We have a deep desire to change the lives of struggling readers. You feel stuck because you’re not sure what to do next. That's where we come in.
(1)
You see their brightness, their creativity, but you worry that their love of learning will begin to dim.
02/22/2026
A few summers ago, I had a family come to me at a loss.
Their son was struggling at school, but they couldn't figure out how to help him.
He had already gone through intensive intervention. He learned the skills.
..but he wasn't applying them in the classroom.
This is common for a lot of students. Whether they have already received intensive intervention or are almost proficient and don't need that level of support, we've often found that students get stuck in this "messy middle."
When we have students who need help applying their literacy skills, we'll create a "bridge" lesson. This takes the skills they've learned in isolation and helps them apply them to what they are doing in the classroom.
Swipe through for more information about how we do this. ➡️
Do you have students in the messy middle, too? What have you found helpful for them?
02/22/2026
I recently talked with a teacher who said...
"Teaching reading feels harder than ever right now."
And it's true. Teaching reading does feel harder.
It's not just that expectations are higher, or that we have to hit more standards than possible in the limited time that we have with students.
It's also that we've lost the time for the things we loved most in our instruction. We've been led to believe that teaching to a specific script is more important than our professional judgement.
Teaching literacy needs to encompass both science (the structure, the skills, the research) AND art (the joy, the responding to student needs, the professional judgement).
If we're missing the science, then we have no blueprint or structure to follow.
But if we get too caught up in the specific skills and treat our instruction like a checklist, we lose the artistry that is so critical in our profession.
This week on our podcast, we're breaking down why literacy instruction needs both science and art and sharing more about how we can embrace both.
We'd love to invite you into the conversation.
If you’d like to listen, you can find the episode linked below:
Hot take 🔥 Teaching literacy isn't actually about teaching individual skills...
..It's about teaching routines that students can begin to internalize so that the process of reading and writing is efficient and automatic.
It's like learning to swim - yes, we need to learn skills like appropriate breathing, stroke technique, kicking form, but we don't treat each of those skills like a checklist to cover once and be done with.
We teach those skills so we can be efficient and automatic swimmers and we keep coming back to our breathing, stroke technique, and kicking form.
So it's not actually about the skills (although don't get us wrong...we need to teach the foundational skills), but it's really about how we use those skills over and over in repeatable routines until they become second nature.
We're talking more about this on the podcast this week!
If you’d like to listen, you can find the episode linked below:
➡️ Perform well in isolation, but not in connected text
➡️ Fall between classroom expectations and intensive intervention
These students fall into what we call the "messy middle."
They're not quite on grade level for literacy instruction, but they're not struggling enough for intensive intervention.
Or maybe they've received intensive intervention and need a bridge out of that type of support and back into the classroom.
If you have students in this messy middle space, this free training is for you.
🧠 Bridging the Gap: Supporting Students in the Messy Middle
📅 Feb 19 @ 5 PM PST | 8 PM EST
How do we help students who are close but aren't fully proficient in literacy?
We call this the "messy middle."
Students in the messy middle often...
➡️ Have skills, but lack consistent application
➡️ Perform well in isolation, not in connected text
➡️ Fall between classroom expectations and intensive intervention
It can feel really difficult to support students here because...
👉 it feels like overkill to start full intensive intervention support
👉 it feels irresponsible to do nothing
👉 we end up “hovering”
👉 skills don’t seem to “stick”
So what can we do?
Join us for our free training, "Bridging the Gap: Supporting Students in the Messy Middle" where we'll share a practical walk-through of how to support students whose needs fall between classroom expectations and intensive intervention, without over-supporting or pulling support too soon.
Click here to sign up! https://programs.smarterintervention.com/training-registration-bridging-the-gap?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=freeresources
02/15/2026
I had a conversation with an educator today that I can’t stop thinking about. We were talking about her literacy instruction, what’s working, what’s not...
She said, “I feel like I’m spinning in circles.”
She teaches the skill. Her students seem to get it.
Then the next day… it’s gone.
Or they can do it when she’s right there with them, but not on their own.
