ABSTRACT Background This study explored the differential effects of a comprehensive intervention program for improving literacy skills in monolingual children with learning difficulties (LD) from Spain, enrolled in the second (Grades 3 and 4; aged 8–10 years) and third cycles (Grades 5 and 6; aged 10–12 years) of primary school. Methods A quasi‐experimental pre–post intervention design with three groups (intervention LD‐i, waiting‐control LD‐w and typical development TD) was used. A total of 34 second‐cycle and 9 third‐cycle children received 16 individualized sessions of explicit, systematic, and intensive training in reading, decoding, phonological, orthographic, prosodic, and morphological skills, at the sublexical and lexical levels. Evidence‐based practices such as repeated practice and game‐based techniques were applied, considering multisensory and cognitive approaches. The LD‐i group was compared with the LD‐w group (38 second‐cycle and 20 third‐cycle children) and with the TD group (31 second‐cycle and 25 third‐cycle children), who received regular school instruction. Results Differential effects across cycles were observed after the intervention: second‐cycle children in the LD‐i group outperformed the LD‐w group in phonological, orthographic and prosodic skills, reducing performance gaps with the TD group. Third‐cycle students did not show statistical differences when compared with their LD‐w peers. At the same time, both cycles showed similar gains after receiving the intervention, except for a word dictation task where second‐cycle children improved more. Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of comprehensive, early, age‐sensitive, and balanced literacy instruction to address LD, especially when older children experience persistent difficulties.
Carmona et al. (Fri,) studied this question.