Monitoring and Independent Programs
An analysis of the performance of students participating in the MULTILIT Monitoring and Independent Reading Programs from 2003 to 2005 inclusive shows excellent results.
In both of these programs, parents (or caregivers) are trained to deliver an individualised program to meet the child's specific literacy using the MULTILIT Reading Program, including MULTILIT Sight Words, MULTILIT Word Attack Skills and MULTILIT Reinforced Reading. Additional programs such as Spelling Mastery are also sometimes included. Parents are asked to tutor their child for about a half to three quarters of an hour per day, for at least four days a week.
In the Monitoring Program the parent and child meet with a trained MULTILIT tutor for a half hour tutoring and monitoring session once per week.
The Independent Program is more suited to families who are unable to attend the MULTILIT Centre on a regular basis. Rather, parents deliver the program to their children exclusively, at home, and receive advice and support from a MULTILIT clinician throughout the term via email, fax and phone. Independent Program students revisit the MULTILIT Centre in North Ryde for testing at the end of the 10-week term.
Prior to a student enrolling in a MULTILIT Reading Program, a full Reading Assessment is carried out employing a range of standardised and curriculum-based assessments of reading and related skills. The results we present below are for those students on whom we have complete sets of results before and after and whose parents agreed to let us use the data for research purposes.
Monitoring Program Results
The results for the group of children attending our Monitoring Program for one term are based on a sample of 119 students of average verbal ability who were aged about 9 to 10 years on average and who were typically over two years behind their classmates in both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. In one term these students made gains of 9 months on the test of word recognition, 7 months in spelling and could read about 27% more words correctly per minute.
A smaller group, of 74 of these students, who were tested after spending two terms in the program showed average gains of 15 months in word recognition, 12 months in spelling and could read 44% more words correctly per minute. They also made average gains of 13 months for reading accuracy, 12 months for reading comprehension and 20 months in phonic recoding.
Independent Program Results
These results are based on a group of 54 students enrolled in the Independent Program. They were also aged 9 to 10 years on average, of average verbal ability, and over 2 years behind in reading. These students made gains in one term averaging about 7 months in word recognition, 7 months in spelling and could read about 20% more words correctly per minute.
A smaller group, of 31 of these students, who were tested after spending two terms in the program showed average gains of 14 months in word recognition, 10 months in spelling and could read 30% more words correctly per minute. They also made average gains of 10 months for reading accuracy, 12 months for reading comprehension and 14 months in phonic recoding.
Important note: Low-progress readers in school would typically make only about 1 to 2 months progress in reading per term without MULTILIT.
MULTILIT Intensive and Individual Programs
Students in the Intensive Program attend the MULTILIT Centre daily (mornings) for three hours tuition as part of a group of about 12 students taught by a MULTILIT instructor and a MULTILIT tutor. Students in the Individual Program attend the MULTILIT Centre for one hour's individual tuition from a MULTILIT instructor or tutor twice a week.
Results for Intensive
The results for students attending the Intensive Program over the three year period are based on the outcomes for 83 students of average age 10 years, who were typically of average verbal ability but , again on average, about three years behind in reading performance. After one term, these students made average gains of 12 months in word recognition, 11 months in spelling and were reading 53% more words correctly per minute.
The smaller group of these students who completed two terms made average gains of 19 months in word recognition, 18 months in spelling and could read 82% more words correctly per minute. They also made average gains of 13 months for reading accuracy, 12 months for reading comprehension and 25 months in phonic recoding.
Results for the Individual program
These results are based on a group of 113 students who were also aged 9 to 10 years on average, of average verbal ability, and over 2 years behind in reading. These students made gains in one term averaging about 9 months in word recognition, 8 months in spelling and could read 29% more words correctly per minute.
A smaller group, of 77 of these 113 students, who were tested after spending two terms in the program showed average gains of 15 months in word recognition, 12 months in spelling and could read 50% more words correctly per minute. They also made average gains of 13 months for reading accuracy, 12 months for reading comprehension and 22 months in phonic recoding.
Important note: Low-progress readers in school would typically make only about 1 to 2 months progress in reading per term without MULTILIT.