Efficacy of a Reading Intervention for Middle School Students Identified with Learning Disabilities

This experimental study reports findings on the effects from a year-long reading intervention providing daily, 50-minute sessions to middle-school students with identified learning disabilities (n = 65) compared with similar students who did not receive the reading intervention (n = 55). All students continued to receive their special education services as provided by the school. Results indicated statistically significant findings favoring the treatment group for sight word reading fluency following intervention. Small effects were found for phonemic decoding fluency and passage comprehension. No other statistically significant differences were noted between groups. The findings suggest that while gains on word reading fluency resulted from the additional reading treatment, accelerating the reading performance of students identified with learning disabilities may be unlikely to result from a one-year, daily intervention provided to students in groups of 10-15.     

Intensive Interventions in Reading for Students with Reading Disabilities: Meaningful Impacts

We use three data sources to build a rationale for why intensive interventions are necessary for students with pervasive reading disabilities: current data on the performance of students with disabilities on reading achievement measures over time, observation studies on students with reading disabilities in general and special education classrooms, and findings from intensive intervention studies for students with reading disabilities. Results of these data sources indicate that students with disabilities are not making progress in reading at the same rate as students without disabilities, reading instruction for students with reading disabilities is comprised of excessive amounts of low level tasks, and findings from intensive intervention studies suggest positive impacts for students with reading disabilities. We argue that students with reading disabilities require ongoing intensive interventions that are likely to require schools to change the contexts and practices for these students.     

Students With Learning Disabilities: Homework Problems and Promising Practices

Students with learning disabilities are more likely than other students to have problems doing homework. In this article, we describe how deficits in language, attention, memory, and organizational skills as well as in reading, writing, and math affect homework performance. We describe family and school factors that may exacerbate-or ameliorate-their problems as well as the intervention research that has included students with learning disabilities. At this point, there appears to be a huge gap between the strategies successfully applied in intervention studies and teachers' preferences for interventions, a serious issue that spills over and has a negative influence on family life. Nonetheless, an emerging area of intervention research suggests that effective efforts to improve homework completion, accuracy, and test performance may require parental involvement, peer cooperation, self-monitoring and graphing, "real-life" assignments, teachercollaborative problem solving, or all.     

Teaching early reading skills to non-vocal students with severe learning disabilities using Headsprout Early Reading©

Many students with learning disabilities find it difficult to acquire basic reading skills. This is even more of a challenge for students who are non-vocal. The purpose of the present study was to pilot the use of Headsprout Early Reading© (HER©), an online reading programme, with four non-vocal students with a severe learning disability (SLD), over the course of a nine-week period. Additional table-top activities were designed and implemented to augment the online instruction. None of the students completed the programme. Three students improved their early reading skills over the course of the intervention. Staff members indicated positive experiences of using HER©, especially mentioning how motivated the students were to engage with the programme. HER© for students with SLD requires one-to-one support and a longer implementation period to achieve completion; these have implications for resourcing in special schools. However, HER© shows promise with non-vocal students with learning disabilities and evidence supports the need for larger-scale evaluation research.     

Evidence‐Based Strategies for Improving the Reading Comprehension of Secondary Students: Implications for Students with Learning Disabilities

Reading comprehension is a complex skill that places significant demands on students, beginning with elementary school and continuing through the secondary grades. In this article, we provide an overview of possible factors associated with problems in reading comprehension among secondary students with learning disabilities. Discussion underscores the fact that comprehension problems are evidenced by a heterogeneous group of students. We argue that it is important for teachers to align an intervention with a specific area of difficulty (e.g., teaching prefixes and suffixes to increase reading vocabulary). We highlight research‐based interventions advocated by the National Reading Panel and offer ways that teachers can match specific strategies with the individual needs of students with problems in reading comprehension. Finally, we emphasize that whatever strategy is selected, it should be structured, explicit, scaffolded, and intense ( Williams et al., 2005 ).     

