**5. The first stage of development of the 'Tales of Jud the Rat' programme: Extended case study**

#### **5.1. The need for graded reading materials of gradually increasing difficulty**

Janet Lerner [152, 153, 154] has suggested that the methods used for children with learning difficulties can be used with all children. The reason for this is that all children respond to good teaching. Shaywitz et al. [155] also emphasise continuities across normal and dyslexic readers, interpreting dyslexia as occurring at the lower end of a normal distribution of reading abilities. While a diagnosis of dyslexia often has a high degree of stability over time, there are also a large number of children who are diagnosed as dyslexic in early grades who no longer meet dyslexic criteria in later grades at school. Thus the distinction between developmental dyslexics and other poor readers may be of limited usefulness.

Similarly, Elliott and Grigorenko [156] argue that the evidence suggests that both dyslexics and other poor readers benefit from structured phonological treatment. This implies that if a method is workable for a child who has severe reading difficulties, it is also likely to work for a child who has less severe learning difficulties, or for a child who has no difficulties at all.

This has been the principle guiding the development of the materials used in the reading fluency programme. These have been developed in two stages, working with children involved my practice in Johannesburg.

The first stage in the development of the reading fluency programme was based on the need for graded reading materials of gradually increasing difficulty for a child who was severely dyslexic (Child Q). These needed to be implemented at a distance of 6,000 miles from my rooms.

#### **5.2. Implementation side-by-side with a method for teaching structured phonics which was both visual and verbal**

Child Q worked with me over a number of years. She and her parents were South African but lived in Europe. The referral came internationally, and I was then consulted by the child's mother, who indicated that her child (called Q for the purpose of case study) had severe learning problems. These were intractable.

Q had been assessed as having developmental learning problems in Britain from age 5. This had been followed by a number of language and remedial interventions, which had been effective in developing skills, but not effective in increasing reading ability. When Q first came to see me at the age of 8, she did not know all her letters. It was also evident that she had both language and reading difficulties. Despite major phonological and expressive language difficulties, Q was of high intelligence, and had well-developed visual imagery and visuali‐ sation abilities.

As available instruction was not working effectively, Q's mother spent 2 h in Q's school daily, working individually with her child on a programme sent to her first by fax, and then by email. The initial programme I provided focused on phonically based instruction using synthetic phonics material. In addition, as the five vowel system previously used with Q had not been effective and as Q's strengths lay in visualisation, I utilised a system for teaching structured phonics to develop both word attack and spelling ability. This was both visual and verbal, based on a seven vowel system and colour coding.

Initially, developmental reading materials were provided by the teachers at Q's primary school, while the material provided by myself was designed to support the word analysis, spelling and sequential writing sides of Q's instructional programme. I also sent Q's mother material to teach number concept and arithmetic, with which Q had major difficulties.

Over the first year Q's progress was steady, but as her programme entered its second year, it became clear that there was insufficient graded reading material available in the school to support the gradual increase in the level of reading instruction which Q needed. Additional reading schemes were bought by the school; but as the second year progressed, we simply ran out of reading books which were available at the school and at her level. There was no alternative other than to develop reading material specifically designed to support the gradual increase in the level of phonic skills Q needed, as well as the amount of reinforcement of phonic skills required in her reading programme.

#### **5.3. The Doctor Skunk stories**

The above research has implications for the development of reading materials for dyslexic children. As I had found in working with Q, research post 2000 indicated that dyslexic children would be likely to respond best to reading material which took account of factors such as length of words [148, 149], amount of text in paragraphs [150] and amount of text on pages [151]. How I have taken account of phonological and phonemic factors, as well as crowding, visual and visual-attentional factors, in writing the 'Tales of Jud the Rat' series as well as in developing the procedures used in the implementation of the materials is covered in the rest of this chapter.

