While a number of NILD therapists have been using SEARCH & TEACH, the program may be unfamiliar to many therapists as well as others working in schools or as independent providers of services to children with special learning needs.
The Background of Search & Teach
Based on extensive interdisciplinary research on the diagnosis and treatment
of learning disorders, SEARCH & TEACH was developed by Archie A. Silver, M.D. (child psychiatrist), Rosa A. Hagin,
Ph.D. (psychologist), and the staff of the Learning Disorders Unit at New
York University School of Medicine. It was then implemented in diverse
school settings throughout the United States. The program was approved
unanimously by the Joint Dissemination and Review panel of the U.S. Office
of Education and the National Institute of Education to review evidence
of educational impact, cost effectiveness and replicability of innovative
projects in education. Since 1980, it appears in the USOE publication
Educational Programs that Work.
The program consists of SEARCH, a 20-minute individualized test to identify children vulnerable to learning failure in kindergarten or early in first grade, and TEACH, instructional methods and materials for intervention with children found to be vulnerable to learning problems. It is both a diagnostic and remedial tool.
SEARCH: Early Identification
SEARCH is a diagnostic tool to identify children vulnerable to learning
failure and to provide a clear profile of each child's strengths and deficits
in readiness skills for reading and the language arts. Norms are
provided for age groups 64 to 80 months, as well as for various individual
demographic groups.
Although SEARCH can be used clinically with individual children, its most effective use is in scanning an entire class during kindergarten or early in first grade. Scanning an entire grade can provide a grade-wide profile useful to teachers and administrators in planning the content, organization and timing of instruction for classes as a whole. With individual children it is useful not only in identifying unexpected failures, but also in providing a structure to guide intervention to help children succeed when they begin organized instruction in reading and the language arts.
The ten components of SEARCH include three tests of visual perception, two auditory tests, two intermodal tests and three neurodevelopmental tests. Raw scores are interpreted in terms of VABs (vulnerable ranges for each component) and are converted to stanines suitable for profiling assets and deficits. The SEARCH kit consists of 124-page manual which contains directions for administration, scoring, profiling and interpretation of test results, record blanks, and manipulatives used in testing.
TEACH: Early Intervention
TEACH, the companion instructional component of the program, provides 55
teaching tasks to address the educational needs revealed by SEARCH.
These tasks are organized into visual, visual-motor, auditory, body-image
and intermodal clusters which mesh with the components of SEARCH.
Each task provides 1) a rationale relating the task to the teaching of
reading, writing and spelling, 2) step-by-step teaching procedures and
3) criteria so that the teacher can determine the child's mastery of the
specific task.
The TEACH kit includes a package of 143 task cards printed on heavy stock that can be organized in a resource file for easy access in teaching. Tasks are organized into the five clusters, and are sequenced in order of difficulty. The manual explains the intervention methodology and the steps for converting SEARCH results into a practical plan for working with TEACH. All tasks are related to the Job Analysis of Reading, the author's model of the complex processes involved in learning to read. Case studies of individual profiles illustrate how this process has been used with children served at the Learning Disorders Unit.
Typically, TEACH is used with individuals or small groups of children with similar problems in a resource room, corner of a classroom or in a clinic. The activities can be taught by a therapist, resource teacher or educational assistant. The TEACH manual offers concrete suggestions for organizing individual lessons, charting progress and record-keeping through a log kept jointly by student and instructor.
A Powerful Pair
The strength of SEARCH & TEACH is in early intervention. This
two-fold approach offers educators an efficient and effective tool for
catching learning deficits at the beginning of a child's academic career
before the downward spiral of failure begins. With proper and timely
identification and intervention, many children can be spared the life-long
consequences of learning disorders.
Bibliography
Hagin, R.A. (1984) Effects on first grade promotion practices of a program
for the prevention of learning disabilities. Psychology in the Schools. 21, 471-476.
Silver, A.A. & Hagin, R.A. (1972) Profile of a first grade. The American Journal of Child Psychiatry. 11, 645-674.
Silver, A.A., Hagin, R.A., & Beecher, R. (1978) Scanning, diagnosis, and intervention in prevention of reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 11, 437-449.
Silver, A.A. & Hagin, R.A. (1990) Disorders of Learning. New York, John Wily & Sons, Inc.
Silver, A.A. & Hagin, R.A. (1994) Prevention of learning disabilities. In Handbook of Studies on Preventive Psychiatry. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsivier.