By VP of Research Dr. Jack Dempsey
Over the past five years, Cascade Reading has been hard at work testing the efficacy and scope of our revolutionary format to support literacy skills. From longitudinal studies in real classrooms, to eye-tracking experiments uncovering the physiological processes involved, and to attitudinal survey research, we continue to show a variety of benefits enjoyed by readers who use the Cascade Format. In this blog series, we are going to focus on three separate dimensions:
January: Core Literacy Benefits (Click Here to Read)
February: Affective, Attitudinal, and Motivational Benefits (Click Here to Read)
March: Accessibility Benefits
Supporting Neurodiverse Readers
For many struggling readers with neurodivergent profiles, such as those with Dyslexia, ADHD, or Developmental Language Disorder, making sense of text is one of the most challenging parts of school and daily life. Well into adulthood, these readers can continue to struggle, creating obstacles for them as they learn new things, advance their careers, or navigate complex technical worlds like law, healthcare, government, and finance.
Reading never stops being an essential part of everyday life.
The Cascade Format offers additional cues to sentence meaning via its linguistically-driven text formatting system, making reading comprehension a more accessible task for many. To investigate this, we recruited 200 adult readers for an online study, 100 with an ADHD and 100 with Dyslexia. We had them read four passages for comprehension across two separate sessions before asking them some questions about their experiences.
The results showed a clear trend for readers with Dyslexia and ADHD:
- 4/5 readers with ADHD and/or Dyslexia preferred the Cascade Format
- More than 2/3 of these readers felt more confident with the Cascade Format and found reading easier
- More than half of these readers indicated that they would use Cascade frequently if readily available
Supporting English Language Learners
English Language Learners (ELLs), especially those who may not have a solid foundation in English as they enter predominantly English-speaking schools, work environments, and institutions, face additional hardships when tasked with comprehending written language. As anyone who has learned another language knows, it can be very difficult to figure out how meaning is expressed differently from your first language(s).
The Cascade Format directly addresses the challenges faced by ELLs by providing direct cues to sentence structure in a linguistically universal manner, rendering differences in grammar between languages less detrimental to the reading process.
As discussed in the previous blog, this has positive implications for learning a language, but it also allows ELLs to better understand what they read in real time.
A published randomized control study in Reading and Writing recruited participants to either read ReadWorks passages in the Cascade Format or in traditional (Block) format over two sessions and answer comprehension questions about what they read. Even after just two reading sessions, both first and second language English readers benefited from the Cascade Format, and this benefit was strongest for ELLs. This is powerful evidence that the Cascade Format can improve reading comprehension outcomes rapidly for struggling readers.
Accessibility for All
Recent reports are quite clear – there is a reading comprehension crisis. The majority of students leaving high school and entering “the real world” do not read at what is considered a proficient level. The situation is even more dire for students with Dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities, as well as those for whom English is not their first language. There is now ample evidence that Cascade Reading is positioned to make a material difference in student reading achievement.
What makes Cascade Reading so powerful is its ability to address the needs of struggling readers while also improving outcomes for the general reader at the same time.
For example, in the study with ELLs cited above, although ELLs benefited more so from the Cascade Format, native English readers also significantly benefited. Everyone can benefit from better reading comprehension, and a flexible, accessible tool like Cascade Reading can make that happen.
Our work isn’t done, but one thing is clear: Reading changes lives. Cascade changes reading.