**5. The first stage of development of the 'Tales of Jud the Rat' programme:**

Janet Lerner [152, 153, 154] has suggested that the methods used for children with learning difficulties can be used with all children. The reason for this is that all children respond to good teaching. Shaywitz et al. [155] also emphasise continuities across normal and dyslexic readers, interpreting dyslexia as occurring at the lower end of a normal distribution of reading abilities. While a diagnosis of dyslexia often has a high degree of stability over time, there are also a large number of children who are diagnosed as dyslexic in early grades who no longer meet dyslexic criteria in later grades at school. Thus the distinction between developmental

Similarly, Elliott and Grigorenko [156] argue that the evidence suggests that both dyslexics and other poor readers benefit from structured phonological treatment. This implies that if a method is workable for a child who has severe reading difficulties, it is also likely to work for a child who has less severe learning difficulties, or for a child who has no difficulties at all. This has been the principle guiding the development of the materials used in the reading fluency programme. These have been developed in two stages, working with children

The first stage in the development of the reading fluency programme was based on the need for graded reading materials of gradually increasing difficulty for a child who was severely dyslexic (Child Q). These needed to be implemented at a distance of 6,000 miles from my rooms.

**5.2. Implementation side-by-side with a method for teaching structured phonics which was**

Child Q worked with me over a number of years. She and her parents were South African but lived in Europe. The referral came internationally, and I was then consulted by the child's mother, who indicated that her child (called Q for the purpose of case study) had severe

Q had been assessed as having developmental learning problems in Britain from age 5. This had been followed by a number of language and remedial interventions, which had been

**5.1. The need for graded reading materials of gradually increasing difficulty**

dyslexics and other poor readers may be of limited usefulness.

282 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

involved my practice in Johannesburg.

learning problems. These were intractable.

**both visual and verbal**

**Extended case study**

As Q was a South African child living abroad, the first two reading books I wrote were stories written about South African wild animals. However, I struck an immediate problem on a phonic level. South African wild animals have names like 'giraffe', 'elephant', 'eland', 'gems‐ bok', 'lion', 'leopard' and 'cheetah'. How would I be able to reconcile these indigenous names with Q's phonological and phonic needs?

To determine Q's phonic needs, I was using both standardised tests as well as a self-developed clinical test called the phonic inventories [157, 158, 159, 160], which classroom-based research [161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169] had identified as both valid and reliable, as well as predictive of learning difficulties at both junior and high school levels [170, 171, 172, 173]. Used clinically, the information yielded by the instrument was diagnostic and indicated that Q needed phonic materials targetting word endings such as 'ss', 'ff', 'll', 'ck', 'ng', 'tch' and 'dge', as well as vowel digraphs such as 'ai', 'ee', 'ea', 'oa', 'ay' and 'ou'.

In the first two reading books I wrote, it was impossible to reconcile the names of South African animals with these phonic needs. The word 'lion', for example, was spelled in a completely opposite way to the diphthong 'oi', which was one of the vowel digraphs which Q had not yet established. 'Cheetah' included the 'ee' vowel digraph, and also included a schwa sound made by an 'a' followed by a silent 'h' at the end of the word. 'Buck' had a short vowel and a 'ck' ending. Tiger also met long vowel phonic criteria, but unfortunately tigers are not found on the South African veld.

I thus abandoned the aim of indigenising Q's reading material. As Q lived near a park, I focused instead on creating a more universal reading world of a small village set next to a park. In the village lived a number of phonically regular short vowel animals such as 'rat', 'cat', 'dog' and 'skunk'. The books were set in large print to increase the visual cues from the letters and words, and the paragraphs were kept short to enable Q to focus on the words she was reading by avoiding clutter. As the stories progressed, the short vowel animals interacted with long vowel animals such as 'mole', 'bird' and 'owl' and more complex polysyllabic but phonically regular animals such as 'rabbit', 'weasel', 'hamster', 'hedgehog' and 'badger'.

The main characters in the stories became the phonically regular short vowel 'Jud the Rat' and 'Jill the Dog', who first interacted with other short vowel characters such as 'Tom the Cat' and 'Doctor Skunk', and later with long vowel characters such as 'Max the Mole' and 'Mrs Weasel', and then with polysyllabic characters such as 'Len Hamster', 'Mr and Mrs Rabbit' and 'Bill the Hedgehog'. As the stories progressed, the characters met others who lived at a distance from the village such as 'Mrs Horse', 'Captain Ferret' and 'Colonel Tortoise'.

