The SRA Decoding A reading intervention program emphasizes basic decoding skills: rhyming, sounding out, sentence reading, and story reading. It is characterized by tightly sequenced lessons, ongoing assessment, and lessons that slowly increase in difficulty.
It is designed for students who:
• Make frequent word-identification errors
• Make word omissions, additions, or confuse high-frequency word (e.g., what/that, of/for)
• Don’t understand the relationship between the arrangement of letters in a word and the pronunciation of the word
• Don’t read a passage with the degree of accuracy needed to understand what the passage actually says
• Have inadequate reading rates, making it difficult for them to remember the various details of the passage, even if they were decoded accurately
The SRA Decoding A reading intervention focuses on word attack skills and includes isolated sound/word practice, group reading activities to develop accuracy and oral reading fluency, workbook exercises, and opportunities for enrichment activities.
What does a class look like?
• Sound pronunciation
• Identifying beginning, middle and ending sounds within a word
• Word reading, real and nonsense words
• Workbook activities both guided and independent to apply the lesson skills
As the lessons progress, students begin to read sentences and eventually short stories with comprehension checkpoints.
How can families help at home?
• Reviewing letter-sound recognition (Parent says letter, Student says sound or word that begins with that letter. Parent says word, Student says beginning sound or letter.)
• Sounding out words (Parent dictates 3-4 letter word, Student identifies all the sounds, Student is able to spell the word.)
• Word reading the fast way (Parent supplies 3-4 letter word, such as a CVC word or blend, and student reads the word quickly without sounding out.)
• Sound combinations (Parent says word with blend, such as bl, and student identifies the blend.)
• Asking comprehension questions (While reading with child at home, ask comprehension questions about the text, have student retell the story or sequence the order of events in the story.)