Reading Interventions

This page is geared toward providing interventions for reading skills. These interventions are organized according to grade level.   

Click on the appropriate grade level to find interventions in reading skills for children across the grade levels.

Please keep in mind that you might consider interventions at lower grade levels for lower functioning individuals.

Please submit your ideas by clicking on the "Submit Your Ideas" icon on the left. 

Title of Intervention: Language development, vocabulary enrichment 

Materials: box with lid, items relating to theme or unit of study, i.e. cooking: various kitchen utensils, pots and pans, pot holders, measuring cups and spoons, etc., Photographs or other pictures of the items 

Intervention: The student will learn and use the appropriate labels for different objects correlating to various themes and units.  Collect a variety of items, objects or toys relating to specific themes or units and place them in a covered box.  During circle time, introduce the box..  Ask each child to close eyes, reach in and remove an object.  Ask the child to identify the object.  Discuss the various attributes of the item: size, color, function, name, etc.  Continue around the circle, giving each child a turn to participate.  To extend the activity, provide the children with pictures and have them match the objects to the pictures.  This allows the children to make the transition from a concrete object to a semi-concrete representation.  Once the children are used to this activity, hide the objects in various spots in the room and have the children find them from verbal clues.  Incorporate the new vocabulary words into the activities of the day and send home the words for the parents to use in their da 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Good, R. H., Simmins, D.C., Smith, S.B. (1998).  Effective academic intervention in the United States: Evaluating and Enhancing the Acquisition of Early Reading Skills.  School Psychology Review 27 (1) 45-56.

Title of Intervention: Reinforcing Alphabet Names/Sounds 

Materials: alphabet cards, music, hat 

Intervention: The student will say the letter and something that begins with that sound to their neighbor.  The children sit in a circle.  Each child draws an alphabet letter out of a hat.  Have them identify the letter as they draw it out of the the hat and think of something that begins with that sound.  Place letters on the floor and stand up.  Play a musical march and children march around the circle until the music stops.  When the music stops, the children sit down by a new letter and repeat the above procedure.  You can spot check to save time and have the kids help each other if they don't know the letter.  Repeat the procedure several times.  You could use words, shapes, math facts, anything you want to reinforce. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Good, R. H., Simmins, D.C., Smith, S.B. (1998).  Effective academic intervention in the United States: Evaluating and Enhancing the Acquisition of Early Reading Skills.  School Psychology Review 27 (1) 45-56. 

Title of Intervention: Comprehension Game

Submitted by: Robert Akins

Category: Reading Comprehension

Age or Grade: Primary Grades

Materials: Game board, copies of a story, a set of cards with comprehension questions, a set of cards with vocabulary words from the story, a set of cards with a sentence containing an underlined, and a spinner
Intervention: Helps children with reading problems practice reading skills while having fun

1) All players read their copy of the story
2) To begin, first player takes a card off one of the decks and answers the question asked.
3) If the players response is correct then the player flicks the spinner and moves ahead the indicated number
4) In the rest of the rounds the players must take a card from the deck with the same color as the square they landed on
5) If the player answers incorrectly then they get to go again
6) The game ends when one player reaches the final square

Video Clip: Unavailable

Grade: Kindergarten or First Grade

Materials: Paper strips, Paper squares, Marker, Stapler

Intervention: Write letters on separate paper squares and staple a stack of the squares over the first or last letter sounds on a word from the word families list. Flip up a paper square and show students how the word changes. Ask the student to identify which words are real and which words do not make sense.

Objective: 1. Learn letter patterns
Objective: 2. Use prior knowledge to determine if a word makes sense

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

Reference: adapted from Reading strategies that work. (1998). Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, Inc.

Submitted by: Janette J. Jurgens

Category: Reading

Grade: First Grade through Third Grade

Materials: Paper Strips, Paper Squares, Marker, Stapler, list of Word Families

Intervention: In advance select words from the list of word families to include in sentences you write on sentence strips, for example, I saw a rat sit on a log. Write letters on separate paper squares and staple a stack of these replacement letters over the beginning consonant of key words in the sentences. Read each sentence strip aloud. Flip up paper squares and show the student how to read the new words and sentences. Have the student identify which words make sense in the sentences.

Variations: Draw picture clues to help beginning readers identify the new words. Invite more advanced learners to make their own flip-up sentence strips to share with classmates.

