Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Name of Student: TL Skill: Pre-primer Dolch sight words Initiator/Who will manage program: Elizabeth Curtin, Teacher Context for instruction: Instruction for sight words will occur in the south hallway of an elementary school between 9:35am and 9:50am. We will use sight word flash cards, and Sight Word Bingo materials, game boards, and word searches. The only people present will be the teacher (Elizabeth Curtin) and the student, TL.

Program Objective: This program addresses sight word recognition. This programs objective is: In one-on-one instructional settings, when presented with any of the 39 pre-primer Dolch sight words in isolation, TL will orally recite each word within one second of presentation on 5 consecutive probes.

Generalization: My goal for TL is to generalize these skills to other aspects of his schooling. Learning sight words will prepare TL to learn more advanced reading levels and develop his fluency and comprehension. Once TL has learned sight words, he will be able to generalize this recognition when reading papers, books, or other materials inside and outside of school. He will be able to generalize this skill to a variety of reading tasks in many different situations. To teach TL generalization, I will use programming common stimuli. Once a week, TL will practice his learned sight words by identifying them in different texts/materials. This will allow TL to transfer his skill of

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

recognizing the words during instruction to a variety of materials he uses (books, handouts, etc). I will be sure to listen and note when TL recognizes and reads a target sight word in different texts.

Rationale: Kindergartners are expected to read all pre-primer and primer sight words by the end of the school year. TL currently only recognizes 8 of the 39 pre-primer sight words, and none of the primer sight words. In order to get TL at kindergarten reading level, TL must be able to recognize the pre-primer sight words so he can work on learning the next level words (primer level). In learning these sight words, TL will be able to continue onto reading at higher levels. It will also improve his fluency because he will quickly and automatically read these words in text. These sight words will prepare TL for future reading instruction, allow him to develop kindergarten reading skills, and allow him to read these words in a variety of settings/texts.

Assessment Procedures: These procedures will occur on a daily basis when school occurs. 1. With cards and records sheet in hand, sit across from TL so I am able to see his mouth and eye movements. 2. Say I want you to read the words on these cards as fast as you can. If you dont know, we will move onto the next word. 3. Present TL with one laminated card at a time. Give TL one second to recognize and say the presented word. 4. If TL correctly says the word, shade in the corresponding half of the box for that day. If TL cannot recognize the word, put a -mark in the corresponding half.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

5. Put down card and show TL the next card. 6. Repeat until all words have been presented. Write any additional comments about the student or assessment under the comments section at the bottom of the page. Assessment Schedule: For baseline, I will probe all 39 words daily until stable baseline is established. I will also probe all 39 words after mastery of a word set (5 words) until stable. I will then prepare a set of 5 target words plus 3 maintenance probe words in which I will provide instruction with. Once instruction begins, each day, I will probe 2 trails of each target word using above procedures. When TL reads 5/5 correctly for 3 consecutive probes, I will reassess all 39 pre-primer words and select a new set.

Instructional Procedures: Instruction will occur on every scheduled or naturally occurring opportunity. To instruct TL on specific sets of words, I will do the following steps: 1. Every day, the first activity is 2 probe trials for the 5-word set. 2. The teacher then tells the student that they will be playing two games. 3. Practice each target word at least 10 times with two of the following activities that the teacher and student agree upon: a. Matching Game (Appendix A) b. The Sentence Game (Appendix B) c. Sight Word Game Path (Appendix C) d. Sight Word Pairs (Appendix D)

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

e. Sight Word Word Search (Appendix E) 4. Of the 39 words, 8 will be presented in each activity at a time. Five of these words will be the current instructional set and 3 of them will be maintenance words. New words will be selected when TL reaches mastery of a set. Throughout instruction, I will prompt using a progressive, in-session time-delay procedure. Progressive, in-session time delay 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Present a word in an activity. As soon as the word is presented, provide TL with the correct answer (say the word). Allow TL to repeat the word. Provide direct, verbal praise. Present TL with the next word in the activity. Give TL one second to respond to the word. a. If TL responds correctly, present the next word and give TL two seconds to respond. Continue adding one second to the latency period for each correct response given. b. If TL responds incorrectly or not at all, say the answer and wait for TL to repeat it. Decrease the latency period by one second each time TL responds incorrectly or not at all. 7. Move through all eight words at least ten times in each instructional period. Shuffle flashcards/bingo cards or provide new word searches/game boards each time a game is completed.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Reinforcement: Specific verbal or visual praise will be provided to TL after each correct response during instruction. This verbal praise will act as positive reinforcement and will be used in a continuous schedule for the first set of 5 words. That is, each time TL correctly responds, he will be praised (nice work, smile, high five, good job, nodding). As TL begins learning more words, I will begin thinning the schedule of reinforcement into a fixed ratio schedule. For the second set of 5 words, I will provide verbal/visual praise every other correct response. On the third set of words, I will provide this praise every third correct response. As well, candy will be used as positive reinforcement with TL. I will use candy as reinforcement on a fixed ratio schedule. Each time TL learns five new words, I will provide him with candy. Maintenance: Maintenance will be facilitated through gradual fading of verbal praise. This will encourage TL to continue these skills naturally rather than for reinforcement. As I fade the reinforcement, TL will begin to perform the skills with less reinforcement. Eventually, he will perform without reinforcement and will maintain the skill over time. As well, sight words are high frequency words that TL will encounter in daily readings and school activities. As a result of seeing these words often, TL will be able to practice reading these words on a daily basis. This will encourage maintenance. Once mastery of a set has been obtained, maintenance will be monitored by probing his performance one time a week for three weeks, then once a month for three months. This will ensure this skill has been maintained.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Skill Sequence:

