Grade Levels	Group Size	Tutor Type	Qualifying Studies	Average Effect Size
1-3	3	Teacher or Paraprofessional	1	+0.64

Tutors

Instructors are certificated teachers and paraprofessionals and typically current school/district staff. Instructors should have strong phonemic awareness, orthographic spelling, and comprehension skills.  They should be available to provide targeted intervention during school, after school, during summer ESY programs, or a combination of all.  The interventions are effectively provided in person, or when necessary, online during synchronous lessons.  Districts can also contract directly with Lindamood-Bell to establish a Learning Center on Campus (LCOC) for in-person or online (synchronous) lessons.  In this model, interventionists are Lindamood-Bell clinicians who provide instruction directly to students. LCOC may be available for school districts near our learning center locations, pending staffing and scheduling availability.

Students

Lindamood-Bell intervention helps struggling readers who are falling behind in phonological awareness, orthographic processing, and/or reading comprehension skills. Intensive intervention benefits students in Tier 2 and 3 instruction who have multiple-year gaps in reading skill, students on IEPs, and students with disabilities such as dyslexia and autism. Instruction is also highly effective for English learners to develop foundational reading skills.  Students may receive one-to-one or small-group instruction (2-5) based on similar learning profiles and needs.

Technology

Digital materials are available for online, synchronous instruction.  Digital resources include (1) Consonant/Vowel Cards, (2) Mouth Pictures, (3) Simple to Complex to Multisyllable Cards, (3) Affixes, and (4) Leveled Readers, K-8. Materials are accessed with a teacher subscription to a Learning Management System (LMS) and shared online with students during a Zoom or similar online platform. For in-person instruction, direct instruction is typically provided using print manipulatives and readers, but digital materials may still be used to facilitate group engagement with the materials.

Curriculum

There are three multisensory components, all of which include a structured literacy approach in developing the component parts of reading as outlined by the National Reading Panel: Phonemic awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. Teachers may be trained in one or more components depending on student intervention needs.

Phonological and Orthographic processing. Systematic and explicit instruction to develop symbol imagery as a foundation for fluent reading and spelling skills. This component is developed with the Seeing Stars^® program.

Comprehension and Vocabulary. Systematic and explicit instruction to develop concept imagery as a basis for recall, comprehension, vocabulary, and higher-order thinking. This component is developed with the Visualizing and Verbalizing^® program.

Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Speech. Systematic and explicit instruction to develop phonemic and articulatory awareness as a basis for phonological processing and word decoding/encoding skills.  This component is developed with the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing^® (LiPS^®) program.

Assessments

Diagnostic and progress monitoring tools are administered pre, interim (optional), and post-intervention cycles, measuring phonemic awareness, symbol imagery, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Results are used to group students with similar reading levels, to measure progress, and to differentiate instruction.

Schools/districts may also use their existing assessments instead as independent measures of progress and to differentiate instruction.

Formative assessment and progress updates are also conducted informally to direct lesson planning and pacing through the scope and sequence of each program.

Program Operation

Teachers/tutors provide explicit and systematic instruction in one-to-one or small groups (up to 5 students).  Instruction is daily for one lesson (45 minutes) to two lessons (90 minutes) depending on student need, for an average of 80 to 120 total hours of instruction. Younger students (K-2) and students with smaller gaps in their reading skills may only need 60 to 80 hours of instruction. Steps are delivered through a Socratic questioning process where students become aware of their own reading and comprehension process.  This allows them to self-monitor and self-correct after an error. Lessons include 5-8 activities from the steps of the program, with ample opportunities for practice and review at each level. As students demonstrate proficiency at each level, lesson plans are adjusted to increase the complexity (e.g., CVC to CCVC/CVCC to CCVCC to 2-syllables).  Positive reinforcement is provided in every activity to encourage students to apply their new sensory-cognitive skills to reading, spelling, and comprehension tasks.

Professional Development, Progress Monitoring, and Follow-up

Levels of professional development are offered to ensure instructional quality and fidelity.

Level 1 – Introductory Workshop(s). Online or in-person, 13 – 19.5 seat hours per program (1.3 to 1.95 Lindamood-Bell CEUs); self-paced review courses for follow-up support available for one year after the workshop.

Level 2 ­– Online Professional Learning Community. 1-year subscription to self-paced skills boost and refinement modules.  Monthly webinars and member discussion boards available.  Additional Lindamood-Bell CEUs are available.

Level 3 – Job-embedded Professional Development. Lindamood-Bell instructional experts provide weekly, job-embedded coaching (online) to develop instructional leadership skills.  Project management, lesson planning, regular PLC meetings, and monthly updates/reporting are also conducted throughout the school year.  Additional Lindamood-Bell CEUs are available.

Costs

Lindamood-Bell contracts with districts to provide levels of professional development and support for district staff, including introductory workshops, project management, and job-embedded coaching.

Annual Per Tutor Cost: $9,095 (About 54 students served per tutor each year)

PD, Project Management, Coaching	$5,950 per teacher/tutor
Materials for 54 students	$3145

Notes: Tutors are usually district employees, or contractors. Substitute actual salaries and benefits to get actual cost.

Research on Program Outcomes

One study evaluated students at risk for reading difficulties (Torgesen et al., 2010).  This study took place at three elementary schools with Grade 1 students. 33.1% of participants were minority (mostly African American) while 35% of students were receiving free or reduced lunch. The effect size of this study was +0.64.

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Key Studies

• Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Herron, J., & Lindamood, P. (2010). Computer-assisted instruction to prevent early reading difficulties in students at risk for dyslexia: Outcomes from two instructional approaches. Annals of Dyslexia, 60, 40-56. doi:10.1007/s11881-009-0032-yb