An Analysis of the Effects of Early and Late Dyslexia Intervention on Male and Female Fifth Grade Students’ Reading Scores

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in test scores on the Grade Five Reading State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness involving male and female students identified as having the characteristics of dyslexia who received early dyslexia intervention and those who received late dyslexia intervention, and whether improvement in test scores for these males and females depend on the timing of individual student dyslexia intervention.

This research study was undertaken in one north central Texas suburban public school district. For the purpose of this study, early dyslexia intervention refers to the dyslexia intervention for students identified as having the characteristics of dyslexia in first, second, or third grade and who began to participate in a dyslexia intervention program upon identification. Additionally, late dyslexia intervention refers to the dyslexia intervention for students identified as having the characteristics of dyslexia in fourth or fifth grade and who began to participate in a dyslexia intervention program upon identification. The participants included 130 students who were identified as having characteristics of dyslexia and who were administered the Grade Five Reading STAAR test in one north central Texas suburban public school district during the May 2022 test administration. The participants included 91 students who received early dyslexia intervention and 39 students who received late dyslexia intervention, with the sample consisting of 78 male students and 52 female students.

A two-way between subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to determine if there were significant differences in Grade Five Reading STAAR test scores between students who received early dyslexia intervention and those who received late dyslexia intervention, of male and female students, and whether test scores for males and females depend on the timing of individual student dyslexia intervention. Results of the study suggest that there was no significant difference in Grade Five Reading STAAR test scores between students who received early dyslexia intervention and those who received late dyslexia intervention, and also no significant difference existed between the scores of male and female students. Another key finding within this research study was that test scores for males and females do not depend on the timing of individual student dyslexia intervention.