OT for Literacy

The Inventory of Reading Occupations - Pediatric Version (IRO-Pedi)

The Inventory of Reading Occupations – Pediatric version (IRO-Pedi; Grajo, Candler & Bowyer, 2019) is a public-domain assessment tool of children’s reading participation. The IRO-Pedi is a two-part self-report and/or interview tool that can be used to develop a Reading Participation profile for a child/student in Grades 1-3. The IRO-Pedi aims to identify what kinds of materials the child or student reads based on a list of 17 Reading Categories. The identification of reading materials can lead to the development of 5 reading participation goals for occupation-based literacy intervention.

Psychometric Properties of the IRO-Pedi

• Content Validity: established after a rigorous process of interviews and multiple classroom observations of 14 school-aged children with reading difficulties; a pilot-test of a beta0version of the tool with children with reading difficulties; and review and feedback with five experts in children’s literacy (Grajo et al., 2016)
• Construct Validity (internal validity): established using Rasch analysis with 192 school-aged children; Goodness of fit analysis and analysis of standardized residuals revealed infit and outfit MnSq values within reasonable 0.6-1.4 logit values, and mean residual values near 0.0 logits (Grajo et al., 2016).
• Clinical Utility: established through a qualitative study with 38 occupational therapists and 20 school-aged children; studies revealed that the tool is a user-friendly and engaging assessment that allows children to reflect and gain insight on their reading participation (Grajo et al., 2018)

Other Studies Using the IRO-Pedi

• A descriptive correlational study has found that the reading occupational profiles gleaned from the IRO-Pedi may be helpful in developing occupation-based intervention (Candler & Grajo, 2019).
• A pilot OT intervention with school-aged children used the IRO-Pedi in measuring the effectiveness of occupation-based literacy programming (Grajo & Candler, 2016).

Published Studies on the IRO-Pedi

• Candler, C. & Grajo, L. (2019). Reading participation profiles of school-aged children: Use of the inventory of reading occupations-pediatric. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, and Early Intervention. doi: 10.1080/19411243.2019.1636747
• Grajo, L., Candler, C., Bowyer, P., Schultz, S., & Thomson, J. (2018). The clinical and classroom utility of the inventory of reading occupations: An assessment tool of children’s reading participation. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 6(2), Article 2. Available at: https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1440
• Grajo, L. C., Candler, C., Bowyer, P., Schultz, S., Thomson, J., & Fong, K. (2016). Determining the internal validity of the Inventory of Reading Occupations: An assessment tool of children’s reading participation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70, 7003220010. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2016.017582
• Grajo, L. & Candler, C. (2016). An occupation and participation approach to reading intervention (OPARI) part II: Pilot clinical application. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools and Early Intervention, 9(1), 86-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2016.1141083

Download the IRO-Pedi

To cite the IRO-Pedi in medical reports, presentations, and research:

Grajo, L., Candler, C., Bowyer, P. (2019). The inventory of reading occupations – pediatric version. Available at: https://www.ot.wustl.edu/about/resources/ot-for-literacy-1687

To download a free version of the IRO-Pedi, fill out the information form to receive a link.

The Inventory of Reading Occupations - Adult Version (IRO-Adult)

The Inventory of Reading Occupations – Adult version (IRO-Adult; Grajo & Gutman, 2019) is an assessment tool of functional literacy participation for adults aged 18 and older. The IRO-Adult is a two-part self-report and/or interview tool that can be used to develop a Functional Literacy profile of adults. The IRO-Adult aims to identify what kinds of materials the adult reads as part of daily occupational participation from a list of 14 Reading Categories. The identification of reading materials can lead to the development of 5 functional literacy goals. The IRO-Adult is guided by constructs of the Theory of Occupational Adaptation (Grajo, 2019; Schkade & Schultz, 2003).

Psychometric Properties of the IRO-Adult

• Construct Validity (internal validity): established using Rasch analysis with 69 adults; Goodness of fit analysis and analysis of standardized residuals revealed infit and outfit MnSq values within reasonable 0.6-1.4 logit values, and mean residual values near 0.0 logits (Grajo et al., 2019a).
• Separation Reliability: established using Rasch analysis with 69 adults (Grajo et al., 2019a);
  
  
  • The Reading Categories of the IRO has .95 reliability and able to identify at least 6 levels of functional literacy participation.
  • The Access to Reading items has a .93 reliability and able to identify at least 5 levels of functional literacy participation
  • The Reading Relative Mastery items has a .91 reliability and able to identify at least 4 levels of functional literacy participation

Other Studies Using the IRO-Adult

A pilot OT intervention using a two group, controlled experimental design used the IRO-Adult as an outcome measure of intervention (Grajo et al., 2019b)

Published Studies on the IRO-Adult

• Grajo, L. Gutman, S., Gelb, H., Langan, K., Marx, K., Paciello, D.,…Teng, K. (2019). A Rasch analysis study determining the internal validity and separation reliability of the inventory of reading occupations - adult: A measure of functional literacy participation. Occupational Therapy in Health Care. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1080/07380577.2019.1678216
• Grajo, L., Gutman, S., Gelb, H., Langan, K., Marx, K., Paciello, D.,…Teng, K. (2019). Effectiveness of a functional literacy program for sheltered homeless adults: A two-group controlled study. OTJR: Occupation, Participation, and Health. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1539449219850126

Download the IRO-Adult

To cite the IRO-Adult in medical reports, presentations, and research:

Grajo, L., & Gutman, S. (2019). The inventory of reading occupations – adult version. Available at: https://www.ot.wustl.edu/about/resources/ot-for-literacy-1687

To download a free version of the IRO-Adult, fill out the information form to receive a link.