Objective: 1. Use context clues to identify words that make sense.
Objective: 2. Use prior knowledge to determine if sentences make sense
Objective: 3. Look at letter patterns to identify similar words

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

Reference: adapted from Reading strategies that work. (1998). Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, Inc.

Submitted by: J. Jurgens

Category: Reading

Grade: First or Second Grade

Materials: Student Reading Materials, Markers, Word Outlines, Scissors, Glue, Card Paper

Intervention: Make word cards by cutting out the outlined words and pasting them onto rectangle cards. Color the smaller word within each word card and leave the rest of the letters plain. Show the flash cards to the student, one card at a time, and have the student read the color-coded words only. Show the cards again, this time having the student read the entire text after he or she has read the color-coded word (e.g., top…stop). Make more color-coded cards each week by using words from student reading materials. Invite students to use the flash cards with partners or in small groups.

Objective: 1. Learn to look at letter patterns to identify words within words.
Objective: 2. Use letter sounds to identify and pronounce words within words.
Objective: 3. Use prior knowledge to decode larger words from the known smaller words within the larger word.

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

Reference: adapted from Reading strategies that work. (1998). Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, Inc.

Title of Intervention: Rebuses 

Materials: Pictures of items to be used in stories or recipes 

Intervention: Another readiness activity is to have the child dictate (or the teacher formulate) a chart that uses rebuses (pictures) in place of some of the difficult but interesting vocabulary words.  One of the most effective ways to use rebuses is by providing them in recipes for cooking or baking activities.  The recipe is written on chart paper.  Baking gingerbread figures, bread, or cookies; frosting cupcakes; making peanut brittle, butter, or anything else is appropriate to this kind of activity. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Miller, W.  (1993).  Complete Reading Disabilities Handbook.  Simon & Schuster.

Submitted by: Eva 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Kindergarten-Grade 2 

Title of Intervention: Word Cards 

Materials: Index cards and pictures cut from magazines 

Intervention: Print some structure or function words such as a, an, and, or the on individual word cards.  Cut pictures from old magazines or catalogues that can be used along with the word cards to form phrases.  Have the child choose pictures and word cards to form phrases as shown in the illustrations. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Miller, W.  (1993).  Complete Reading Disabilities Handbook.  Simon & Schuster

Submitted by: Eva 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Kindergarten-Grade 2 

Title of Intervention: Colored Chalk Sand Tray 

Materials: Flat pan and sand 

Intervention: Place sand in a flat pan such as a cake pan.  Grind a piece of colored chalk to make the sand more attractive.  Have the child draw the target letter name in the sand, saying its name aloud as he/she does so.  Have the child use the terms capital and lower-case. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Miller, W.  (1993).  Complete Reading Disabilities Handbook.  Simon & Schuster.

Submitted by: Eva 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Kindergarten-Grade 2 

Title of Intervention: Macaroni 

Materials: A piece of tagboard, macaroni, and glue 

Intervention: Have students glue pieces of macaroni to a large piece of tagboard in the form of a target capital or lower-case letter.  After each letter is formed, the children trace over it with their index fingers, saying the letter name aloud.  Have the children use the terms capital or lower-case. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Miller, W.  (1993).  Complete Reading Disabilities Handbooks.  Simon & Schuster.

Submitted by: Eva 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Kindergarten-Grade 2 

Title of Intervention: Magazine Pictures 

Materials: Pictures from catalogues or magazines 

Intervention: An example of a readiness activity for contextual analysis is to give the child pictures from magazines or catalogues.  Then read some sentences aloud or record them on tpe, omitting one word in each sentence that can be completed by the use of one of the pictures.  Have the child show the picture from the group of pictures which takes the place of the omitted word. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Miller, W.  (1993).  Complete Reading Disabilities Handbook.  Simon & Schuster

Submitted by: Stephanie Hersom 

Title of Intervention: Fishing for Blends 

Materials: fish shaped cards displaying /s/ blends: st,sk,sw,sl 

Intervention: The cards are placed face up in the center of the students.  the caller calls out a word containing an /s/ blend, such as skate.  The players take turns finding the correct blend from the group of fish cards.  If the correct card is picked, the player gets to keep the card.  When all of the cards are gone from the center, the player with the most "fish" wins. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Mercer, C. D. & Mercer A. R. (1998).  Teaching students with learning problems 5th edition.  Prentice-Hall, Inc.:  Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Title of Intervention: "All About..." Books 

