Using computer-based readers to improve reading comprehension of students with dyslexia

Twenty-eight middle school students, diagnosed as dyslexic and attending a school using the Slingerland approach to remediation of dyslexia, used a computer-based reading system for reading literature for about one-half hour a day for a semester. The system proved to be a strong compensatory aid, enabling 70 percent of the students to read with greater comprehension, approximately one grade level or more improvement, as measured by the Gray Oral Reading Test. For 40 percent of the students, the gains were large, from two to as much as five grade levels. However, not all students benefited. Fourteen percent showed lower comprehension scores when using the system, and there is some indication that this degradation is associated with kinesthetic-motor weakness. Some students reported gains in reading speed and exhibited increased span of attention for and endurance in reading when using the system. We did not find evidence that the computer-reader technology provided a positive remediation benefit incremental to that obtained from the school’s intensive Slingerland remediation program. Our results indicate that computer-readers are important compensatory aids that can enable many people with dyslexia to perform more effectively in reading-related tasks associated with school and work.