Early Intervention for Children at Risk for Reading Disabilities: The Impact of Grade at Intervention and Individual Differences on Intervention Outcomes

Across multiple schools and sites, the impact of grade-at-intervention was evaluated for children at risk or meeting criteria for reading disabilities. A multiple-component reading intervention with demonstrated efficacy was offered to small groups of children in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade. In a quasi-experimental design, 172 children received the Triple-Focus Program (PHAST + RAVE-O), and 47 were control participants. Change during intervention and 1-3 years later (6-8 testing points), and the influence of individual differences in predicting outcomes, were assessed using reading and reading-related repeated measures. Intervention children out-performed control children at posttest on all 14 outcomes, with average effect sizes (Cohen's d) on standardized measures of .80 and on experimental measures of 1.69. On foundational word reading skills (standardized measures), children who received intervention earlier, in 1st and 2nd grade, made gains relative to controls almost twice that of children receiving intervention in 3rd grade. At follow-up, the advantage of 1st grade intervention was even clearer: First graders continued to grow at faster rates over the follow-up years than 2nd graders on 6 of 8 reading outcomes. For some outcomes with metalinguistic demands beyond the phonological, however, a posttest advantage was revealed for 2nd Grade Triple participants and for 3rd Grade Triple participants relative to controls. Estimated IQ predicted growth during intervention on 7 of 8 outcomes. Growth during follow-up was predicted by vocabulary and visual sequential memory. These findings provide evidence on the importance of early intensive evidence-based intervention for reading problems in the primary grades.