Materials: paper,pencils and crayons 

Intervention:
1. choose a topic for the book. Students choose a topic that is familiar or interesting to them, or teachers suggest a broad topic related to a thematic unit the class is studying. 
2. Gather information and organize ideas for writing. 
3. Students write words, phrases, or sentences on each page to accompany pictures they have drawn. 
4.Read the book with the teacher. 
5. Share the completed book with the class. As the final step, students sit in the suthor's chair to read their completed books to classmates. Then classmataes clap, offer congratulaatory comments, and ask questions. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Tomkins. 50 Literacy Strategies. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1998.

Title of Intervention: Teach Letter Names and Sounds 

Materials: Stiff paper for name cards 

Intervention: Review Begining sounds in First Names 

Using large name cards, sort student's first names according to the beginning letters, up to the first vowel. Have students say the names and divide them by the different sounds in the beginning letters. Once the names are sorted, help students see that sometimes we "blend" the beginning letters together to figure out the words, as in Craig, Clark, and Clover. Other times combinations have a special sound, as the Ch in Chad and Charlene. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Link Address: www.scholastic.com/Instructor 

Link Description: Reading Clinic

Submitted by: Stephanie 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Kindergarten-Grade 2 

Title of Intervention: Brand-Name Phonics for One-Syllable Words 

Materials: Common products (starting with those with rhyming names) and index cards 

Intervention: First, choose products whose names have rhyming elements-Snack Pack, Slim Jim, and Shake n'Bake. On individual index cards, write about ten words that rhyme with and have the same spelling pattern as the product names, such as back, dim, and snake. Display the products and let students talk about them. On the chalkboard create a three-column chart, with the product names as the headers. Show students that each name not only rhymes, but also has the same spelling pattern. Explain that rhyming words often have the same spelling pattern. Have students copy the chart on pater, underlining the spelling patterns. Next, show one of the index-card words, and ask students to write it in the column with the matching spelling pattern. Have students say the word using rhyming words to help with pronunciation. Explain that thinking of rhyming words helps us spell words, too. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Cunningham, P. (1997).  Reading clinic: Want to teach basic skills? Try brand-name phonics! Instructor (44).

Submitted by: J. Jurgens

Category: Reading

Grade: Second through Twelfth Grade.

Materials: Student Reading Materials

Intervention: Select a passage from the student’s current reading materials. Leave the first and last sentence intact. Replace every fifth word in the remaining sentences with an underline of approximately 10 characters. Ask the student to read the passage and fill in the blanks. Encourage the student to consider sentence structure, preceding information, following information, and prior knowledge while selecting the words to write in the blanks. The student can be expected to get between 30 and 45 percent of the words exactly correct. If the student gets less than 30 percent, choose an easier passage for the next exercise. If the student gets more than 45 percent correct, choose a more difficult passage for the next lesson.

Example: My New Animal
I’ll tell you about my new animal. This animal is black, __________, and white. This animal __________ not have spots. It __________ not have fur. It __________ to be outdoors and __________. Sometimes this animal wakes __________ up. It can be _________ loud. I look outside __________ see it. It is __________ in the sun. It __________ outside in the snow. __________ animal likes to talk __________ other animals. It likes __________, bugs and bread. It __________ trees. Do you know __________ it is yet? It __________ a bird. The bird is called a blue-jay.

(Answers: blue, does, does, likes, free, me, very, to, outside, is, This, to, worms, likes, what, is.)

Objective: 1. Use prior knowledge to increase comprehension.
Objective: 2. Use information within the sentence or passage to increase comprehension.

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: adapted from Howell, W. H. (2000). Resources for implementing Howell and Nolet’s curriculum based evaluation: teaching and decision making 3rd ED. Samford, CT: Wadsworth.

Submitted by: Janette J. Jurgens

Category: Reading

Grade: First Grade through Third Grade

Materials: Paper Strips, Paper Squares, Marker, Stapler, list of Word Families

Intervention: In advance select words from the list of word families to include in sentences you write on sentence strips, for example, I saw a rat sit on a log. Write letters on separate paper squares and staple a stack of these replacement letters over the beginning consonant of key words in the sentences. Read each sentence strip aloud. Flip up paper squares and show the student how to read the new words and sentences. Have the student identify which words make sense in the sentences.