小学学习困难学生成因及干预策略研究

随着社会的发展,社会制度的健全,学习困难学生的问题成为教育界关注的重点和难点。近年来各国学者就这一问题进行了大量的研究,研究包括学习困难学生的概念、成因、干预策略等,并取得了一定的成果。此研究探讨了小学学习困难学生的主要成因,进而提出心理教育干预、综合干预和医教结合干预三种策略,从而改善小学学习困难学生的教育现状。     

Considerations in the identification,assessment, and intervention process for deaf and hard of hearing students with reading difficulties

Problematic assessment and intervention issues present substantial challenges when making educational decisions for deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) students who are experiencing reading difficulties. These students present a diverse set of language acquisition skills, hearing ability, and orientation to early school learning activities that are different from the hearing student population. Given the importance of selecting assessment approaches that lead to effective interventions for D/HH students, three assessment procedures for identification of at‐risk children and learning disabilities within the D/HH population are examined. Assessments reviewed are teacher referral, norm‐referenced testing, and student response to intervention. Challenges to each process and the need for additional assessment and empirically validated treatment options are discussed. Finally, a case example is presented to illustrate a framework that may help school psychologists promote early identification of learning problems and outline interventions that meets a D/HH child's unique needs by focusing on reading outcomes in the curriculum. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of extra time on reading comprehension scores for university students with and without learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of extra time on the ability of university students with and without learning disabilities to complete a reading comprehension test under timed and extra-time conditions. The participants were 16 students identified as having learning disabilities and 15 normally achieving students, all attending the University of California. The Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension and Reading Rate Test was used. Percentile ranks were obtained for reading rates on individuals, and for comprehension scores under timed and extra-time conditions. The major findings of this study were that there is a significant difference between scores obtained by students with learning disabilities and by normally achieving students under timed conditions and that there are no significant differences in test performance between students with learning disabilities and normally achieving university students when students with learning disabilities are provided extra time. Normally achieving students did not perform significantly better with extra time.     

An evaluation of the Touch Math method for teaching addition to students with learning disabilities in mathematics

The present study was designed to determine if children with learning disabilities in mathematics could be taught three‐row, double‐digit addition problems using a dot‐notation method. Three children with learning disabilities in mathematics were selected for the study. Prior to the intervention, these students employed a combination of count‐all and count‐on strategies when solving addition problems and relied on concrete referents such as fingers or tallies. A multiple‐probe design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The experiment consisted of a teaching phase where students learned to count the dots on numbers 1 to 9 in a specified pattern, and an intervention phase where students progressed through nine levels of addition problems. Results indicate that the three subjects were able to learn and apply the dot‐notation method successfully, and to retain the method from one‐and‐a‐half to four‐and‐a‐half months after completing instruction.     

How do general knowledge and reading strategies ability relate to reading comprehension of high school students at different educational levels?

The study examines the relationship between general knowledge, skills in applying reading strategies, and reading comprehension for ninth‐grade students at varying educational levels: academic, semi‐academic, vocational and learning disabilities. Two hundred and five students received a battery of tests evaluating their general knowledge, skills in applying four reading strategies (summary, self‐questioning, clarification and prediction), and two reading comprehension tests. The findings revealed differential contributions of general knowledge and strategy application to reading comprehension. Compared with the academic students, semi‐academics have deficient strategic skills. Vocational students, in addition to deficient strategic skills, have poor general knowledge, which further impedes their reading comprehension. The deficiency of students with learning disabilities goes beyond these two components. These results led us to recommend different foci of comprehension intervention for each group.     

