Fischer Family Trust Wave 3 (FFT Wave 3)

Overview

Fischer Family Trust Wave 3 (FFT Wave 3) is an early intervention for Primary-level pupils who have difficulties learning to read and write. It is based on the pedagogy and practice of Reading Recovery. FFT Wave 3 is aimed at children who are unable to access a scripted group intervention, but who do not have the depth of need that would require the support of a Reading Recovery programme. Designed to be delivered by experienced teaching assistants, it consists of a rolling programme of a reading day, writing day, reading day, writing day, etc., taking place for 15-20 minutes daily on a one-to-one basis’.

Reading Day

The child:

1. re-reads a familiar book (4/5 mins); 2. carries out three fast letter-work activities (3 mins); 3. reads a new book following a book introduction (8 mins); 4. reconstructs a cut-up sentence from the book (2 mins); 5. learns a new word from the book (2 mins).

Writing Day

The child:

1. re-reads yesterday’s new book – the adult takes a running record once a week (5 mins); 2. revises word(s) previously learned (2 mins); 3. composes and writes a sentence based on a picture or stimulus from the book just read (7/8 mins); 4. reconstructs a cut-up sentence taken from the written sentence (2 mins); 5. learns a spelling from the writing just completed (2 mins).

Evaluation Summary

A pilot programme was evaluated in 2004. There was a useful gain in reading accuracy. A larger study in 2008 produced a remarkable gain for accuracy.