Variations: Draw picture clues to help beginning readers identify the new words. Invite more advanced learners to make their own flip-up sentence strips to share with classmates.

Objective: 1. Use context clues to identify words that make sense.
Objective: 2. Use prior knowledge to determine if sentences make sense
Objective: 3. Look at letter patterns to identify similar words

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

Reference: adapted from Reading strategies that work. (1998). Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, Inc.

Submitted by: Mahmood Syed

Category: Reading

Grade: 4-6

Materials: *Reading Book

Preparation: The teacher, parent, adult tutor, or peer tutor working
with the student should be trained in advance to use assisted reading
approach.

STEPS IN IMPLEMENTING THIS INTERVENTION:
1) Sit with the student in a quite location without too many
distractions. Position the book selected for the reading session so that both you and the student can easily follow the text.

2) Instruct the student to begin reading out aloud. Encourage him or her to "do your best reading."

3) Follow along with the student as he/she reads.

4) If the student mispronounces a word or hesitates for longer than 5 seconds, tell the student the word. Have the student to read the word correctly. Direct student to continue reading aloud through the passage.

5) Occasionally, praise the student in specific terms for good reading. Ex. You are doing a really great job of sounding out the words that you don’t know. Good Work."

Assisted reading is an easy method to learn and gives students valuable practice that can really boost their reading fluency. Parents can be trained to read to their children on a regular basis using assisted reading practice.

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

References: Shany, M.T. & Biemiller, A. (1995). Assisted reading practice: Effects on performance for poor readers in grades 3 and 4. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 382-395.

Title of Intervention: Encourage Reading For Pleasure 

   -Not surprisingly, young students who spend a substantial amount of their free time reading tend to be better readers than those who do not invest themselves in reading.  Teachers, therefore, should provide time and resources that enable students to read for pleasure and that may increase reading motivation, fluency, and comprehension. 

Title of Intervention: Promote Home/School Partnerships 
   -Teachers enhance effective reading instruction through the use of home/school partnerships. For example, workshops could be held at convenient time to: help parents understand the importance of reading at home, demonstrate techniques for reading with youngsters, show parents how to get a library card for their child, or provide hands-on practice with shared reading activities. 

Title of Intervention: Use Systematic, Varied Strategies For Recognizing Words 

     -Teachers provide students with systematic instruction using a variety of strategies for recognizing words in meaningful contexts to promote fluency and to give the students control over their reading. 

Title of Intervention: Provide Authentic Purposes, Materials, and Audiences 
     -Teachers increase a student engagement and motivation when they provide authentic purposes, materials, and audiences for reading, writing, listening, and speaking. 

Title of Intervention: Activate Students' Prior Knowledge 
     -Teachers who activate students' prior knowledge and prior experiences help students understand and respond to reading selections. Students bring their own unique prior knowledge to the reading of any text. They can profit from guidance and support as they access their background experiences related to the information in a reading selection. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Goodman, Y. M. & Burke, C. (1980). Reading Strategies. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Intervention: 1.  Book Boxes - Students or teachers decorate the outside of a box or container and collect 3-5 items related to the story. Place the objects in the box with the novel.  An inventory sheet may be added to the box.  Share the completed box with others or use the box to introduce the book. 

Intervention 2.  Cubing - Choose a topic.  Examine the topic and include six elements of the story or describe it, compare it, associate , analyze, apply and argue for/against the topic. Cut out the boxes to form a cube. Display these cubes in the classroom. 

Intervention 3.  Exclusion Brainstorming - Identify a list of words related to the content area.  Include a few words that do not fit.  Students circle words that they think do not fit.  After reading, have students check their list and make any corrections. 

Intervention 4.  KWL Charts  - Create a chart of what the class already "KNOWS" about a topic, what they "Want to learn" about the topic, and what they have "Learned" by reading the given material. Continue to add questions to the W section of the chart as you read the material.  Complete the L section. 

