Evidence-Based Interventions to Enhance Outcomes Among Struggling Readers

Despite decades of research on reading disabilities, little is known about improving reading in the middle grades (i.e., grades 3-6) and advancements have been hindered by the narrow focus on reading problems alone without acknowledgement of non-academic factors shown to affect learning (e.g., child self-regulation). This proposal employs a highly innovative approach aimed at improving intervention outcomes through the integration of evidence-based practices for addressing reading, as well as self-regulation/socioemotional skills, difficulties known to occur in a substantial percentage of struggling readers and to negatively influence academic performance. This project represents translational research that directly informs the practice community (schools, clinicians, teachers, parents), by identifying novel instructional practices that can be aggregated to more effectively influence student outcomes and reduce disparities in academic and socioemotional domains.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Anxiety; Reading Disability
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Reading; Other: Attention Control (math practice); Behavioral: Anxiety Management; Other: Classroom Business as Usual

Detailed Description

While considerable knowledge has been accumulated on improving reading for students with reading disabilities in the primary grades, reading interventions conducted with middle-grades (i.e., grades 3-6) have been rare and have typically evidenced low impacts, even when more intensive interventions are provided for increasingly longer durations. One hindrance to extant interventions has been the narrow focus on reading problems without addressing non-academic (e.g., self-regulation, socioemotional) factors known to also affect learning. Thus, investigations of the efficacy derived from integrating additional components into standard reading skills interventions are necessary. Anxiety represents a particularly salient target for such an approach, as it is among the most commonly reported mental health issues of childhood, and significant associations have been found between anxiety and academic outcomes. Further, an overwhelming number of children who are struggling to read or who fail to respond to reading interventions report elevated anxiety. The purpose of this proposal is to evaluate an integrated program designed for middle-grade readers and comprised of evidence-based practices for the treatment of anxiety and reading difficulties. A pilot study of this program, conducted with 36 students randomized to treatment and control conditions, demonstrated its feasibility and positive effects on anxiety outcomes. The RCT will extend this work by comparing the combined reading and anxiety intervention with a reading-only condition and a control condition. Struggling readers will be included in this study and will receive two years of intervention. The study will assess efficacy of the interventions at reducing anxiety and improving reading at post-intervention and 6-month follow-up (Aim 1). This project significantly enhances extant research on interventions for struggling reading by examining mechanisms of action associated with augmented outcomes among students who receive the combined intervention (Aim 2), and by determining potential moderators of intervention effects (Aim 3). In all, between 300 and 350 ethnically diverse students will be recruited. A multi-informant (student, parent, teacher), multi-method (e.g., survey, standardized test, experiential sampling) assessment will be used. Relevance of this project lies in the determination of whether the inclusion of anxiety management skills enhances existing intervention outcomes for struggling readers in the upper elementary grades (concurrently/longitudinally). Examination of contextual and mitigating factors are further relevant for understanding the complex etiology of response to intervention among struggling readers. This project represents translational research that directly informs the practice community (e.g., clinicians, teachers) by identifying novel instructional practices that can be aggregated to more effectively influence student outcomes. By providing socioemotional skills training with a reading intervention using a school-based delivery model, this work has the potential of reducing disparities in mental health outcomes by reaching students of diverse backgrounds (e.g., ethnicity, SES) who would be otherwise less likely to receive such services.

NOTE: The Covid-19 pandemic emerged mid-project and altered several of our plans for this project, as well as led to a mid-project extension. Specifically, this was designed as a 2-cohort, multi-year intervention study. While Cohort 1 completed all planned milestones and activities, for Cohort 2 the intervention was ongoing when the pandemic closed all schools. A third Cohort was then added when schools reopened, but students in Cohort 3 only received 1 year of the intended 2-year intervention.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 542
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
      • University of Texas at Austin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students enrolled in the 3rd or 4th grade
• Demonstrate difficulty with reading (which is defined as scoring at or below a standard score of 90 on the Gates MacGinite Reading Comprehension Test
• Difficulty with reading must be confirmed by classroom teacher/school

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students with limited English proficient (due to all assessments being administered in English only)
• Students in life skills classes (due to task appropriateness)
• Students who have an unrelated neurological disorder (e.g., tumor, traumatic brain injury)
• Students who have a severe psychiatric disorder that prevents assessment (e.g., autism), or who have an uncorrected sensory disorder

