Curtis and Longo (1999) found that the students at Boys Town were distributed on the six stages of reading development as follows:

Pre-reading	Decoding	Confirmation	Reading to Learn	Viewpoints	Construction
Very few	10%	12%	50%	All benefit	Few

Over 20% of the students struggled with word recognition, read slowly, and functioned several years below grade level. The 50% of the students who were at the “reading to learn” level were hampered by limited vocabularies and lack of background knowledge. These students could read words that they did not understand. Their limited vocabularies limited their understanding.

Another report on youth in alternative settings (Zabel and Nigro, 2001) provided information on 130 youth in a regional youth detention facility in Kansas. The youth ranged in age between 12 and 18 with a mean age of 15.7. The gender distribution was 22 females and 108 males. The means of data* generated on general education vs. special education students and males vs. females were as follows:

Characteristics	Age	Grade Level**	Reading Level**	Language Level**
Non-Special Education	15.72	9.28	8.10	7.36
Special Education	15.66	9.12	5.93	3.95

Characteristics	Age	Grade Level**	Reading Level**	Language Level**
All Males (108)	15.26	9.17	6.95	5.47
All Females (22)	15.09	9.17	8.89	9.60

* Information was not available on all students (footnote by researchers).
** Data is provided as grade level scores.

In general, the non-special education population was more than a year below-grade in reading while special education youth were over 3 years below-grade. However, when males and females were compared, all females were just slightly below grade level while all males were over two years below-grade in reading. Comparisons between males and females revealed that 37.4% of the males had been in special education while only 14% of the females had been in special education. The test score differences between each group of students are dramatic and statistically significant.

The research on improving decoding skills in adolescents is slim. Truch (1994), however, found phoneme awareness training to be helpful for students over a wide age range. This researcher used the Auditory Discrimination in Depth program reported in Lindamood and Lindamood (1975). Explicit phonics instruction and practice in contextual reading were essential to reading development in children and believed to be useful in adolescent development.

Another approach to improving decoding skills is through programs that are designed to improve spelling. While students are embarrassed and ashamed to admit that they are poor readers, many students easily admit that they are poor spellers. Instructional programs, such as, Breaking the Code (Science Research Associates), Patterns for Success in Reading, Spelling (pro•ed), and Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LiPS) Program (www.LindamoodBell.com) can be effective, avoid the stigma of “remedial reading”, and increase opportunities for successful practice.

This module does not provide instructional strategies in word attack or phonics skill building. There are many excellent books and programs of instruction on the subject. The process to improve decoding is detailed and not suitable for the content of this Internet program.

Provide participants with one or more decoding or spelling tests that they can quickly administer to a partner. Provide a related spelling instructional program and have the students take turns teaching a small segment of the program to a partner. Complex programs like Breaking the Code (SRA) can be demonstrated by a publisher's representative. Most instructional programs in reading should be supported by pre-service workshops or in-service training.

If participants are unfamiliar with spelling or reading instruction they may feel inadequate after a brief introduction to decoding. Phonics and decoding skills are a complex process and teachers often require specific preparation to become skillful at instruction. Have participants list their strengths and weaknesses in their ability to teach decoding.