Structured Literacy & Multisensory Instruction Flashcards

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) defines 'structured literacy' as encompassing which two broad instructional strands?

Answer: Word recognition and language comprehension

The IDA's definition of structured literacy addresses both word recognition (phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition) and language comprehension (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures).

A CDT is teaching a student to distinguish between the sounds /k/ spelled 'c' vs. 'k.' The rule that 'c' says /k/ before 'a,' 'o,' and 'u' is an example of:

Answer: A position-based phonics generalization

The c/k rule is a position-based (context-dependent) phonics generalization based on the vowel that follows, not the position within a word or syllable type.

During decodable text reading, a student encounters the word 'blend.' The teacher should prompt the student to:

Answer: Apply the CCVC blend pattern and decode each phoneme in sequence

Decodable text practice requires the student to apply learned phonics patterns — in this case decoding the CCVC consonant blend — not rely on guessing strategies.

Which assessment task most directly measures a student's phoneme manipulation skills rather than phoneme awareness alone?

Answer: Asking the student to delete the /b/ from 'bat' and say the remaining word

Phoneme deletion (remove /b/ from 'bat' → 'at') requires active mental manipulation of phoneme sequences, a higher-level phonological skill than simple segmentation or rhyme detection.

A structured literacy therapist introduces spelling rules before reading rules for a particular pattern. What is the rationale?

Answer: Encoding (spelling) demands more precise phoneme-grapheme knowledge, reinforcing decoding

Spelling requires the student to actively retrieve and apply the exact grapheme for each phoneme, which deepens and reinforces the phoneme-grapheme knowledge also used in decoding.

When a student writes 'bote' for 'boat,' a CDT identifies this as evidence that the student:

Answer: Knows the /oʊ/ phoneme but has not yet learned the 'oa' vowel team spelling

'Bote' uses the VCe pattern for /oʊ/, indicating the student understands the long vowel concept but hasn't learned 'oa' as the correct spelling alternative for that vowel team.

Which of the following BEST describes the role of decodable texts in a structured literacy program?

Answer: They provide controlled practice applying only the phonics patterns explicitly taught so far

Decodable texts are carefully controlled so that the vast majority of words use phonics patterns the student has already been explicitly taught, allowing successful application of decoding strategies.