulties,” Journal of School Psychology, volume 40, number 1, page 13, Joseph K. Torgesen.

For at-risk children, perhaps one-third of the children in our schools, successful instruction is only possible with one-on-one or computer-based training to develop the foundational core brain skills needed to enable, empower and enhance their reading and learning abilities.

Understanding the need to build core skills with intense intervention is clearly stated by Torgesen (page 11), “Programs that are not sufficient to “normalize” the development of at-risk children in phonemic decoding skill and fluent word recognition have not accomplished one of the most critical goals of preventive reading instruction.”

Every elementary principal and reading teacher should be aware of these research findings. Click on the link below for a two-page article citation with a link to the entire article.

Preventing Reading Struggles for Low-income Students, Summary of Key Article by Dr Joseph Torgesen