The Effects of a Summary Writing Strategy on the Literacy Skills of Adolescents with Disabilities

Many adolescents, particularly adolescents with disabilities, have difficulty with literacy tasks such as reading and writing. Yet research has found that when students with disabilities receive appropriate instruction, they typically are able to improve their overall writing outcomes. This study explored the effectiveness of a summary writing strategy taught through a mnemonic device (WINDOW) with prompts for self-regulation on the summary writing and reading comprehension of high school students with disabilities. Results indicated that the students who received the intervention wrote longer and higher quality summaries and improved their reading comprehension scores after learning the strategy when compared to a control group. These outcomes indicate that the WINDOW strategy may have the potential to improve reading and writing outcomes for high school students with disabilities. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

The effects of age and sublexical automaticity on reading outcomes for students with reading disabilities

For students with reading disabilities, reading fluency has proven difficult to remediate. The current study examined age‐related effects on measures of word and text‐reading outcomes, within the context of a phonologically based remedial reading program. The contribution of speeded‐reading of sublexical sound–spelling patterns to fluency outcomes was also examined. The youngest group of participants showed better outcomes on measures of word and pseudoword reading. All age groups made significant and meaningful improvements on measures of reading fluency and reading comprehension. Participants' mastery of speeded, sublexical sound–spelling reading contributed variance to fluency outcomes beyond pre‐intervention fluency scores. Practice with sublexical spelling patterns may be one important component of programs directed at remediating accuracy and fluency deficits for students with reading disabilities. What is already known about this topic

• Reading fluency has proven difficult to remediate for students with reading disabilities.
• Training with sublexical sound–spelling patterns has increased recognition of the trained patterns, but transfer has been limited.
• Young children with reading difficulties appear to have an advantage at closing the reading achievement gap; however, there are some inconsistencies in the literature.

What this paper adds

• Automaticity with sublexical patterns made a unique contribution to fluency outcomes in this sample of students with reading disabilities.
• In the context of the reading program examined, all age groups made significant and meaningful standard score gains on reading fluency.
• Young children did not score higher than the two older groups on measures of oral reading fluency or reading comprehension; bringing into question conclusions drawn from prevention versus intervention studies.

Implications for theory and practice

• Findings lend support to models of reading acquisition that emphasize multilayered, sublexical spelling–sound knowledge as important to reading fluency, beyond that of sight‐word reading efficiency.
• Including speeded practice of a broad range of sublexical sound–spelling patterns and training these to mastery deserves further study as one potential approach to improving fluency interventions for students with reading disabilities.
• We suggest that this sublexical training may mimic reading practice in terms of building orthographic representations that support fluent reading.

     

Instructional and curricular requisites of mainstreamed students with learning disabilities

The successful integration of students with learning disabilities into mainstream reading classes may require teachers to adapt instruction and curricula in major ways. In this article, we discuss the relation between the instruction prescribed by standardized commercial curricula and the reading achievement of mainstreamed students with learning disabilities and other low-performing nonhandicapped students. An instructional template designed to complement commercially published reading lessons is described and its effects on the reading achievement of mainstreamed students with learning disabilities examined. Next, the limitations of generic instructional procedures to rectify the deficiencies of mainstream curricular programs for students with greater-than-average instructional needs are reviewed. We conclude with a discussion of the complexity of educating instructively needy learners in mainstream settings and the significance of well-designed instruction.     

Language abilities and progress in a direct instruction reading program for students with learning disabilities

Direct instruction reading programs have been found to be a successful way to teach reading to many, but not all, students with learning disabilities. This study investigated whether reading improvement for students with learning disabilities receiving reading instruction through a direct instruction reading program might be related to their language abilities. The reading progress of 26 students (19 male, 7 female), 7 to 10 years old, was measured over 2 years. In addition, phonological and syntactic abilities were assessed. The results indicated that phonological ability was related to progress in word attack skills and that syntactic ability was related to improvement in comprehension skills. These results have implications for the reading instruction of students with learning disabilities.     

