Handbook of Reading Interventions

Edited by Rollanda E. O'Connor and Patricia F. Vadasy

Comprehensive, authoritative, and designed for practical utility, this handbook presents evidence-based approaches for helping struggling readers and those at risk for literacy difficulties or delays. Leading experts explain how current research on all aspects of literacy translates into innovative classroom practices. Chapters include clear descriptions of effective interventions for word recognition, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing, complete with concrete examples and teaching scripts. Coverage also encompasses preschool literacy instruction and interventions for older readers, English language learners, and students with learning disabilities, as well as peer-mediated and tutoring approaches.

Product details

Publisher: Guilford Press
Language: English
Paperback: 436 pages
ISBN: 9781462509478
Published: January 2013

Editorial Reviews

“In this timely volume, well-established researchers summarize what is known about how to improve students' reading performance and provide specific ideas for applying this knowledge in schools. It is a valuable resource for educators seeking to use research-based interventions in developing effective literacy programs. The Handbook is unique in its range—preschool through secondary levels—and its comprehensiveness. It addresses content-area instruction; various factors affecting comprehension; writing; the older reader; and more, and presents actual lessons that illustrate instructional strategies. It could serve as a text for a graduate course on working with struggling readers.” —Rita M. Bean, PhD, Department of Instruction and Learning (Emerita), University of Pittsburgh.

“This is a gem of a book that accomplishes the most difficult task of both providing a research base for the interventions and describing them in meaningful ways for practicing teachers. What makes this book exceptional is that each chapter is packed with instructional practices that are proven to enhance student outcomes.” —Sharon Vaughn, PhD, Executive Director, Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, and Manuel J. Justiz Endowed Chair in Education, The University of Texas at Austin.

About the Editors

Rollanda E. O'Connor, PhD, is Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She taught reading in special and general education classrooms for many years and has conducted numerous intervention studies in special and general education settings, explored procedures to predict in kindergarten and first grade which children are likely to develop reading difficulties, and followed the reading progress of children who received early intervention. Her longitudinal studies of intervention and assessment led to the development (with Patricia F. Vadasy) of Ladders to Literacy, a collection of phonological and print awareness activities and scaffolding suggestions for children at risk for reading problems, and the book Teaching Word Recognition: Effective Strategies for Students with Learning Difficulties. Dr. O'Connor's current research includes evaluating the effects of early, continuous intervention across the first 4 years of schooling and developing research-based interventions for students with reading difficulties in the intermediate grades.

Patricia F. Vadasy, PhD, is Senior Researcher at the Oregon Research Institute in Seattle, Washington. Her background is in early reading acquisition and instruction, instructional design, and intervention research. Dr. Vadasy oversees a research team engaged in research on effective school-based literacy interventions for at-risk and struggling students. She has published findings on her grant-funded intervention research widely in peer-reviewed journals. She is the lead author (with Rollanda E. O’Connor) of the Sound Partners code-oriented supplemental tutoring program and coauthor (with Rollanda E. O’Connor) of the Ladders to Literacy preschool and kindergarten programs.

Rollanda E. O'Connor, PhD, is Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She taught reading in special and general education classrooms for many years and has conducted numerous intervention studies in special and general education settings, explored procedures to predict in kindergarten and first grade which children are likely to develop reading difficulties, and followed the reading progress of children who received early intervention. Her longitudinal studies of intervention and assessment led to the development (with Patricia F. Vadasy) of Ladders to Literacy, a collection of phonological and print awareness activities and scaffolding suggestions for children at risk for reading problems, and the book Teaching Word Recognition: Effective Strategies for Students with Learning Difficulties. Dr. O'Connor's current research includes evaluating the effects of early, continuous intervention across the first 4 years of schooling and developing research-based interventions for students with reading difficulties in the intermediate grades.

Patricia F. Vadasy, PhD, is Senior Researcher at the Oregon Research Institute in Seattle, Washington. Her background is in early reading acquisition and instruction, instructional design, and intervention research. Dr. Vadasy oversees a research team engaged in research on effective school-based literacy interventions for at-risk and struggling students. She has published findings on her grant-funded intervention research widely in peer-reviewed journals. She is the lead author (with Rollanda E. O’Connor) of the Sound Partners code-oriented supplemental tutoring program and coauthor (with Rollanda E. O’Connor) of the Ladders to Literacy preschool and kindergarten programs.

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