Or they’re doing great in intervention, but the transfer just isn’t showing up in the classroom.
These students are the students who...
👉 are close to benchmark
👉 can apply literacy skills when you’re sitting next to them
👉 seem to teeter between grade level and then dip (and then climb)
👉 make you think, “I’m not sure what do to next...”
This is what we call the “messy middle.”
This group needs more than grade-level/classroom instruction, but don’t need intensive intervention support.
Instead, they need a bridge between the two.
Join us for our free training, “Bridging the Gap: Supporting Students in the Messy Middle” where we’ll share a practical walk-through of how to support these students.
Comment “messy middle” and we’ll send you the link, or you can sign up using the link in our bio!
02/14/2026
Do you know these students? They...
➡️ Have skills, but lack consistent application
➡️ Perform well in isolation, but not in connected text
➡️ Fall between classroom expectations and intensive intervention
These students fall into what we call the "messy middle."
They're not quite on grade level for literacy instruction, but they're not struggling enough for intensive intervention.
Or maybe they've received intensive intervention and need a bridge out of that type of support and back into the classroom.
If you have students in this messy middle space, this free training is for you.
🧠 Bridging the Gap: Supporting Students in the Messy Middle
📅 Feb 19 @ 5 PM PST | 8 PM EST
I was taught that there was one right way to teach reading.
This made me feel like when that approach didn’t work for all of my kids (which it never did because my students had different needs!) that it was my fault.
The first time I was told there is no one right way to do something, that was such a load off my shoulders.
This week on the podcast, we are talking more about what happens when “doing it right” in literacy instruction starts to feel wrong, especially when structure and fidelity begin to crowd out our professional judgment.
Comment EP23 and we’ll send you the link!
02/09/2026
So many students fall into what we call the “messy middle.”
They're not quite on grade level for literacy instruction, but they're not struggling enough for intensive intervention.
Or maybe they've received intensive intervention and need a bridge out of that type of support and back into the classroom.
If you have students in this messy middle space, this free training is for you.
🧠 Bridging the Gap: Supporting Students in the Messy Middle
📅 Feb 19 @ 5 PM PST | 8 PM EST
🔗 Sign up at https://programs.smarterintervention.com/training-registration-bridging-the-gap
02/09/2026
I'll never forget the time I was presenting at a literacy conference and a woman came up to tell me that I would never be successful in this field.
You see, while I had been speaking with her, I mentioned that when I am teaching my students, I use my program as a framework, but also let myself be flexible when needed.
She said that if I didn't follow an evidence-based program with fidelity, then there was no guarantee I was "doing it right" and that I needed to stick to the script.
And I get it...I had done that. I had been so afraid that I wouldn't give my students the instruction they needed that I'd trusted a script more than my own professional judgement.
But...that's when students started falling through the cracks.
I noticed that when I got so caught up in doing things the "right" way and sticking to a very specific script, that was when my instruction felt sterile and disconnected from the students in front of me.
It turned out that the exact things she told me I should be avoiding were the things that made my instruction so effective.
This week in our blog, "The Biggest Mistake We're Making in Literacy Intervention," we're breaking down what it looks like when fidelity turns into rigidity, and how we need to hold space for professional judgement and creativity.
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when SMARTER Intervention posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
We believe that effective reading instruction should be accessible to everyone.
We work directly with students and families providing educational diagnoses such as dyslexia and dysgraphia in addition to research-based instruction to help get struggling students to grade level and beyond.
It’s awful watching a child struggle. You see the brightness, the creativity, but you worry that their love of learning will begin to dim or burn out altogether if something doesn’t change. You feel stuck because you’re not sure what to do next.
We get it. With all the information available out there, it’s hard to sort through what’s reputable from what’s not. And that’s where we come in.
Our tools and resources for SLPs, teachers, special educators and reading interventionists are only a click away. Let us help you stop wasting time and start changing lives.
Get Started
🙌🏻 Subscribe to our YouTube channel for SLP & reading intervention tips | https://bit.ly/2IvOwlc