Intervention 5.  Reciprical Questioning - Read a part of the story.  Close the book and have the students ask the teacher a few questions about what they have read. Have students read the next few paragraphs of the story.  Reverse roles and have the student close the book for the teacher to ask the students a few questions. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Thompkins, 50 Literary Strategies, Prentice Hall

Submitted by: Leah 

Title of Intervention: Make A Poetry Map 

Materials: world map, reference materials, poetry books such as "Velvet Leaf Soup" by Monica Gunning 

Intervention: Post a world map in the room and select a poet from another country such as Monica Gunning's "Velvet Leaf Soup" about her childhood in Jamaica.  Before reading the poem, ask the students what they know about Jamaica and point it out on the map.  After reading the poem list what students know about Jamaica and any questions they have about it or the poem.  Have the students look for information about Jamaica and post the poem along with the facts near Jamaica on the map.  Learn more about new places by searching for poems from other countries and have the students repeat the process for each poem/country.  Mark your corner of the world by having the students add their own poems to the wall. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Primary Poetry Workshop by Bee Cullinan 

Link Address: www.scholastic.com/instructor

Submitted by: Leah 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Grade 3-Grade 5 

Title of Intervention: Double Entry Reading Journals 

Materials: illustrated nonfiction reading materials,journals, chart paper, marker 

Intervention: Have the students read books that relate to a topic you're teaching. Ask each student to choose an object or concept from the book.  To prepare their double-entry journals, students label the left-hand page with the object or concept they plan to draw, and the right-hand page with "Think Paragraph".  On the left-hand page, students draw their objects or concepts. Encourage them to work from memory, then refer back to the reading for fine-tuning.  On the right-hand page, students should be able to provide a detailed explanation of how their object or concept works.  Students can show and read their entries to one another. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Link Address: www.scholastic.com/instructor 

Link Description: Reading Clinic by Laura Robb

Submitted by: Jayne 

Category: Reading 

Age or Grade: Grade 3-Grade 5 

Title of Intervention: Book Boxes 

Materials: Box, 3-5 objects related to story 

Intervention:
1. read the book and make a list of important objects mentioned in the book. 
2. Select a box, plastic tub, bag or other containter to hold the objects, and decorate it with the name of the book and related pictures and words. 
3. Place 3-5 (or more) objects and pictures in the box along with a copy of the book. Have students explain  why they chose the objects. 
4. Share the completed box with students. When teachers make book boxes, they use them to introduce the book and provide background information before reading. In contrast, students often make book boxes as a project after reading, and share their book boxes with classmates. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Tomkins. 50 Literacy Strategies. Prentice-Hall. 1998.

Title of Intervention: Use a Variety of Reading Methods

Materials: word processor, board games, task cards

Intervention: When Students have the opportunity to use methods that make learning to read an interesting, enjoyable, and successful experience, they are likely to associate reading with pleasure and to perceive themselves as successful readers.  This positive association increases the likelihood that students will choose to read on their own. 

Intervention #1 - Teachers may allow students who do not enjoy the process of composing on paper to dictate stories to a teacher or to peers, or to use a word to dictate stories to a teacher or to peers, or to use a word processor to facilitate the process.  Teachers can encourage students who have difficulty distinguishing among recalling or blending sound to illustrate letter sounds with drawings of words that begin with that letter sound.  If the difficulty persists, teachers can place less emphasis on phonics and more emphasis on alternative strategies and methods that do not require highly developed auditory abilities.  Teachers  can encourage students to write and read their own stories, listen to recordings of stories, and choral read stories. 

Intervention #2 - Students with visual reversals often benefit from touching and feeling letters.  For youngsters who are strongly tactile and kinesthetic, teachers may incorporate "hands-on" activities like board games and task cards.

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Cole, R. W. (1995).  Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners, Alexandria, Va.: ASCD

Submitted by: Mahmood Syed

Category: Reading

Grade: 4-6

Materials: *Reading Book

Preparation: The teacher, parent, adult tutor, or peer tutor working
with the student should be trained in advance to use assisted reading
approach.

STEPS IN IMPLEMENTING THIS INTERVENTION:
1) Sit with the student in a quite location without too many
distractions. Position the book selected for the reading session so that both you and the student can easily follow the text.

2) Instruct the student to begin reading out aloud. Encourage him or her to "do your best reading."

3) Follow along with the student as he/she reads.

4) If the student mispronounces a word or hesitates for longer than 5 seconds, tell the student the word. Have the student to read the word correctly. Direct student to continue reading aloud through the passage.

5) Occasionally, praise the student in specific terms for good reading. Ex. You are doing a really great job of sounding out the words that you don’t know. Good Work."

