math & reading difficulties in young children: risk factors and intervention approaches

Math & Reading Difficulties in Young Children:

Risk Factors and Intervention Approaches

Marcia Barnes, Ph.D.The University of Texas at Austin

November 14, 2013

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Today’s Speaker

Math and Reading Difficulties in

Young Children: Early Risk Factors

and Intervention Approaches

Marcia Barnes, Ph.D.The University of Texasat Austin


HATCH November 14, 2013 Marcia A. Barnes, Ph.D.

MarM

Math & Reading Difficulties in Young Children: Early Risk

Factors and Intervention Approaches

Outline

•  Importance of a strong early start in math and literacy •  Useful things to know about learning difficul:es •  Sources of ability and difficulty in early literacy and early math

•  Longitudinal studies can iden:fy developmental precursors of later math and reading difficul:es

•  Implica:ons for early assessment and interven:on •  Guiding instruc:onal principles for learning difficul:es •  What’s new in interven:on research

Consequences of getting off to a slow start in reading

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Good Average Poor

October January April

Mean words read by

each child in reading

sessions at three points in 1st grade

Biemiller, 1977-78

B

B

B

B

J

J

J

J

3,0 3,9 4,0 4,90

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ean

Prop

ortio

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rrect

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A

Age

B Lower SES J Higher SES

Consequences of getting off to a slow start in math

Courtesy of Starkey & Klein NSF Grant

Math and Reading: Similari:es & Differences

•  Both strongly predict school readiness at the end of pre-‐kindergarten (Duncan et al., 2007)

•  Reading is more studied than math (20:1) and reading programs outnumber math programs 6:1

•  Children’s math learning exquisitely sensi:ve to teacher knowledge of and aRtudes towards math (Ramirez et al. 2013 -‐ transmission of a<tudes and math anxiety from adults affect young children’s achievement)

•  Math and reading comprehension at the end of secondary school are strong predictors of post-‐secondary reten:on and employment

Useful Things to Know about

Learning Difficul:es

What do we know about learning difficul:es?

•  Reading and math difficul:es are equally common •  40-‐50% of children with reading difficul:es also have math difficul:es (good to know)

•  Learning disabili:es are life-‐long condi:ons if not treated (based on longitudinal studies of reading and math from childhood into adulthood)

•  A significant propor:on (but not all) of learning difficul:es can be prevented with EARLY interven:on

What do we know about learning difficul:es?

•  Best prac:ces for preven:on include mass screening, use of evidence based interven:ons, frequent monitoring of progress and adjustments to instruc:on as needed (more later)

•  General risk factors include poverty*, language learning status*, neurodevelopmental disorder, difficul:es in a`en:on and behavior

•  Let’s talk about early child-‐specific risk factors

Code Focused Skills

Meaning Focused Skills

Reading

•  Print & Letter Knowledge •  Phonological Awareness •  Emergent Writing

•  Vocabulary Knowledge •  Listening Comprehension •  Narrative Skills

Early Skills Implicated in Reading Development and Difficulties

Adapted from Whitehurst & Lonigan (1998)

Early skills implicated in math development and difficul:es?

•  We know less for math than for reading but math research is burgeoning

•  Early number sense might be important

Can 5 month olds add and subtract? (K. Wynn, 1992)

Large Number Acuity – Number sense at a glance (Mazzocco et al., 2011)

Early skills implicated in math development and difficul:es?

•  Early number sense might be important •  Domain general cogni-ve abili-es might also be important

What general cognitive abilities might support math development and why?

•  Visual-‐spa:al working memory? • Mental models – manipula:ng quan::es

•  Phonological skills? •  Quality of language representa:ons and overlap with reading

•  A`en:on? •  Ability to focus on task-‐relevant info, sustain a`en:on throughout problem solving & ignore irrelevant info

Longitudinal studies help us figure out which child risk factors are important for later math

•  What are they? •  Measure change over :me in the same individuals rather than a snapshot at single point in :me

•  What can they tell us? •  Not causal, but tell us something about temporal order of events – important for skill development

•  Longitudinal studies of math & reading in high risk samples •  Disadvantaged preschoolers* •  Neurodevelopmental Disorder compared to TD

Knowing something about early developmental risk factors for later reading and math informs:

1.  Earlier assessment for risk 2.  Preven:on and early interven:on

Early Risk Factors for Math (Barnes & et al., in preparation)

Beginning of Pre-‐

kindergarten Kindergarten 1st grade

At the end of kindergarten

Low/No Risk Group = 130

At Risk Group = 97

Highest Risk Group = 81

Three Risk Groups (based on TEMA-‐3 percen:le score at end of kindergarten)

What did we measure at the beginning of pre-‐k?

