Early reading materials are replete with pictures. Pictures purportedly improve reading comprehension and motivation; however, the simultaneous presentation of pictures and text can also impede textual control for some readers. Attempts to remediate restricted stimulus control in picture-text compounds suggest that omitting the picture element is…

This study compared 2 units of analysis for assessing acquisition mastery during sight word instruction for 3 participants. The unit of analysis refers to the specific performances that criteria are applied to, either sets of stimuli or individual operants. In the Set Analysis condition, we applied the acquisition-performance criterion to the…

Sight-word instruction can be a useful supplement to phonics-based methods under some circumstances. Nonetheless, few studies have evaluated the conditions under which pictures may be used successfully to teach sight-word reading. In this study, we extended prior research by examining two potential strategies for reducing the effects of…

Three prereading children who named 0 to 3 of 20 targeted letters were taught to select the 20 printed letters when they heard spoken letter names. For all participants, letter-identification training resulted in naming for the majority of letters.

Working with elementary students with disabilities, we used alternating treatment designs to evaluate and compare the effects of 2 computer-based flash card sight-word reading interventions, 1 with 1-s response intervals and another with 5-s response intervals. In Study 1, we held instructional time constant, applying both interventions for 3?min.…

We evaluated the effectiveness of a stimulus pairing observation procedure to facilitate tact and listener relations in preschool children learning a second language. This procedure resulted in the establishment of most listener relations as well as some tact relations. Multiple-exemplar training resulted in the establishment of most of the…

The purpose of the current study was to develop and test a computerized matching-to-sample (MTS) protocol to facilitate recombinative generalization of subword units (onsets and rimes) and recognition of novel onset-rime and onset-rime-rime words. In addition, we sought to isolate the key training components necessary for recombinative…

Flash cards have been shown to be useful for teaching sight-word reading. To date, the most effective flash-card instruction method is incremental rehearsal (IR). This method involves the instructor interspersing unknown stimulus items into the presentation of known stimulus items. In this study, we compared IR to a modified IR…

This study examined the effects of scripted peer-tutoring reading activities, with and without programmed common play-related stimuli, on social interactions between a kindergartner with autism spectrum disorder and his typically developing peer-tutoring partners during free play. A withdrawal design with multiple baselines across peers showed no…

A Social Stories[TM] intervention package was used to teach 2 students with autism to read Social Stories, answer comprehension questions, and engage in role plays. Appropriate social behaviors increased and inappropriate behaviors decreased for both participants, and the effects were maintained for up to 10 months. This intervention package…

The present study assessed the effects of summer parent tutoring on 3 children with learning disabilities using empirically derived reading interventions. Brief experimental analyses were used to identify customized reading fluency interventions. Parents were trained to use the intervention strategies with their children. Parents implemented the…

This study examined the outcomes of a competing activities intervention to decrease skin picking exhibited by a 9-year-old student with comorbid diagnoses. Results of an ABCBAB design revealed that the use of student-selected manipulatives resulted in reduced skin picking. (Contains 1 figure.)

The technology of brief experimental analysis is just beginning to be used for identification of effective treatments for individual students who experience difficulty with oral reading fluency. In this study, the effect of a reading fluency treatment package was examined on easy and hard passages, and generalization was assessed on passages with…