START-IN™, developed by Drs. Judy Montgomery and Barbara Moore-Brown, is a nine-week, 45-hour, small-group (1–5 students), evidence-based program for struggling readers in elementary grades (preferably grades 3–8).

This Response to Intervention Program consists of 16 Tasks that address the five building blocks of reading according to National Reading Panel (NRP) – Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Text Comprehension. Students with reading difficulties complete the 16 tasks in one hour sessions, five days a week, using reading materials from their classroom or library. Field tested for three years in urban schools, START-IN™ reduces unnecessary or inappropriate referrals to special education.

The 112-page START-IN™ book explains the eight steps to begin the program, the research behind the tasks, detailed instructions for completing the tasks, and how to measure student responsiveness.

START-IN™:

• Uses only research-based strategies.
• Teaches rather than tests.
• Is ideal for underperforming schools.
• Helps students avoid unnecessary labels.
• Encourages collaboration between Speech-Language Pathologists, Special Education and Resource Teachers, and Reading Specialists.
• Meets IDEA 2004 provisions to assess a student's responsiveness to intervention before referral for special education assessment.
• Includes all activity sheets, data collection forms, parent permission, and administrator checklists in the book and on the CD-ROM.

The START-IN™ program requires the use of a Story Grammar Marker® for a story retell activity (see below).

START-IN™ gives you the option of purchasing the Materials Kit that has all the other items you need to implement the program. START-IN™ also has directions on how to make your own kit.

START-IN™ Complete includes the Program Book with CD-ROM for printing all forms and student activity pages, Materials Kit, and a Story Grammar Marker®. (If you already have certain components of the START-IN™ program, you have the option below of purchasing just the additional items you need.)

START-IN™ Materials Kit:

• 5 MagneTalk® personal word walls
• 440 magnetic word cards
• 7 new word pouches
• 7 retired word pouches
• 7 sight word pouches
• 310 letter tiles
• 7 plastic word baggies
• 300 index cards and timer
• 7 packs sticky notes
• Wet erase markers & highlighters