Secondly, the clear benefit for the group of children who did
not increase their reading score is the assessment data that
the software generates. The software provides valuable
assessment data on the child’s developing phonological
knowledge without the need for formal assessment. As the
child engages with the software-detailed data about performance
is generated. Qualitative data collected in this study
via questionnaires and interviews indicated that not all of
the teachers engaged fully with the assessment information
available to them. Drawing on the views of the children who
experienced difficulty with some of the concepts taught,
particularly silent ‘e’, it is essential that teachers pay close
attention to pupil performance and the associated assessment
data so that when a child ‘gets stuck’ at a level, the
teacher may intervene. In these cases, withdrawing the child
from using the software to work with the teacher may be the
best course of action. After a period of intervention with the
teacher, the child can re-engage with the software. Indeed,
the developers recommend that the software is used with
teacher intervention at key points and not solely as a standalone
approach. To this end, Lexia provides paper and pencil support materials that can be used to develop further
the child’s understanding (these can be downloaded from
the Lexia site).