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Talk; ind diffs

Friday stream 4 Session 11.35 - 12.50 Length 25 minutes

Early identification of children unlikely to benefit from phonologically-based literacy intervention schemes

Helen Whiteley, Chris Smith, Mark Godwin and Suzanne Windle

University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK h.e.whiteley@uclan.ac.uk

Abstract

Screening packages can now identify children at risk of reading difficulties as early as four and a half years of age. For the majority of those children phonologically-based intervention packages are effective in reducing the risk. However, many children do not benefit from such packages. These children may be called 'treatment resisters' (Blachman, 1997), but we refer to them as 'non-beneficiaries'. This paper reports on the second stage of a longitudinal project designed to identify the factors which characterise non-beneficiaries. In the first stage a screening package was used with reception class children to identify those at risk and those not at risk of reading difficulties. Of these children, 60 at risk and 60 control children were followed up in Year 1 when detailed cognitive-linguistic and social-emotional profiling was carried out. Profile data from the Year 1 children are discussed here in terms of individual differences within each group and the potential for a variety of factors to impact on a child's response to intervention. Future work will involve an intervention followed by the identification of any children who have not progressed. Profiling data will aid the development of guidelines for the early identification of likely non-beneficiaries.