I conducted 2 experiments to analyze the effects of a reading curriculum, "Corrective Reading," which has a sequence that trains derived relations, on the emission of (a) derived relations defined as combinatorial entailment in Relational Frame Theory and (b) metaphors with first grade students. In Experiment 1, I compared the…

Central coherence is the ability to perceive and connect salient information in a context such as a narrative text. Weak central coherence theory describes a detail-focused cognitive style of processing information that overlooks connections. This style of processing is a shortcoming of individuals with autism compared to typically developing…

Because of the importance of teaching reading comprehension to struggling young readers and the infrequency with which it has been implemented and evaluated, we designed a comprehensive first-grade reading comprehension program. We conducted a component analysis of the program's decoding/fluency and reading comprehension dimensions (DF and COMP),…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of two computer supported approaches to teaching beginning reading skills that differed in important aspects of their instructional approach and emphasis. One of the programs was "Auditory Discrimination in Depth," which provides very explicit instruction and practice in…

This quasi-experimental study tested the efficacy of a research-based biliterate reading strategy, Lotta Lara, that is part of a larger paired literacy instructional program. Its purpose was to investigate whether Lotta Lara, which focuses on reading fluency, comprehension, and oracy through whole group instruction, impacted first grade emerging…

This research was designed to investigate the effectiveness of using the think-aloud strategy to improve the reading comprehension in the content area of science. Based on state standards assessments, many early elementary grade students who were considered fluent readers struggled with evaluative science comprehension. In this quasi-experimental…

This study investigates the effects and feasibility of an intervention for first-grade students at risk for reading difficulties or disabilities (RD). The intervention was provided by general education classroom teachers and consisted of 15 min whole-class comprehension lessons (Tier 1) and 30 min Tier 2 intervention sessions in word reading,…

We evaluated the effect of morphological awareness training delivered in preschool (8 months before school entry) on reading ability at the end of grade 1 and 5 years later (in Grade 6). In preschool, one group of children received morphological awareness training, while a second group received phonological awareness training. A control group…

This quasi-experimental study tested the efficacy of a research based biliterate reading strategy, Lotta Lara, that is part of a larger paired literacy instructional program. Its purpose was to investigate whether the biliterate reading strategy, which focuses on reading fluency, comprehension, and oracy through whole group instruction, impacted…

The researchers investigated the effects of listening to expository text on the listening comprehension and book choice of 77 first-grade students. Two intact classes of experimental children heard expository read-alouds over four weeks while two intact classes of 40 controls received no intervention and followed their teacher's normal read-aloud…

This paper reports the follow-up of a randomised control trial study of the ABRACADABRA web-based literacy intervention that contrasted synthetic versus analytic phonics (Comaskey, Savage & Abrami, 2009) in kindergarten children from urban low-SES backgrounds. Participants who received a "synthetic" phonics+phoneme awareness training (n = 26) or…

This study was conducted utilizing a quasi-experimental pre- and postgroup design to examine the effects of a phonologically based intervention aimed to improve phonological awareness (PA) and reading abilities in school-age children with language impairment (LI) in Grades 1 through 3. The intervention included instruction in PA and sound-symbol…

Children from low-income families are at risk of learning outcome difficulties, particularly in literacy. Various studies link poor literacy results with performance later in primary and secondary school, and suggest that poverty, literacy skills and weak instructional methods combine to drastically limit the educational opportunities for many…

This research investigated the immediate and long-term effects of a Tier 2 intervention for beginning readers identified as having a high probability of reading failure using a randomized control trial. First-grade participants (n = 123) were randomly assigned either to a 25-session intervention targeting key reading components, including…

This study describes an evaluation of a read aloud intervention to improve comprehension and vocabulary of first-grade students. Twelve teachers were randomly assigned to an intervention or comparison condition. The study lasted 19 weeks, and the intervention focused on the systematic use of narrative and expository texts and dialogic interactions…