Rhyming Isolation Phonemic Blending Awareness

Reading

Vocabulary

Segmentation

Decoding

Comprehension

Letter-Sound Prosody Fluency WCPM Sightwords

Inferential

Literal

Letter ID

Here is my skill I will be teaching.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Data Collection: Assessment Chart for set of 5 words (Step one of instruction)
And The Yellow Blue go This chart can be modified to use to perform baseline assessments by adding more words.

Graph for assessment over time

Sight Words
39 36 33 30 27 24 21 18 15 12 9 6 3 0 Assessment Occurrence Number of Words Read

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Research Rationale: The experiment discussed by Meadan, Stoner, and Parette (2008) taught two groups of students sight words using interactive games (Bingo and Shake, Roll, and Find) (p. 45-58). One of the experimental groups was taught with words that were paired with pictures, and the second group was taught using just words. According to the article, using pictures paired with sight words is not helpful when teaching students sight words. The findings of this experiment suggest that students learn more quickly when the words are not paired with pictures. Rather, interactive games assist students in leaning sight words (Meadan, Stoner, and Parette, 2008, p.45-58). The second article by Sean Casey (2008) discussed different time delay procedures teachers can use when teaching sight words (p. 162-171). This article provides an overview of a study done with a group of students using two types of progressive time delay procedures (within-session and across-session). The article suggests that students learn best when teachers use a within-session, progressive time delay. In other words, it was most effective to teach students using a progressive time delay within each training session (increasing the latency period multiple times within each training session rather than increasing the latency period across training sessions) (Casey, 2008, 162-171). For my instructional program, I chose interactive games with just words (no pictures). Since the pictures in this experiment only caused the students to be dependent on using the pictures to know the word, I will not pair my sight words with pictures. I am also choosing to use a progressive time delay when presenting the controlling prompt to the student. If the student answers correctly, I will increase the latency period by one second, and if the student answers incorrectly, I will decrease the latency period by one second. I will use this procedure the same way each time I work with the student. Overall, the engaging games paired with the insession time delay will most effectively help my student learn sight words. The engaging games will help my student enjoy the sight words lesson, and the time delay will provide correction and prompting for my student. Using these techniques, my student will be interactive and interested in his learning, and this will provide for an overall engaging and educationally fostering learning environment.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

References Casey, D. (2008). A comparison of within- and across- session progressive time delay procedures for teaching sight words to individuals with cognitive delays. Behavior Analyst Today, 9(3-4), 162-171. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ862242.pdf Meadan, H., Stoner, J., & Parette, H. (2008). Sight word recognition among young children at-risk: picture supported vs. word only. Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits, 5(1), 45-58. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ884367.pdf

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Appendix A Matching Game For this game, write sight words on note cards. Make two note cards for each word you are instructing, and spread them out randomly across a table. Have the student flip over one card, then flip over another card in an attempt to find the same word twice. If the second card flipped does not match the first, turn both cards back over and try another card. The student wins when he/she has found all the pairs. Examples of cards for a new set plus 3 maintenance words would look like this:

go

can

blue

the

and

play

and

go

yellow

make

can

blue

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Appendix B The Sentence Game For this game, students are provided with a variety of sight words and other familiar words on note cards. Using these cards, students are challenged to make sentences. The note cards may include their name, family members names, sight words, foods, and other familiar words. Students are challenged to make three, four, and five sentence words using these note cards. Examples of some cards provided to students would be:

Ms. Curtin

Mom is for you

like go here it

blue where I

Three word sentence: I like you. Four word sentence: Mom is blue. Five word sentence: Mom is here for Ms. Curtin.

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Appendix C Sight Word Game Path For this game, the student flips a penny to see how many spaces he/she needs to move. If the student flips heads, the student moves one space. If the student flips tails, the student moves two spaces. When the student has reached a space, they must read the word. If they read it correctly, they are able to stay on the space. If they do not say the word, the teacher provides the answer and the student returns to their previous space. The first person to reach the finish line wins. This game can also be played with a die for larger game boards. Game boards can be written on a poster board and can vary in size depending on the students abilities. Here is an example of one game board:

Elizabeth Curtin

SPED 440

Instructional Program

Appendix D Sight Word Pairs (Sight Word Go-Fish) For this game, deal out five cards (with sight words written on them) for each player and place the remaining cards facedown. These cards should contain the 5 new word set as well as extra maintenance cards. There should also be card pairs (two of each word). One player asks another player if they have a specific card. If they do, they give the first player the card and they create a pair. If the first player did not get the card she asked for, she draws one card from the deck in an attempt to make a pair. The first players turn is over when he/she does not get the card she asked for. Once any player is without cards, the game is over. The player with the most pairs wins.

Appendix E Sight Word Word Search For this activity, the teacher creates a word search with specific sight words in it. These words can appear once or more than once. The student then must complete the word search by finding familiar sight words. When the student finds a word, he/she must read it out loud to the teacher.