At basic levels in the stories there was a 'shop' and each character had a 'house' in the village. There was also a 'farm' close by where there were 'cows' which provided 'milk' and 'hens' which provided 'eggs', while further away from the village and at higher levels in the stories there were more phonically complex 'mountains', 'a valley', 'a country club' and even 'Benjamin Horse's Stud Farm'.

At basic levels in the stories, the animals entertained themselves by having 'fun' and at intermediate levels by having 'tea and cake' and 'a picnic', while at higher levels the animals met with 'brothers' and 'sisters' and 'in-laws' and 'cousins'. One of the 'uncles' drove a 'shiny red motorbike with a bright green sidecar', while other animals rode 'from up the valley' on the 'bus from town' driven by 'Sid the Badger'.

At higher levels in the stories there was 'a party' in 'Farmer Jim's barn' with music provided by 'Harry Hopper and the Doodlebugs', who accompanied 'Cheryl Crow' and 'The Mice Girls'. Harry Hopper's band played polysyllabic 'guitars' and 'saxophones' and 'trumpets' through 'amplifiers'. More traditional music was also provided at the party on phonically counterintuitive 'violins' by 'The Veteran Insects String Band', until Doctor Skunk came along and performed as the phonically intuitive 'Screaming Lord Skunk' and then wrecked the proceed‐ ings.

It will be gathered from the above that the Doctor Skunk stories were based on structured phonic principles which gradually increased in level, and were designed to teach as well as to entertain. For in the absence of other appropriately graded reading materials, it was important to keep Q interested, with material which appealed to her well-developed visual imagery and her delightful sense of humour, while at the same time addressing the basic progression in phonic complexity which Q needed to learn to read fluently.

#### **5.4. What were the effects of this type of reading instruction?**

established. 'Cheetah' included the 'ee' vowel digraph, and also included a schwa sound made by an 'a' followed by a silent 'h' at the end of the word. 'Buck' had a short vowel and a 'ck' ending. Tiger also met long vowel phonic criteria, but unfortunately tigers are not found on

I thus abandoned the aim of indigenising Q's reading material. As Q lived near a park, I focused instead on creating a more universal reading world of a small village set next to a park. In the village lived a number of phonically regular short vowel animals such as 'rat', 'cat', 'dog' and 'skunk'. The books were set in large print to increase the visual cues from the letters and words, and the paragraphs were kept short to enable Q to focus on the words she was reading by avoiding clutter. As the stories progressed, the short vowel animals interacted with long vowel animals such as 'mole', 'bird' and 'owl' and more complex polysyllabic but phonically regular

The main characters in the stories became the phonically regular short vowel 'Jud the Rat' and 'Jill the Dog', who first interacted with other short vowel characters such as 'Tom the Cat' and 'Doctor Skunk', and later with long vowel characters such as 'Max the Mole' and 'Mrs Weasel', and then with polysyllabic characters such as 'Len Hamster', 'Mr and Mrs Rabbit' and 'Bill the Hedgehog'. As the stories progressed, the characters met others who lived at a distance from

At basic levels in the stories there was a 'shop' and each character had a 'house' in the village. There was also a 'farm' close by where there were 'cows' which provided 'milk' and 'hens' which provided 'eggs', while further away from the village and at higher levels in the stories there were more phonically complex 'mountains', 'a valley', 'a country club' and even

At basic levels in the stories, the animals entertained themselves by having 'fun' and at intermediate levels by having 'tea and cake' and 'a picnic', while at higher levels the animals met with 'brothers' and 'sisters' and 'in-laws' and 'cousins'. One of the 'uncles' drove a 'shiny red motorbike with a bright green sidecar', while other animals rode 'from up the valley' on

At higher levels in the stories there was 'a party' in 'Farmer Jim's barn' with music provided by 'Harry Hopper and the Doodlebugs', who accompanied 'Cheryl Crow' and 'The Mice Girls'. Harry Hopper's band played polysyllabic 'guitars' and 'saxophones' and 'trumpets' through 'amplifiers'. More traditional music was also provided at the party on phonically counterintuitive 'violins' by 'The Veteran Insects String Band', until Doctor Skunk came along and performed as the phonically intuitive 'Screaming Lord Skunk' and then wrecked the proceed‐

