How do I know when my child is ready to transition out of reading remediation?
While every learner is different, research shows that most reading intervention programs like the Wilson Reading System take about 2-3 years for a struggling reader to work through if delivered with fidelity.
With that in mind, these are the THREE benchmarks we use at Redwood for transitioning a child out of reading remediation, confident that they are ready to be successful in general education instruction.
1) A student's decoding must be automatic enough for them to read with reasonable fluency. They must be able to read with reasonable fluency so that their energy can be focused on comprehending the rigorous text, not on decoding words. In other words, until a student has solid decoding skills, they will not be fluent readers. Non-fluent readers face reading comprehension difficulties. Thus, decoding skills must be automatic enough that fluency can be reasonable so they can understand what they read.
2) Spelling must be accurate enough, with and without assistive technology, that it doesn’t inhibit the quality and richness of a student's written communication. Kids have amazing things to say and we don't want spelling to get in their way!
3) Students need to have respectful self-advocacy skills so that they effectively advocate for themselves in educational environments that are not friendly to individuals who learn differently. Students need to understand themselves as learners and understand how their brains work so that they learn to respectfully ask for the accommodations they need and opportunities to capitalize on their strengths in various learning environments. This is the biggest rationale for why we incorporate the Discover Dyslexia curriculum across all of our programming. Starting with self-awareness and moving to self-advocacy skills, we explicitly teach kids with dyslexia or other language-based learning differences how their brain works and how to advocate for what they need to be most successful.
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