A randomized controlled trial of an early-intervention, computer-based literacy program to boost phonological skills in 4- to 6-year-old children

Background: Many school-based interventions are being delivered in the absence of evidence of effectiveness (Snowling & Hulme, 2011, Br. J. Educ. Psychol., 81, 1).Aim: This study sought to address this oversight by evaluating the effectiveness of the commonly used the Lexia Reading Core5 intervention, with 4- to 6-year-old pupils in Northern Ireland.Sample: A total of 126 primary school pupils in year 1 and year 2 were screened on the Phonological Assessment Battery 2nd Edition (PhAB-2). Children were recruited from the equivalent year groups to Reception and Year 1 in England and Wales, and Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten in North America.
Methods: A total of 98 below-average pupils were randomized (T0) to either an 8-week block (inline image = 647.51 min, SD = 158.21) of daily access to Lexia Reading Core5 (n = 49) or a waiting-list control group (n = 49). Assessment of phonological skills was completed at post-intervention (T1) and at 2-month follow-up (T2) for the intervention group only.
Results: Analysis of covariance which controlled for baseline scores found that the Lexia Reading Core5 intervention group made significantly greater gains in blending, F(1, 95) = 6.50, p = .012, partial η2 = .064 (small effect size) and non-word reading, F(1, 95) = 7.20, p = .009, partial η2 = .070 (small effect size). Analysis of the 2-month follow-up of the intervention group found that all group treatment gains were maintained. However, improvements were not uniform among the intervention group with 35% failing to make progress despite access to support. Post-hoc analysis revealed that higher T0 phonological working memory scores predicted improvements made in phonological skills.
Conclusions: An early-intervention, computer-based literacy program can be effective in boosting the phonological skills of 4- to 6-year-olds, particularly if these literacy difficulties are not linked to phonological working memory deficits.

Multiple training interventions significantly improve reproducibility of PET/CT-based lung cancer radiotherapy target volume delineation using an IAEA study protocol

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To assess the impact of a standardized delineation protocol and training interventions on PET/CT-based target volume delineation (TVD) in NSCLC in a multicenter setting.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Over a one-year period, 11 pairs, comprised each of a radiation oncologist and nuclear medicine physician with limited experience in PET/CT-based TVD for NSCLC from nine different countries took part in a training program through an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) study (NCT02247713). Teams delineated gross tumor volume of the primary tumor, during and after training interventions, according to a provided delineation protocol. In-house developed software recorded the performed delineations, to allow visual inspection of strategies and to assess delineation accuracy.

RESULTS: Following the first training, overall concordance indices for 3 repetitive cases increased from 0.57±0.07 to 0.66±0.07. The overall mean surface distance between observer and expert contours decreased from -0.40±0.03 cm to -0.01±0.33 cm. After further training overall concordance indices for another 3 repetitive cases further increased from 0.64±0.06 to 0.80±0.05 (p=0.01). Mean surface distances decreased from -0.34±0.16 cm to -0.05±0.20 cm (p=0.01).

CONCLUSION: Multiple training interventions improve PET/CT-based TVD delineation accuracy in NSCLC and reduces interobserver variation.