ELL and Early Intervention

Gyovai, Lisa Klett, Lefki Kourea, Amanda Yurick, and Lenwood Gibson. “Early reading intervention: responding to the learning needs of young at-risk English language learners.” Learning Disability Quarterly; Summer2009, Vol. 32 Issue 3, p143-162, 20p.


This study researched the benefits of the Early Reading Intervention (ERI) designed by Simmons and Kame’enui on the literacy skills of 12 kindergarten/first-grade English language learners (ELLs) in an urban setting. Students were evaluated on their phoneme segmentation fluency (PSF) and nonsense word fluency (NWF). The study showed that this intervention at such a young age was effective in improving students’ ability to segment phonemes and to pronounce letter sounds correctly. It also showed that the time spent on the program correlated to the gains made.
The article detailed many motivators for the investing in such a program. One pair of statistics was particularly staggering: nearly 75% of ELL students are below grade level of reading and 56% of ELLs being served in Special Ed were referred because of reading. Additionally, about 50% of ELL students were below grade level in math.
While the scope of the study was fairly limited, the success rate was impressive and raised a powerful issue: is there something that can be done to keep students out of special education with programs like this one? While special educations are and should be an important part of the public education system, it does not behoove students to spend years in special education when the root of the problem is a lack of English proficiency. I have a number of ELL students and while there are a couple that may also legitimately need special education services, the lack of language proficiency puts a heavy fog over their problems that makes it difficult to ascertain exactly where they lie.