SP in Schools project 2017 Low Res V2

Response-to-Intervention and literacy difficulties

RTI tier

Speech pathology roles

A small proportion of students will inevitably have more severe difficulties learning to read and spell. These students require Tier 3 intervention which is more individualised and typically lasts for extended periods of time. These students should receive evidence-based Tier 3 intervention in order for optimal language and literacy gains to be realised. Tier 3 intervention is more individualised to the student’s needs and is delivered one-to-one or perhaps in a smaller group with other students who have similar intervention goals and importantly, should be provided with greater intensity. For many students, the activities and strategies are similar to Tier 2 however there is: • increased frequency of sessions per week, • increased length of sessions, • increased duration of the intervention from start to finish, and • increased instructor expertise.

Tier 3 Individual intervention and support

Useful references Hempenstall, K. (2011). Sounding off about teaching children to read. Retrieved October 2017, from https://www.theconversation.com/sounding-off-about-teaching-children-to-read-1012 Konza, D. (2014). Responding to the Evidence: Synthetic Phonics in Action. Retrieved October 2017, from https://www.ecu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/647628/RESPONDING_TO_THE_ EVIDENCE.PDF Moats[CT9], L. C. (1999). Teaching reading is rocket science: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. Nation, K. (2017) Nurturing a lexical legacy: reading experience is critical for the development of word reading skill. npj Science of Learning 2(3), 3. Snow, P. C. (2016) Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Language is literacy is language – Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 18(3), 216–228. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.310 9/17549507.2015.1112837 Torgesen, J. K. (1998). Catch them before they fall. American Educator, 22, 32–41. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/torgesen.pdf

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Speech Pathology Australia: Speech Pathology in Schools Project