Concept of Word Intervention: Building a Strong Foundation for Future Success

This intervention has a special place in my heart.  Years ago, we were sitting with our School Intervention Team and seeing many second grade struggling readers.  We realized the students weren’t just struggling with reading in second grade, they had been struggling for a while.  As a matter of fact, almost all of our students struggled on a Concept of Word Team in kindergarten.  This test showed how well the students are putting together the letter sounds, beginning sounds, letter ID, spelling…it all came down to an isolated word list…taken from context. ***This used to be part of PALS testing for Kindergarten, however it has been removed from this screener.***

Then, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, Concept of Word…I’m Published, I went to a workshop presented by a good friend and colleague, Beth Estil.

She had developed an intervention with the COW results.  

After a few years of trial and error and tweaking, I came up with an intervention we used at our school.

So, first you have to know WHO is going to be chosen for the intervention. 

Once we have the results of a COW Screening, there are 2 ways students are chosen for the intervention: they are either classified as have a Developing Level of COW or a Rudimentary Level of COW.

 Developing Concept of Word

Students with a Developing Concept of Word are characterized by the following attributes:

  • might be able to tell id a word rhymes, but cannot tell why
  • do not understand 1-to-1 correspondence
  • do not have complete alphabet knowledge
  • do not have complete letter/sound knowledge
  • directionality is not firm
  • and they score a 0-3 on the COW Screening Tool.

Rudimentary Concept of Word

Students with a Rudimentary Concept of Word are characterized by the following attributes:

  • have 1-to-1 correspondence, but may get tripped up by multi-syllabic words
  • can self-correct if 1-to-1 is skewed
  • accurately match point to text
  • letter/sound associations are known, but are not automatic
  • and they have a score of 4-6 on the COW Screening Tool.

Concept of Word Intervention

There is a very specific routine for both developmental and rudimentary. Each group uses the poem from the week before as the intervention material.

Developing Concept of Word

MONDAY– This is an ORAL day. Review the first 2 lines of the poem ORALLY. 

Either show the students the page with 2 pictures from the poem or fold the page with 4 pictures, only showing developing students the
first two pictures.

TUESDAY – This is a KINESTHETIC day. The interventionists will review the first two lines of the poem while pointing the pictures on the touch mat, while students echo. 

Next, students will practice touching each dot to represent each word.  Special attention is given to multi-syllabic words to ensure students are touching 1 dot for each word, not each syllable.

WEDNESDAY – This is both a KINESTHETIC and VISUAL day.  Each student gets a sentence (one at a time) and is asked to cut the sentences into words. Students will arrange the words in the proper order. The second sentence is distributed and the routine is repeated.  There is no need to keep sentences “assigned” to specific students.

THURSDAY –  This is both a KINESTHETIC and VISUAL day.  The interventionist will pass out a paper clipped sentence to each student.  The students are directed to fix the sentence.  The interventionist holds up one of the six word cards and asks the students to identify the word and locate it in the sentence.  

FRIDAY – Test Day.  The students can be called individually to the interventionist to read known words on the
word list.  Student scores are recorded on the C.O.W. Intervention Sheet.

Rudimentary Concept of Word

MONDAY – Review the poem ORALLY.  Show the students the page with 4 pictures representing the poem. 

The interventionist will state each sentence while pointing to the pictures.  The student echoes.  This is completed three times.

TUESDAY – Touch Mats – Students will practice touching each dot to represent each word. 

This is demonstrated by the interventionist before the student attempts the touching.  This is repeated three times each.

WEDNESDAY – Each student gets a poem.  The students are asked to cut the poem into lines.  Students are asked to order the poem correctly and read the poem three times each, alternating between students and interventionist.  The interventionist will gather each poem, secure it with a paper clip and save for Thursday. 

THURSDAY –  The interventionist will pass out a paper clipped poem to each student.  The students are directed to fix the poem. Each student reads the poem while pointing to the words.  The interventionist holds up one of the ten word cards and asks the students to identify the word and locate it in the sentence.  This is repeated for each of the six word cards.

FRIDAY – The students can be called individually to the interventionist to read known words on the word list.  Student scores are recorded on the C.O.W. Intervention Sheet.

results

Again, I was pleased with our results.

We have also noted the referrals to our RtI committee has decreased since we started this intervention.

If you would like a sample Developing Level Concept Of Word Intervention, click the link or the picture below.

Concept of Word Intervention: Building a Strong Foundation for Future Success

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