Effects of quantitative and qualitative treatment fidelity of an individualized computer-supported early reading intervention delivered by non-professional tutors

The Effectiveness of a 2‐year Supplementary Tutor‐assisted Computerized Intervention on the Reading Development of Beginning Readers at Risk for Reading Difficulties: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The intervention was delivered with the use of the same computerized program as in the present study, for about the same period, but started already in Kindergarten. The important point is that during this period, the program was delivered by the same tutors who were able to provide at least sufficient levels of instructional and emotional support, and to apply adequate level matching procedures (Zijlstra, Koomen, Regtvoort, & van der Leij, submitted). In contrast, in the present study, a majority of the children practised with different tutors during the week, mostly older primary school students and/or volunteers, who were periodically substituted by other tutors.…”

Prevention of reading difficulties in children with and without familial risk: Short- and long-term effects of an early intervention.

“…In contrast, in a separate study we investigated treatment fidelity in the FRinfo group, which consisted of children who were all raised with Dutch as the main home language (even when the parents were of non-Dutch ethnicity: about a third). We found that treatment fidelity was high in terms of total training time, program completion, and tailoring the amount and level of practice to the child (Zijlstra et al, 2014). In future research, it is important to focus on the question how to promote parental support and involvement of hard-to-reach parents with immigrant background and limited literacy skills, and evaluate the effects in a large scale study in which schools themselves implement the intervention.…”

“…Zijlstra, Koomen, Regtvoort, and van der Leij (2014) reported on the observed quality of instruction and emotional support provided by part of the nonprofessional tutors in the current study. Briefly, Zijlstra et al (2014) observed 32 tutors and children two times, in kindergarten and in Grade 1. Videotapes were rated by at least two independent raters.…”

“…Tutor-support quality was investigated by means of tutor emotional support (i.e., the degree to which the tutor is sensitive to the emotional needs of the child and shows confidence in the child) and tutor adaptive instruction (i.e., to what degree the tutor gives clear instructions and adapts the instruction adequately to the level and needs of the child). On a 7-point scale from very low to very high, it turned out that 87% of the tutors provided sufficient (4) to high levels (6) of support (Zijlstra et al, 2014).…”