Assisted reading is an easy method to learn and gives students valuable practice that can really boost their reading fluency. Parents can be trained to read to their children on a regular basis using assisted reading practice.

Video Clip: Click on Camera Icon!

References: Shany, M.T. & Biemiller, A. (1995). Assisted reading practice: Effects on performance for poor readers in grades 3 and 4. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 382-395.

Title of Intervention: Dictionary Game 

Materials: The words and their definitions plus enough identical pieces of paper to go around 

Intervention: The teacher chooses a word that no student can define.  Each student will write a made-up definition for the word in question and the teacher will write the real definition.  All definitions must be written on identical pieces of paper so that the paper doesn't become a clue. All definitions are turned into the teacher and read by him/her.  Then instuct each student to vote for a definition when the teacher reads them through the second time.  Points are scored in two ways: someone votes for your definition as the real one (one point per vote) and one point if you vote for the correct definition.  The student with the most points wins. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Quinn, M., Lesson Plan #:AELP-VOC0001 

Link Description: Big Sky Telegraph

Title of Intervention: Diffusing Violence 

Intervention: You know that violence is not permitted between students, but did you know that violence is not permitted between teacher and student?  Your insurance will not cover it unless you are defending yourself.  * If you sense violence toward you rising in a student, diffuse it first.  Don't let it get out of hand.  1.  Don't threaten the student.  2. Don't touch the student.  3. Don't back the student into a corner.  4. Lower your voice.  5. Don't show fear if you feel it.  * When two students are slinging punches and you are tempted to step in and separate them, STOP!  Survey the situation and decide how safe it is for you to step in between them.  * Work on personal rights and values as part of your social studies lessons.  Set up hypothetical situations and open-ended discussions for guiding your students to nonviolent behavior. 

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: Harrison, A. & Spuler, F.  (1983).  Hot Tips for Teachers:  A Collection of Classroom Management Ideas.  Fearon Teacher Aids.

Submitted by: Dana

Category: Reading

Age or Grade: Grade 6-Grade 8

Title of Intervention: Fails to recognize words on grade level

Intervention: Intervention #1 - Teachers may create a list of words and phrases from the student's reading material which he/she does not recognize (e.g., have the science teacher identify the words the student would not recognize in the following week's assignment).  These words and phrases will become the student's reading word list for the following week.

Intervention #2 - Teachers can make a learning center area for students where a variety of information is available in content areas (e.g., the library may have a section with films, slides, videotapes, taped lectures, etc., on such subjects as Pilgrams, the Civil War, the judicial system, etc.

Intervention #3 - Teachers can have the student read high-interest signs, advertisements, notices, etc., from newspapers, movie promotions, magazines, etc., placing an emphasis on reading skills.  Teachers may use reading material with high interest (e.g., adventures, romances, mysteries, athletics, etc.) and low vocabulary.

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference: McCarney, S.B., Cummins Wunderlich, K., Bauer,A, (1994). The Teacher's Resource Guide: Colimbia, MO.

Title of Intervention: DISSECT

Submitted by: Gregg Bieber

Category: Reading – Decoding Strategy

Age or Grade: Secondary Students with Mild Disabilities

Materials: None

Intervention: Lenz & Hughes’ DISSECT strategy is composed of the following parts (as cited in Lebzelter, S., & Nowacek, E.J., 1999):

D – Discover the context. Students skip a difficult word and then use sentence
clues to guess the word.
I – Isolate the prefix and pronounce it, if possible.
S – Separate the suffix and pronounce it, if possible.
S – Say the Stem.
E – Examine the Stem if the student cannot say it. Use the rule of twos & threes, where the student pronounces units of two or three units of letters. If the section of the stem begins with a vowel, the student pronounces a unit of
two letters. If the Stem, or section of it, begins with a consonant, the student separates and pronounces units of three letters.
C – Check with someone – if the student still doesn’t know the word.
T – Try the dictionary if no one is available or he or she doesn’t know.

Video Clip: Unavailable

Reference:
Lebzelter, S., & Nowacek, E.J. (1999). Reading strategies for secondary students with mild disabilities. Intervention in School & Clinic, 34, 1-14. Retrieved February 19th, 2002, from http://…/fulltext.asp?resultSetId=R00000000&hitNum=37
&booleanTerm=Reading%20Strategies&fuzzyTerm