Wanzek, J., & Chang, A. (2025). Mind, Brain, and Education
Research Synthesis
Wanzek, J., & Chang, A. (2025). Mind, Brain, and Education, 19(4), 326–334.
Read full article →Upper elementary students with reading disabilities often need more intensive support than standard reading instruction can provide. This paper reviews three studies to examine how different levels and types of intervention intensity relate to reading outcomes.
By upper elementary school, students are expected to learn from increasingly complex texts across subject areas. For students with reading disabilities, this creates a serious challenge because many still need support with foundational skills such as word reading, fluency, and comprehension strategies.
The central question is not simply whether intervention works, but what kind of intensity is needed to accelerate reading growth for older struggling readers.
Intervention intensity is not just about doing more of the same. It can include increasing instructional time, reducing group size, adding intervention components, and providing more explicit, targeted instruction.
For older students with reading disabilities, simply increasing time or reducing group size may not be enough. The design of the intervention matters.
A less intensive intervention led to moderate gains in reading comprehension, particularly for students who began with stronger word reading skills.
A more intensive intervention improved word reading accuracy and fluency for students with more significant reading difficulties, but did not produce the same gains in comprehension.
Adding a growth mindset intervention produced small effects on nonword reading, but did not add clear benefits for reading comprehension or mindset development.
Students with more severe reading difficulties need intensive intervention, but intensity must be strategically designed to address their specific learning needs.
Across the three studies, intensive reading intervention helped students make progress, especially in foundational skills such as word reading. However, gains in foundational skills did not always translate immediately into stronger reading comprehension.
This suggests that some students may need sustained support over a longer period before improvements in word reading lead to broader comprehension gains.
The study that combined reading instruction with mindset training did not show added academic benefits beyond the reading intervention itself. This does not mean motivation is unimportant, but it suggests that mindset supports may need to be more directly connected to students’ reading challenges and daily instructional work.
Effective intervention for older struggling readers requires careful planning. Increasing intensity should involve more than adding minutes. It should include explicit instruction, consistent practice, targeted feedback, and alignment with students’ specific reading needs.
Even with intensive support, many upper elementary students with reading disabilities may need continued intervention beyond a single school year.
Reading intervention intensity matters, but intensity alone is not the solution. Older struggling readers need interventions that are sustained, explicit, targeted, and carefully matched to the skills they still need to develop.