Once Urgent Literacy Needs Are Identified—What Comes Next?

Once educators identify where reading is breaking down for a striving reader, they can better match instruction and intervention to the skills that need the most attention. Some students need support strengthening foundational literacy skills. Others need help tackling longer multisyllabic words and academic vocabulary. Still others can decode accurately and read fluently but require targeted support to make meaning from complex text.

The key is matching support to students’ current functional reading abilities and their most urgent literacy needs.

When Foundational Skills Need Strengthening

Students who have not yet developed accurate, automatic decoding abilities often benefit from explicit, systematic Structured Literacy instruction grounded in the Orton-Gillingham approach.

SPIRE 4th Edition: Remediating Foundational Literacy Through an Orton-Gillingham-Based Structured Literacy Approach

Tier 3 & Special Education | Grades K-8+

SPIRE 4^th Edition is a comprehensive, print-based Structured Literacy intervention rooted in Orton-Gillingham methods. Explicit, systematic, teacher-led instruction and multisensory techniques help striving readers build foundational skills and move toward confident, independent reading.

Reading Accelerator: Closing Skill Gaps Through Targeted Foundational Literacy Instruction

Tier 2 | Grades 3-5 & 6-8

Reading Accelerator is an evidence-based Structured Literacy intervention that helps striving readers in elementary and middle school close foundational skill gaps through teacher-led instruction and independent practice in whole-class and small-group settings.

When Students Need Support with Complex Multisyllabic Words and Academic Vocabulary

Some students can decode basic text but continue to struggle with longer, more complex words that become increasingly common across content areas. Morphology instruction can help students unlock meaning, improve word recognition, and increase academic vocabulary.

Megawords Levels 1-2: Preparing for Advanced Decoding Through Morphology

Tier 2 | Grades 4-12

Megawords, Levels 1-2 provides explicit, systematic instruction in morphology and multisyllabic word reading, preparing students for increasingly advanced vocabulary and text.

Megawords Levels 3-8: Unlocking Academic Vocabulary and Complex Text Through Morphology

Tier 2 | Grades 4-12

Megawords, Levels 3-8 delivers advanced study of morphology, roots, affixes, and academic vocabulary for students who decode accurately but continue to struggle with longer multisyllabic words and complex, content-area text.

When Decoding is Secure but Comprehension Needs Strengthening

Students whose word recognition is strong may still need support understanding increasingly complex text, analyzing ideas, and expressing their thinking in writing.

SPIRE Next: Strengthening Comprehension Through Close Reading, Critical Thinking, and Written Response

Tier 2 & 3 | Grades 3 -12

SPIRE Next is a comprehension-focused intervention that develops close reading, critical thinking, written response skills, and genre-specific comprehension strategies while students engage with increasingly complex text.

Learn more about using the SPIRE Literacy Suite to drive literacy transformation in your school or district.