Putting struggling readers on the PHAST track: A program to integrate phonological and strategy-based remedial reading instruction and maximize outcomes

PHAST (for Phonological and Strategy Training) is a research-based remedial reading program that attempts to capitalize upon current research on readi ng disabilities and their remediation. The focus of the program is on the p rimary obstacles to word identification learning and independent decoding t hat most disabled readers face and the steps necessary to help these childr en achieve independent reading skills. A framework of phonologically based remediation was used as a foundation upon which a set of flexible and effec tive word identification strategies were scaffolded in an integrated develo pmental sequence. The program uses a combination of direct instruction and dialogue-based metacognitive training, with the pedagogical emphasis shifti ng from an initial direct instruction, remedial focus to increasingly metac ognitive-strategy-based methods. A continuum of intervention over 70 hours provides both (a) remediation of the basic phonological awareness and lette r-sound-learning deficits of disabled readers and (b) specific training of five word identification strategies that offer different approaches to the decoding of unfamiliar words and exposure to different levels of subsyllabi c segmentation. Explicit instruction in the application and monitoring of m ultiple word identification strategies and their application to text-readin g activities continues throughout the PHAST Program. PHAST training provide s the disabled reader with the opportunity to become a flexible reader who approaches new words in or out of context with multiple strategies and has the ability to evaluate the success of their application. The PHAST Program was developed following the controlled evaluation of its components in lab oratory classroom settings and recent positive results from their sequentia l combination. PHAST represents a new integrated approach to programming in this area using instructional components that have already demonstrated th eir efficacy with children with severe reading disabilities.