A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Description The program provides a two-part approach to the prevention of learning disabilities: scanning and intervention. Scanning locates vulnerable children through SEARCH, an individual 20-minute test administered by teachers and educational assistants to all children in kindergarten or early in first grade. SEARCH taps the neuropsychological precursors of learning problems in young children, yielding data required for setting intervention priorities, and building teaching plans to guide intervention. Raw test scores may be evaluated either by age or local norms. Age norms permit comparison of a child's score with a broad reference group: the standardization sample of 2,319 children from intact kindergarten classes in inner-city, suburban, small-town, and rural areas. Local norms permit comparison with the immediate peer group with whom children will be learning in their own schools. Intervention is based upon TEACH, a prescriptive approach that helps to meet the educational needs defined by SEARCH. TEACH tasks are organized into five clusters relating to SEARCH components; tasks have been chosen for their experimentally demonstrated contribution to the job analysis of reading. The 55 tasks proceed through three stages of increasing complexity: recognition-discrimination, copying, and recall. Mastery criteria are provided to ensure automaticity in the application of these skills in reading and the language arts. TEACH provides a two-part sequence of activities with emphasis on accuracy of perception in the first part and on intermodal and prereading skills in the second.

Contact

Rosa A. Hagin, School Consultation Center, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023. (212) 636-6484 or Archie A. Silver, Department of Psychiatry, University of South Florida Medical School, 3515 Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, FL 33613. (813) 972-7062.

Developmental Funding: USOE BEH Title VI-G.
JDRP No. 79-33 (9/12/79)
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[Portage Project]