Learning support assistants and effective reading interventions for 'at-risk' children

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Does Learning Support Assistant training improve literacy?

The researchers tested the literacy skills of children who had attended special literacy programmes with trained Learning Support Assistants (LSAs), and compared the results with children who had been taught as normal on National Literacy Strategy programmes. Although the literacy skills of all the children involved in the study improved, the pupils on the rhyme-based and phoneme-based programmes improved to a greater degree in terms of:

phonological awareness. Children were able to recognise and generate words that rhyme;
letter-sound knowledge. Children could associate the appropriate sound to a particular letter; and
decoding skills. Children could read nonsense words which they had not come across before (e.g. 'jid'), based on their knowledge of the alphabet.

The researchers felt these results suggested that with brief training, and deploying phonic programmes already in use in schools, LSAs could be an effective additional support for children 'at risk' of literacy difficulties.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction Does Learning Support Assistant training improve literacy? Were there any differences in the effectiveness between phoneme-based, rhyme-based, and mixed programmes? What were the aims of the study? How were the children selected to take part in the study? How did the authors set up lessons to identify the best literacy strategy? What are the implications? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Learning support assistants and effective reading interventions for 'at-risk' children This digest found in Teaching Assistants English Send to a friend Word doc 90KB Printer friendly Collate for later Does Learning Support Assistant training improve literacy? The researchers tested the literacy skills of children who had attended special literacy programmes with trained Learning Support Assistants (LSAs), and compared the results with children who had been taught as normal on National Literacy Strategy programmes. Although the literacy skills of all the children involved in the study improved, the pupils on the rhyme-based and phoneme-based programmes improved to a greater degree in terms of: phonological awareness. Children were able to recognise and generate words that rhyme; letter-sound knowledge. Children could associate the appropriate sound to a particular letter; and decoding skills. Children could read nonsense words which they had not come across before (e.g. 'jid'), based on their knowledge of the alphabet. The researchers felt these results suggested that with brief training, and deploying phonic programmes already in use in schools, LSAs could be an effective additional support for children 'at risk' of literacy difficulties.