Improving Response to Intervention in Students With or at Risk of Reading Disabilities

The purpose of the proposed studies is to examine a reading intervention for fourth grade students with RD that integrates the psychosocial component of mindset with the academic component of reading. Specifically, the investigators will examine the extent to which integrating mindset intervention improves student response to reading intervention. The investigators will use previous research in intensive reading intervention for students with RD in the upper elementary grades to examine an intervention that addresses reading skill deficits, while providing mindset training along with (Study 1) or embedded in (Study 2) the reading intervention. Specific Aim 1. To determine the effects of intensive reading intervention with mindset training (Reading Intervention Plus Mindset) relative to reading intervention alone and business as usual comparison on the academic outcomes of fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. The proposed study will target students with or at-risk for reading disabilities in fourth grade to examine the effects of reading intervention with mindset training relative to reading intervention alone and business as usual comparison on students' mindset, general academic achievement, phonological awareness, word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension outcomes. Students will be randomly assigned to condition with students in the Reading Intervention Plus Mindset condition receiving the mindset training along with their reading intervention. Students assigned to the Reading Intervention will receive the same reading intervention but without the mindset training. Students in the Business as Usual condition will continue to receive their typical school services which will be carefully documented. It is hypothesized that students in the Reading Intervention Plus Mindset condition will improve their reading outcomes more than students in the Reading Intervention only and Business as Usual groups by continuing to develop a growth mindset to work through the challenges in their reading development and, thus, being able to progress more efficiently in the reading intervention. Specific Aim 2. To determine the effects of embedding mindset training in an intensive reading intervention on the mindset and academic outcomes of fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. The proposed study will use the results from Specific Aim 1 to further examine the effects of an intensive reading intervention with mindset embedded in the content with a new cohort of fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. Embedding mindset practices directly in the content area of difficulty for students with learning difficulties could be more powerful than separate mindset training. Students will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions (Embedded or Business as Usual). The investigators will examine the effects of intervention on students' mindset, word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension measures. It is hypothesized that embedding mindset training directly in the reading content will further improve student reading outcomes by allowing students to directly apply a growth mindset to their work in the area of difficulty, reading. Specific Aim 3. To link student characteristics to response to intervention. The proposed study will link students' initial reading achievement, initial mindset, vocabulary ability, behavior/attention as well as race, sex, socioeconomic status, and parents' educational background to student response to intervention. It is hypothesized that students with lower initial reading achievement, higher initial levels of fixed mindset, higher vocabulary, lower parent educational background or socioeconomic status, and/or higher levels of problem behavior/attention initially will benefit more from the mindset intervention, particularly the embedded mindset intervention. It is hypothesized that no differences based on gender or race.