A rime based orthographic analogy training program for improving word identification skills in poor readers

© 2000 Catherine C. Gilson-GinnMany poor readers experience difficulties in word identification, the critical first step of the reading pathway (Foorman, Fletcher & Francis. 1997; Lyon, 1996). They lack the ability to decode words accurately and rapidly. Phonological and or orthographic deficits contribute to this inability. Poor readers must be explicitly trained to recognize and manipulate orthographic and phonological units of varying sizes as well as understand the predictability of their mapping system. Rime based orthographic analogy training, it was thought, would improve written word naming performance in children who were poor readers. The ability to transfer a letter-sound link such as 'ew' from one word to another is necessary for efficient reading. The purpose of the study was to determine whether explicit training in grapheme-phoneme units within the rime unit would lead to greater retention and transfer of the orthographic rime unit and greater gain in phonemic awareness than teaching the rime unit as a whole. Thirty poor readers were randomly assigned to one of two training groups. Children were trained on sets of ‘like’ words via mechanical segmenting and blending procedures with emphasis placed on the active transfer of the rime unit between words. Words were presented and rehearsed as either onset and rime units or grapheme-phoneme units. Words were positioned directly one beneath the other in reading and writing tasks to stress the pattern match and the notion of transferability of the rime unit and its phonological translation. Guided transfer to pseudo words and prose was incorporated into the training regime to consolidate pattern knowledge and to promote analogy as a reading strategy amongst this group. Children's retention of trained words and transfer to unfamiliar words were examined at progressive intervals throughout training. Phonological awareness was assessed pre and post training. For students who displayed a higher level of word reading efficiency, the grapheme-phoneme strategy was more useful