•  Number sense •  Working memory •  Phonological awareness •  Many other poten:al risk factors that did not predict math difficul:es in kindergarten or 1st grade

Quan:ty Comparison

Example of 2: 1 Ra:o

Quan:ty Comparison

Number constant but length is different

Quan:ty Comparison

Step 1: Child observes tester place lambs on mat

Object-‐Based Arithme:c

Step 2: Screen goes up and child observes tester slide in a lamb


Step 3: Child uses lambs to create what is behind the tester’s screen


Visual-‐Spa7al Working Memory

Phonological Awareness

•  Look at these pictures: Pig – Ball – Sun – Car My word is: Sunshine. Say “Sunshine”. Now point to “Sunshine” without “shine” •  Say: “Sunflower”. Now say “sunflower” without

“flower” •  Say: “Feet”. Now say “feet” without /t/

What skills at 4 years of age predict group risk status at 6 years?

Correct Classifica:on of 81% of Highest Risk and Lowest Risk Groups

Early Number Sense


Visual-‐spa:al WM

Children at Risk in kindergarten remain at risk in 1st grade

Longitudinal Study of Math in Typical and Atypical Development (Barnes et al., in press)

•  Spina Bifida •  Typical Development

Birth

•  Visual-‐spa:al working memory

•  Phonological Skills

36 & 60 months •  Math Calcula:ons

•  Math Fluency •  Quan:ta:ve Problem Solving

8-‐9 years

What abilities at 36 and 60 months of age are important for math at 8-9 years of age?

33 33


Visual-‐Spa7al Working Memory

Math Calcula:on ✔

✔

Single Digit Math Fluency

✔

Quan:ta:ve Concepts

✔

What do we know from these studies? •  Early abili:es in phonological awareness, visual-‐spa:al working memory, and number sense contribute to later abili:es or difficul:es in math (3 to 6 years later)

•  Phonological awareness predicts both math (par:cularly arithme:c) and reading difficul:es so maybe this underlies the high rates of co-‐occurring learning difficul:es in math and reading

Longitudinal Study of Reading in Typical and Atypical Development (Pike et al., 2013)

• Spina Bifida • Typical Development

Birth

• Visual-‐spa:al working memory

• Listening Comp • Narra:ve Skills

36 months • Inference-‐making abili:es

9-‐10 years

• Reading Comprehension

9-‐10 years

What do these findings mean?

•  Phonological awareness is a cri:cal early precursor of later word reading and reading fluency (I didn’t show you this study)

•  Early (36 month) working memory, listening comprehension and narra:ve abili:es influenced inference making abili:es 6 years later, which in turn was related to reading comprehension

•  Difficul:es in reading and math have some overlapping but also some different early risk factors

Implica:ons of Research for Early Iden:fica:on of Risk •  Risk for reading and math difficul:es can be discerned in the preschool years

•  Co-‐occuring behavioral (e.g., a`en:on) and learning difficul:es infer greater risk

•  Children in early grades who start low and are slow to grow are dispropor:onately from disadvantaged backgrounds (Jordan et al., 2007) -‐ such children need careful monitoring and interven:on

Implica:ons of Research for Assessment •  important to mass screen, and then frequently monitor progress for children who do not show progress using short progress monitoring probes www.studentprogress.org; www.r74success.org

•  Rhodes, R. L., Ochoa, S. H., & Or:z, S. O. (2005). Assessing culturally and linguisGcally diverse students: A pracGcal guide. New York: Guilford.

What do the findings mean? •  Without addi:onal interven:on for children at risk, classifica:ons of risk status in math are fairly stable from kindergarten to 1st grade (similar to findings for reading in other studies). •  But it doesn’t have to be this way!

1.  Privilege Preven:on & Early Interven:on over Diagnosis because early iden:fica:on of “risk”+ evidence-‐based classroom interven:ons and progress monitoring (star:ng in pre-‐K) reduces later LDs

2.  Screen for risk for learning and behavioral difficul:es •  Screening and progress monitoring ≠ diagnosis or

iden:fica:on of a learning disability •  Interven:on without assessment might lead to

incorrect instruc:onal decisions (blood pressure analogy)

•  Assessment without links to interven:on is not useful (blood pressure analogy)

What can we do?

3.  Monitor progress for children at risk frequently with differen:a:on of instruc:on as needed

4.  Provide considerable PD and support to teachers for screening, progress monitoring & evidence-‐based instruc:onal strategies

5.  Use a :ered approach to general educa:on prac:ce in the early primary grades

What can we do?

Assessments and tiered instruction in Response to Intervention (RTI) models

Tier 3 Special educa:on services for

iden:fied students

Tier 2 Small-‐group instruc:on for

at risk students

Tier 1 Evidence-‐based instruc:on for all students

in whole-‐ or small-‐group seRngs

formal, norm-‐referenced

diagnos:c tests

formal/informal curriculum based tests

formal/informal screening and

progress monitoring

Assessments Tiered Instruction

Randomized Control Trials for Tier 1 JK Math

05

101520253035404550

Improvement

Building BlocksPre-K MathTools of the Mind

•  Some students will not show adequate growth despite “best classroom prac:ces” and so will need addi:onal instruc:onal support to prevent or reduce the impact of learning difficul:es

•  Current knowledge base exists to guide early iden:fica:on and interven:ons for these at-‐risk students – What about in pre-‐K??

