Learners with disabilities benefit from more complex reading instruction, Stanford researchers say
Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) such as autism and Down syndrome are often left behind when it comes to literacy instruction – casualties of the misperception that at best, they could only read by learning to recognize common words by sight. But researchers are finding that students with IDD, like their peers without disabilities, can benefit from a more complex approach, including phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
“I always get frustrated when I hear teachers say about students with intellectual disability, ‘They’ll never read higher than a second-grade level,’ ” said Chris Lemons, an associate professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE). “In every study I’ve ever done, there are kids who blow us out of the water and master everything we teach them. Truly, the sky is the limit with this population of students.”
Lemons and GSE lecturer Lakshmi Balasubramanian, both former special education teachers whose research focuses on instructional practices and interventions for students with disabilities, shared tips for teaching literacy to IDD learners at a recent professional learning seminar for K-12 educators organized by the GSE. The strategies can also be useful, they noted, for struggling readers who don’t have a disability but still need additional support.
GSE Associate Professor Chris Lemons
‘Science of reading’ for all
Historically, literacy instruction for students with IDD has focused on sight-word recognition, teaching students to identify words at a glance without breaking them down or sounding them out.
This approach, Lemons said, can help students function in the world but limits their ability to learn to read independently – a capacity linked to positive outcomes in school and beyond, including greater independence, employment, and quality of life.
For students across the board, research increasingly supports an instructional approach based on the “science of reading,” which focuses on five key skills: phonemic awareness (the ability to focus on and manipulate the individual sounds that make up words), phonics (the relationship between sounds and letters), fluency (the ability to read quickly and accurately), vocabulary (knowing what words mean and how to use them correctly), and comprehension (the ability to understand and interpret a written text).
Many teachers who otherwise subscribe to the science of reading don’t believe IDD students can learn these skills, Lemons said, or they’re not sure how to adjust their lessons for students who require more intense and tailored support. He co-authored a guide to help educators integrate components of the science of reading into instruction for students with IDD.
For starters, he advises keeping big-picture goals for the student in mind, not just for the year ahead but even for post-secondary life and education. At the same time, educators should set measurable short-term goals for targeted skills, based on a clear picture of the student’s present level of functioning.
Research indicates that the most effective and efficient way for students to learn these skills is through explicit, systematic instruction, Lemons said, and students with IDD are no exception. “Explicit instruction is, basically, not letting students fail,” said Lemons. “It's giving them a clear understanding of what you want them to learn, and providing a lot of guided practice and immediate corrective feedback.”
He recommends an “I do, we do, you do” approach, sometimes referred to as the gradual release of responsibility, where a teacher first demonstrates a task (“I do”), then guides a student through it with prompts and clues (“we do”) before having the student complete the task (“you do”) on their own.
GSE Lecturer Lakshmi Balasubramanian
Learning to adapt
Another step-by-step approach, known as the ADAPT framework, can help teachers tailor general education lessons to address specific learning and behavior needs. The model, detailed in the book Teaching in Inclusive Classrooms, uses the acronym ADAPT to represent each step of the process.
First, ask: What are you requiring the student to do? Then determine: What skills does the student need to complete the task you’ve just identified? Next, analyze the student’s particular strengths and struggles, to identify whether the student has the skills to complete the task or needs an adaptation. Based on that information, propose one or more adaptations in the material, activity, delivery, or content. Can you take advantage of an AI tool to adjust the reading level of material you’re asking the student to use? Would videos or other visuals help to build background knowledge? Can an individually based activity be done in small groups instead?
Finally, test to determine whether the adjustment helped the student carry out the task. “It doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” said Lemons. “You just want to see if the student benefited from the adaptation. If not, you can try the process again with different adaptations.”
Lemons emphasized the importance of increasing students’ access to general-ed curriculum content through any means, even if they’re not able to read a text independently. “We want kids to still engage with the same grade-level content as their peers,” he said. “Just because they’re still working on foundational reading skills, you don’t want them to lose access to content. It’s a balancing act.”
Keeping reading fun
Lemons suggests involving family members for added support, along with service providers such as speech pathologists. “But we caution parents from thinking they need to provide intensive, direct instruction at home,” he said. “We want to keep reading fun. I’ve had a handful of gung-ho parents in some of my studies who think, ‘If we do the reading activities six times a week, my kid will become a better reader.’ And in many of these situations, the student learns to dislike the activity.”
Teachers can also seek out low- or no-cost professional development opportunities, especially through local universities, Lemons said, where they might be able to participate in research studies or audit courses on reading development and instruction. Forming a professional learning community at a school or district is another strategy, where teachers with similar interests dedicate time on a regular basis to come together and discuss books, articles, videos, or course modules to improve their practice.
Most important, said Lemons, is for educators to understand that students with IDD are fully capable of becoming independent readers.
“For this population of learners,” he said, “we can increase their reading skills beyond what we might ever imagine.”
Faculty mentioned in this article: Christopher J. Lemons
