Fundations Intervention

The Wilson Reading System is designed for students in grades 2-12 and adults who need intensive intervention due to dyslexia or significant reading deficits; however, reading concerns typically emerge in young students before the second grade. There are many early signs of dyslexia or factors that put children at risk for reading failure.

Below is a list of warning signs to look for in preschool-aged children:

  • Trouble learning common nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill”

  • Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters in the alphabet

  • Seems unable to recognize letters in his/her own name

  • Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”

  • Doesn’t recognize rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat

  • A family history of reading and/or spelling difficulties (dyslexia often runs in families)

Below is a list of warning signs to look for in children in kindergarten and first grade:

  • Reading errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say “puppy” instead of the written word “dog” on an illustrated page with a picture of a dog

  • Does not understand that words come apart

  • Complains about how hard reading is; “disappears” when it is time to read

  • A history of reading problems in parents or siblings

  • Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap

  • Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

“It takes 4 times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten.”
(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000)

At Achievement Advantage, we wholeheartedly believe in the value of prevention and early intervention for both at-risk and struggling readers, which is why we also offer Wilson Language Training’s Fundations program, which is appropriate for younger students. Fundations is used in many local school districts as both a prevention and intervention program which makes it the perfect complement to many school-based services. Additionally, if your child does not receive Fundations in their classroom, it can provide critical phonics and word study instruction that your child may not be exposed to at school.

To create the Fundations program, Wilson has applied more than a decade of systematic and explicit instruction to students in grades Pre K-3 that is aligned with states’ rigorous college-and career-ready standards. The Fundations program is based on the principles of the Wilson Reading System and provides research-based materials and strategies for a comprehensive, reading, spelling, and handwriting program. Students in grades K-3 receive a systematic program in critical foundational skills, emphasizing:

  • Phonemic awareness

  • Phonics/ word study

  • High-frequency word study

  • Reading fluency

  • Vocabulary

  • Comprehension strategies

  • Handwriting

  • Spelling

For students who will be entering kindergarten, Fundations also has a Pre-K Activity Set that introduces Fundations activities for learning:

  • Letter-Keyword-Sound

  • Alphabetic order

  • Letter-formation skills

If you are interested in Fundations tutoring, the first step is to contact Achievement Advantage’s office by phone or email to discuss individual needs and schedule an appointment for the Intervention Placement Inventory. The Intervention Placement Inventory measures the individual’s knowledge in the areas of letter naming, sound-to-letter correspondence, writing letters/words, and reading words. It is used to determine the Fundations instructional level for your student and whether or not your child’s needs can be appropriately met through participation in Fundations. Please contact us today to set up individual Fundations lessons.

Click on the video below to get a closer look at what a Fundations intervention lesson entails.