•  Promotes early iden:fica:on and treatment of children at-‐risk for learning problems – PREVENTION model •  Direct link between teacher assessment and interven:on

•  Approach needs to be supported by teacher PD •  Despite using a :ered approach some children will s:ll

experience significant learning difficul:es.

Why use a tiered approach?

More on Tiered Model in pdf of slides that will be posted

General Principles for Instruc:ng Children with Learning Difficul:es or

Disabili:es Based on Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007 Learning DisabiliGes: From IdenGficaGon to

IntervenGon

General Instruc:onal Principles

1.  Increase :me on task -‐ supplement (not supplant) instruc:onal opportuni:es

2.  Provide explicit and well-‐organized or systema:c instruc:on with opportuni:es for prac:ce and cumula:ve review of both founda:onal & higher-‐order skills

What is meant by “explicit instruction”?

"   “Explicit instruction is instruction that does not leave anything to chance, and it does not make assumptions about skills and knowledge that children will acquire ‘on their own’ ”(Torgesen, 2004)

•  Directly teaching letter-sound associations •  Explaining and showing students how to use

visual imagery to enhance comprehension •  Directly teaching number facts using

manipulatives, number lines etc.

What is meant by “systematic instruction”?

•  Instruction guided by a comprehensive scope and sequence

•  Instruction in all critical skills and knowledge

•  Careful and systematic review to insure mastery and retention


3.  Skills based instruc:on (phonological awareness, decoding, arithme:c) needs integra:on with instruc:on in higher level skills (vocabulary and listening comprehension, math problem solving). Weak founda:onal skills should not stop teaching of higher-‐level skills.

4.  Gains in reading and math are specific to instruc:on in reading and math


5.  Frequent monitoring of progress to inform instruc:on is key -‐ privileges :mely interven:on over wai:ng for a diagnosis (wait to fail model)

6.  Special educa:on and general educa:on need be`er integra:on. The :ered model is an example of such integra:on.

Implica:ons of Research for Preven:on/Interven:on •  Some reading and math curricula for pre-‐k children have undergone RCTs and some are effec:ve

•  Effec:ve Tier 1 programs help children with learning difficul:es h`p://www.srcd.org/policy-‐media/policy-‐updates/mee:ngs-‐briefings/inves:ng-‐our-‐future-‐evidence-‐base-‐preschool

•  But they are not enough for some children with learning difficul:es

•  Take into account weaknesses in cogni:ve abili:es in interven:ons -‐supports for these weaknesses is some:mes built into effec:ve interven:ons

•  What else can we do for young struggling learners?

Our new study: Barnes, Klein, Starkey

•  Randomized Control Trial of an Intervention for 4 year-olds at High Risk for Math Difficulties •  Tier 1 + Tier 2 supplemental math instruction

4 days per week •  OR Tier 1 + Tier 2 supplemental math

instruction 4 days per week + cognitive (attention/memory) training 1 day per week

•  OR Regular Tier 1 math program in classroom •  Trial in its second year in TX and CA

Vigilance and Execu:ve A`en:on Games: McCandliss

What we DON’T know about cogni:ve interven:ons for academic skill learning

• Whether combined neurocogni:ve and skill specific (i.e., math) interven:ons might be helpful for some children with learning difficul:es (Melby-‐Lervag & Hulme, 2012)

• Whether the age of the child might make a difference in terms of the effec:veness of cogni:ve interven:ons (Wass, Scerif & Johnson, 2012)

Where are we at with combined skills-‐specific + cogni:ve interven:ons for young children at risk for learning difficul:es?

Open-‐Minded Skep:cs

Combined academic and cogni:ve Interven:ons for Learning

Difficul:es

Educators Educa:on Researchers

Thank you!

•  Tiered models sequentially increase the intensity of the instructional interventions

•  Children who do not meet progress in one layer are then provided with the next tier of support

•  Prevention model rather than a “wait to fail model” also called Response to Intervention Model or RTI

Tiered Approach to Assessment & Instruction

•  Core instructional program taught by classroom teacher

•  Provides evidence-based instruction to all students •  Progress monitoring of all students to identify those

students who are not displaying adequate progress (3 x yr)

•  On-going Professional Development to support teacher knowledge of assessment and evidence-based practice

Tier 1: The Foundation

•  Students who do not make progress in response to regular classroom instruction are provided with the next layer of support

•  Classroom teacher works with school team to develop Tier 2 interventions

•  Tier 2 interventions may include:

•  Additional instruction time, small group instruction •  Instruction that is more structured, explicit, and systematic

with increased opportunities to respond •  More frequent progress monitoring probes

Tier 2 Supplemental Instruction

•  For students who do not exhibit growth in response to Tier I and II instructional layers

•  Referred for more extensive educational or psycho-educational assessment

•  Information from assessment + information from teacher/school team is used to guide intervention efforts •  More extensive, more individualized interventions

Tier 3

Questions?

Marcia Barnes, Ph.D.The University of Texasat Austin


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math & reading difficulties in young children: risk factors and intervention approaches

Education

young children

reading sessions

early risk factors

math reading difculties

marmmath reading difficulties

es implica

es whatsnewininterven

slow start