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Reading Plus Attention Control	Other: Reading; Small group reading instruction; Other: Attention Control (math practice); Attention Control (math practice)
Experimental: Reading Plus Anxiety	Other: Reading; Small group reading instruction; Behavioral: Anxiety Management; small group anxiety management skills instruction
Active Comparator: BAU	Other: Classroom Business as Usual; Classroom Business as Usual

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children	39-item scale of anxiety comprised of four subscales: Physical Symptoms, Harm Avoidance, Social Anxiety, and Separation/Panic. Response options range from 0-3. A total score is comprised of all subscales added together. The total score can range from 0-117. The range of the subscales are as follows: Physical Symptoms (0-36), Harm Avoidance (0-27), Social Anxiety (0-27), Separation/Panic (0-27). Higher scores indicate more anxiety. There are child, parent, teacher versions of this scale.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Test of Word Reading Efficiency	Measures "ability to pronounce printed words and phonemically regular nonwords accurately and fluently"	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Test Battery-III	Two subtests: Letter-Word Identification and Word Attack. Scores are reported as standard scores in a range of 0-200+ or percentile ranks in a range of 0.1 to 99.9. The higher the score the greater the achievement level of the student.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Children's Test Anxiety Scale	30-item scale with a 4-point Likert Scale (1-4). Scale ranges from 30-120 with higher scores indicating greater test anxiety.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Reading Anxiety Scale	6-item scale adapted from the Wigfield and Meece (1988) Math Anxiety Scale. Designed to assess worries and stressed feelings about reading instruction and reading tests. Participants responded to each item with a 5-point Likert Scale from Never to Always. Higher scores indicate greater levels of reading anxiety.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Test of Silent Word Reading Efficiency and Comprehension		Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Stress management skills evaluation		Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS Survey)	15-items with a 4-point Likert Scale (1-4) measuring the home environment. Completed by parent/caregiver. Total score is created by summing the responses to the items. Range is 15-60. Higher scores indicate more chaotic home environments.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Math Calculation	Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Test Battery-III Calculation	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 2
Essential Word Knowledge		Change from baseline to post-intervention year 2
Attention	child attention scale, Effortful Control-Persistence/Low Distractibility subscale, Strength and Weaknesses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, (SWAN) parent/teacher reported attention	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, Change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills	Oral Reading Fluency	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Beck Anxiety Inventory	Self-report measure of anxiety in the past month. 21-item scale with a 4-point Likert scale. from 0-3. Items summed together. Scale range from 0-63. Score of 0-21= low anxiety. Score of 22-35 = moderate anxiety. Score of 36 and above = potentially concerning levels of anxiety. Administered to parents. Administered to intervention teachers in cohorot 2.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3
Beck Youth Inventories (BYI)	Self-report measure comprised of five inventories, which measure depression, anxiety, anger, disruptive behavior, and self-concept. Each inventory has 20-items which are scored on a 4-point Likert scale (0-3). Higher scores indicate greater amounts of concept (i.e., depression, anxiety, anger, disruptive behavior, and self-concept) being measured.	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, BYI depression subscale was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Reading Comprehension	Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-III (KTEA-3)	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Fluency/Comprehension	Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Verbal Knowledge/Matrices	Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test	Change from baseline to post-intervention year 1, change from baseline to post-intervention year 2, change from year 1 to year 2, change from year 2 to year 3; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Reading Comprehension	Gates-MacGinitie Reading Comprehension	Change from post-intervention year 1 to post-intervention year 2; In cohort 2, same time frames, except it was not administered at post-intervention Y1
Home Literacy Questions	A total of 7 questions (e.g., how many children's books are in your home; how many times per a week have you read with your child while schools have been closed?) examine home literacy prior to COVID19 and during COVID19.	Cohort 2 Only- administered at post-intervention Y1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Boston University Charles River Campus
• Collaborators: University of Texas at Austin
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Amie E Grills, PhD, Boston University; Principal Investigator: Sharon Vaughn, PhD, University of Texas at Austin

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 9, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 14, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): August 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 7, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 6, 2024
• Last Verified: August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Learning Disabilities; Specific Learning Disorder; Dyslexia
• Other Study ID Numbers: RHD087706A

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No