Mainstream Experiences for Learning Disabled students (Project MELD): preliminary report

Mainstream Experiences for the Learning Disabled (MELD) was developed to accommodate students with learning disabilities in the mainstream. This article reports the progress of 13 students at the end of 1 year of planning and 1 year of implementing the MELD model in one urban elementary school. Observational and school adjustment data from the implementation year suggest that although the MELD model was not fully incorporated into the mainstream classes, students with learning disabilities adjusted well to a less individualized and more demanding mainstream program. They came to school regularly, did not present serious behavior problems, and spent as much of reading class and more of math class on task as they had in special education. These students in the mainstream were assigned more opportunities to work with text materials rather than workbooks in reading and spent significantly more reading time in teacher-directed lessions. Nevertheless, the students made no significant progress in reading or math and earned lower grades during the implementation year. The authors suggest that students with learning disabilities will not succeed in the mainstream if teachers continue "business as usual" in mainstream classes.     

Effect of a Combined Repeated Reading and Question Generation Intervention on Reading Achievement

Research was conducted to ascertain if a combined repeated reading and question generation intervention was effective at improving the reading achievement of fourth through eighth grade students with learning disabilities or who were at risk for reading failure. Students were assigned to a treatment or control group via a stratified random sampling. Instructional components and training were based on best practices reported in the literature. Students receiving intervention significantly improved their reading speed and ability to answer inferential comprehension questions on passages that were reread. Compared to the control group, students in the intervention group also made significant gains in oral reading fluency on independent passages.     

Grouping for reading instruction: does one size fit all?

Twenty-nine third-grade teachers and selected students from their classes participated. Study 1 used teacher interviews and classroom observations to examine teachers' perceptions and practices for grouping for reading instruction; Study 2 examined the impact of these grouping practices on the academic progress, social progress, and attitudes about reading of students representing a range of achievement levels, including students with learning disabilities. Results indicated that, overall, teachers used whole class instruction for reading and the same materials for all students, including students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities made little academic progress and their attitudes about reading did not improve over time.     

Reading comprehension difficulties experienced by students with learning disabilities

Abstract

Students with learning disabilities often experience poor comprehension due to their failure to read strategically and to spontaneously monitor their understanding while reading. This paper discusses in relation to current literature, the various problems with reading comprehension commonly experienced by students with learning disabilities. Specifically, these students may encounter problems in: (A) using background knowledge appropriately; (B) decoding and word recognition; (C) vocabulary knowledge; (D) fluency; (E) strategy use and metacognitive skills; and (F) differentiating between common text structures.     

Reading disabilities and aggression: a critical review.

Several authors have suggested that there is a strong association between specific learning disabilities and aggression, antisocial behavior, and juvenile delinquency. Claims that learning disabilities cause aggressive behavior and delinquency are increasingly common in the popular press, and a variety of theories concerning this purported causal relationship have been proposed. This research is flawed by a lack of specificity in the definition of learning disabilities, with studies often examining heterogeneous groups of children with learning problems. The present review examines the relationship between specific reading disabilities (the most frequently diagnosed learning disability) and aggressive behavior. The data suggest that there is not enough evidence to conclude that reading disability causes aggressive or delinquent behavior, although limited evidence does suggest that reading disability may worsen preexisting aggressive behavior.     

Experimental intervention research on students with specific poor comprehension: a systematic review of treatment outcomes

Students with specific poor comprehension (SPC) can sound out words accurately, but have difficulty understanding what they read. However, most existing reading intervention studies on students with reading disabilities did not differentiate students with SPC from other types of students with reading disabilities who accompany with decoding difficulties. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize findings from 14 experimental intervention studies that have included students with SPC with the goal of increasing reading comprehension. Out of eight types of interventions identified, Reciprocal Teaching (g = .856) demonstrated the largest effect size. Metalinguistic intervention showed the effect size of above .50 (a medium effect size), suggesting that intervention that explicitly teaches high-level oral language strategies was positive to improve reading performances of students with SPC. Findings also suggest a need to specify the classification criteria of students with SPC to broaden an understanding about the evidence-based intervention for students with SPC. Practical implications for effective practice, limitations, and future directions are discussed.