Recent studies Nicolson et al, 1999) have demonstrated that 6 and 8 year old children found to be at risk of reading failure can be provided with very cost-effective support using traditional teaching methods. Nonetheless, a significant minority of children failed to make sufficient progress. The present studies undertook a replication of these studies, using the RITA computer-based literacy support system. The RITA system assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailored to each child's profile of reading attainments. The results indicated that the RITA support was both educationally effective and economically effective, with comparable cost effectiveness to the traditional approach when used with infant school children (6 year olds), and somewhat greater cost effectiveness when used with junior school children (8 year olds). All groups of children reacted very positively to the RITA lessons. It is suggested that computer-assisted reading support can be effective in supporting children at risk of reading failure, even at junior school level.

Aims.To develop and evaluate an intervention strategy for children at risk of reading failure in their rst year at school.Samples. Classes in four UK infant schools with different demographic characteristics were screened to identify children most at risk of reading failure (62 in total, mean initial age 6.0 years). Control children, matched overall for age and reading performance, were selected from comparable schools.Methods. The selected children were given an individually adaptive, curriculum-based, support programme with the emphasis on word building and phonics skills in the broad reading context. The programme was administered to children in groups of four for two half-hour sessions per week for 10 weeks.Results. The intervention group improved signi cantly in mean reading standard score (from 89.0 to 92.8), whereas the control group made no overall improvement. The intervention proved cost-effective, with mean 'effect size' comparable to those reported for Reading Recovery, yet with only 10% of the costs. Despite the clear progress of the intervention group overall, 25% remained 'problem readers' (with reading still at least 6 months behind). Of these problem readers 88% had initial 'at risk' or 'borderline risk' scores on the DEST screening test, compared with only 28% of the 'recovered readers'. Conclusions.The following three-stage intervention strategy is promising: (i) children at risk of reading dif culties are identi ed before 6 years; (ii) at risk children are given a small-group intervention programme for 3-4 months; (iii) children still failing to make progress may then be given continuing targeted additional support.Literacy is one of the outstanding problems facing children in this information age. Particular problems arise for children with special needs and for children from

The aim of this study was to evaluate an intervention strategy for children at risk of reading failure in their third year at school. Classes in ve UK junior schools were screened to identify children most at risk of reading failure (36 in total, mean initial age 7.6 years). Comparison children, matched overall for age and reading performance, were selected from comparable schools. The selected children were given an individually adaptive, curriculum-based, support programme with the emphasis on word building and phonics skills in the broad reading context. The programme was given to children in pairs for two half-hour sessions per week for 10 weeks. The intervention group made signi cantly more progress than the comparison group as measured by mean reading standard scores, with an overall 'effect size' of 0.67. A 6-month follow-up indicated that the overall effect size of improvement reduced to 0.55. The intervention proved cost-effective, with comparable improvements to those of Reading Recovery at around 20% of the cost. The results suggest that while cost-effective improvements in reading can be achieved at junior school, a signi cant proportion of junior children will fail to bene t from a relatively short intervention of this type. There is therefore a need for continuing support. These results highlight the importance and cost-effectiveness of early intervention in a child's initial school years.

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