It will be gathered from the above that the Doctor Skunk stories were based on structured phonic principles which gradually increased in level, and were designed to teach as well as to entertain. For in the absence of other appropriately graded reading materials, it was important to keep Q interested, with material which appealed to her well-developed visual imagery and her delightful sense of humour, while at the same time addressing the basic progression in

animals such as 'rabbit', 'weasel', 'hamster', 'hedgehog' and 'badger'.

284 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

the village such as 'Mrs Horse', 'Captain Ferret' and 'Colonel Tortoise'.

the South African veld.

'Benjamin Horse's Stud Farm'.

ings.

the 'bus from town' driven by 'Sid the Badger'.

phonic complexity which Q needed to learn to read fluently.

In her longitudinal case study of the effects of instruction on Q's phonic, reading and spelling development, Sfetsios (2002) [174] described the development of the reading materials used in Q's programme as follows:

'Simultaneously with the introduction of rule-based instruction through the spelling, dictation and written side of the programme, an attempt was made to sequence the skills introduced in the reading side of the programme, in order for the written and reading sides of the programme to reinforce one another.

It was evident that Q needed a gradual progression when reading, and found changes in language register confusing (Professor Potter, personal communication, 2002). What had been established through the written side of the programme was that constant reinforcement was necessary before Q was able to use a particular phonic rule in reading, or orthographic rule as this applied in writing and spelling. Difficulties were pronounced where this involved a combination of vowels or chunking of letters. The Phonic Inventories (see Appendix A) indicated that she had particular difficulty with the consonant clusters commonly used in word endings, and the decision was made to target these and focus on the rules involving combi‐ nations of consonants used at the ends of words after short vowels. This was the focus before any attempt was made to target the long vowel sounds represented in vowel digraphs and diphthongs.

The reading materials available in Q's school essentially moved too quickly to provide the basis for learning and overlearning necessary to reinforce the alphabetic rules introduced in the written side of the programme, and the type of consistent use of a gradually expanding core vocabulary necessary for Q to progress (Professor Potter, personal communication, 2002). The indication on the reading side was thus for a reading programme which reinforced the skills introduced in the written side of the programme, and which did not increase in com‐ plexity too quickly. Here we found that conventional reading schemes were not sufficient, either singly or in combination as a part of a broader reading scheme. The font size used in the books was also problematic, in that Q responded better to larger as opposed to smaller font sizes.

Against this background, the decision was taken to develop one story and a core set of characters and extend them in the beginning, creating a context and world of meaning with which Q could become familiar, and then extending these parameters to new and wider contexts. The story would need to work from the familiar, and introduce a graded and gradually extending vocabulary. Q was very interested in animals. She also lived in an area adjacent to parkland in Holland. These two aspects were therefore selected as contextual features of the story created. The Doctor Skunk stories (see Appendix R, pp.1xxxiv–1xxxvii) revolved around a group of animals who lived in a parkland, each animal representing human qualities to which Q could relate and enjoy. The story had a strong comical angle and ensured that Q maintained interest in the antics of the growing number of characters over the 6-year remedial period.

In practice, the Doctor Skunk stories provided the vehicle both for the development of reading as well as a springboard for the development of Q's imagery and imagination, and for her own descriptive and creative writing (see Appendix R, pp. xciii–xcv). It should be borne in mind that owing to her developmental difficulties, Q had lost out on many situations involving social interaction through play and involvement with other children as a contributing and functional partner in learning activities at school. The key to Q's learning to read was the fact that she was able to discover humour and enjoyment in the reading act, and to maintain her interest in reading while experiencing success in working with text, both in reading and writing (Professor Potter, personal communication, 2002).

