Programmes with limited evidence

Provides an extensive set of assessments which place pupils according to their current levels of performance. Exercises are then designed primarily to fill gaps in their skills.

US website: www.compasslearning.com

Focuses on phonemic segmentation and blending, phonics instruction, story reading and re-reading, comprehension, and home reading. In addition to 15-20 minutes of small group teaching, pupils receive one-to-one or one-to-two tutoring from a paraprofessional 5-10 minutes daily.

Website: www.earlyinterventioninreading.com

Contact: ccritchley@comcast.net (Training is web-based, with monthly telephone contact for UK teachers)

Consists of various activities that teach phonetic word-attack strategies to promote automaticity in word recognition. Pupils typically participate in 2 to 4 20-30-minute sessions a week.

Website: www.lexiauk.co.uk

Contact: info@lexiauk.co.uk (Product training available)

A supplementary intervention in which pupils aged 8/9 and 10/11 receive instruction in multiple meanings of vocabulary words. The supplementary instruction takes place twice weekly for 20-30 minutes.

Available to purchase from: http://store.cambiumlearning.com

An intervention in which children with learning disabilities are assessed on a reading style inventory and then given small group instruction matched to their favoured styles.

Available to purchase from: www.nrsi.com

A highly-structured one-to-one tutoring programme designed to build a 150-word vocabulary in beginning readers or children with learning difficulties.

Complete contact form at: http://hmlt.hmco.com/Contact.php

Designed to teach children word identification skills and decoding strategies and to promote their effective use of these strategies.

Contact: Project Co-ordinator, karen.steinbach@sickkids.ca

A one-to-one tutoring programme with a strong phonics focus that teaches children to notice how their mouths make various sounds and relates these to letters and sound blending.

US website: www.lindamoodbell.com/programs/lips.html

A precision teaching approach designed to help disadvantaged children with learning difficulties learn to read.

No contact information currently available.

Emphasises phonemic awareness, letter sounds, reading of decodable text, fluency, and comprehension of connected text. The teaching emphasises rapid instruction, frequent opportunities to respond, positive feedback, and immediate error correction.

US website: www.texasreading.org/

utcrla/research/scale_up_proactive.asp

Contact: tkurz@mail.utexas.edu

A programme in which paraprofessional tutors are given step-by-step procedures for a series of lessons that children proceed through at their own levels and rates. The curriculum focuses on word attack and comprehension skills.

No contact information available.

A phonetic approach to beginning reading instruction based on the Orton-Gillingham method, originally designed for tutoring dyslexic children.

Website: www.projectread.com E-mail:

Provides children aged 5-8 with an additional reading period each day, and provides teachers with extensive professional development focusing on explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary.

E-mail: RJS15@PSU.EDU

A small group supplementary programme that focuses on building fluency among low achievers. Pupils start with a “cold read” of a story and then practice with audiotapes until they reach a fluency target.

US website: www.readnaturally.com

A computer-assisted teaching programme used to create a small group teaching intervention, in which specially trained teachers (added to school staff) work with struggling Year 2 children in groups of 3.

Website: www.talkingfingers.com

Contact: contact@talkingfingers.com

A programme in which teachers alternate among children to provide intensive scaffolding at each child’s level. A daily lesson cycle consists of fluency building, assessment, letters and words, supported reading, and supported writing.

Contact: pmathes@smu.edu

A dyadic reading approach in which children reading below age level are assigned to pairs with normal-progress reading partners.

Contact: Hilde.Vankeer@ugent.be

A programme that provides 30 minutes of daily supplemental instruction to struggling readers in groups of 2-3, over a two-year period.

No contact information available.

A one-to-one tutoring programme that focuses on identifying perceptual deficits (such as delayed acquisition of spatial and temporal orientation) using an instrument called SEARCH and then provides one-to-one tutoring focused not on reading instruction but on neurological skills.

No contact information available.

A commercial small group programme for struggling readers that emphasizes phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency in daily 30-40-minute sessions.

US website: www.voyagerlearning.com/passport

An early phonetic approach for children struggling in the early years of primary school. Teaching assistants use the programme for a half a hour each day.

No contact information available.