Four years later at the time Q went to high school, she was still interested in the characters in the Doctor Skunk stories and their antics, and had covered 23 books involving several thousands of pages of text in large print. The gradually increasing difficulty of the orthography used in the text had taken her from the level of short vowels and three letter words to the ability to decode the work she was required to handle at school (see Appendix R, p.1xxxvii). By the time it was possible to reduce the font size on the printed page after 4 years of this type of work, she had also developed the skills required to read more widely, and for enjoyment.' [175]


The gains in reading, spelling and dictation made by Q over a four and a half year period are presented in Table 1 below


\* There is no score as it was found that Q was not ready for this level of dictation

In practice, the Doctor Skunk stories provided the vehicle both for the development of reading as well as a springboard for the development of Q's imagery and imagination, and for her own descriptive and creative writing (see Appendix R, pp. xciii–xcv). It should be borne in mind that owing to her developmental difficulties, Q had lost out on many situations involving social interaction through play and involvement with other children as a contributing and functional partner in learning activities at school. The key to Q's learning to read was the fact that she was able to discover humour and enjoyment in the reading act, and to maintain her interest in reading while experiencing success in working with text, both in reading and writing

Four years later at the time Q went to high school, she was still interested in the characters in the Doctor Skunk stories and their antics, and had covered 23 books involving several thousands of pages of text in large print. The gradually increasing difficulty of the orthography used in the text had taken her from the level of short vowels and three letter words to the ability to decode the work she was required to handle at school (see Appendix R, p.1xxxvii). By the time it was possible to reduce the font size on the printed page after 4 years of this type of work, she had also developed the skills required to read more widely, and for enjoyment.' [175]

The gains in reading, spelling and dictation made by Q over a four and a half year period are

Rate 7.9 7.7 7.9 8.9 7.10 8.2 8.0 Comprehension 7.11 8.7 9.5 9.8 9.1 9.11 9.11

Rate 7.0 7.5 7.4 8.0 7.3 7.9 8.0 Comprehension 8.6 9.7 9.12 10.3 9.2 10.2 9.5 **Listening** 9.2 9.2 9.2 10.2 9.2 10.2 9.2 **Flash Words** 7.10 8.0 8.2 9.6 9.2 9.7 9.11 **Word Analysis** 8.0 8.3 8.2 9.11 9.5 9.11 9.11 **Spelling (Durrell)** 7.3 8.0 8.0 9.6 8.2 8.8 8.2 **Handwriting** 7.4 8.3 8.3 8.9 9.2 9.0 8.5

Schonell Form A 7.2 7.6 8.4 8.7 8.5 9.4 8.6

Test A - - 7.6 8.1 - - -

**June 2000** M's age: 12 years 11 months

**Age Age Age Age Age Age Age**

**April 2001** M's age: 13 years 11 months

**August 2001** M's age: 14 years 3 months

**December 2001** M's age: 14 years 7 months

**June 1998** M's age: 11years 1 month

(Professor Potter, personal communication, 2002).

286 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

presented in Table 1 below

**Oral Reading**

**Silent Reading**

**Spelling**

**Schonell Graded Dictation**

**July 1997** M's age: 10 years 2 months

**February 1998** M's age: 10 years 9 months

**Table 1.** Q's Progress as Measured by Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty Age Scores

From Table 1, it will be clear that Q made gains, despite weaknesses in the phonological, phonemic and language areas, and difficulties with rate of reading. Her strengths lay in visual imagery and visualisation, which were utilised in her reading programme, as well as in the methods used to teach her spelling and sequentialisation. However, despite a programme which focused on phonological and phonemic development combined with tailor-made reading, writing and spelling programmes, Q did not develop to be a fluent reader. Both rate of reading and rate of work continued to be particular problems. She was nevertheless able to cope mainstream schooling up to the end of junior high school, requiring scaffolding and support to do so. She then completed her final years of schooling in a remedial school.

Summarising Q's progress, Sfetsios commented,

'Gains made with Q in reading, spelling and dictation have been hard won. Success has been a result of much dedication and support of her mother and father, remedial therapists and tutors, however, above all, it is a credit to Q's motivation and persistence. Her continuing willingness to undertake a programme that has been built step-by-step and skill-by-skill has resulted in her moving from only being able to recognise 16 letters of the alphabet to success‐ fully attending a mainstream British High School.' [176]
