The importance of letter sound knowledge (LSK) as a precursor to later literacy skills has been well-documented. Since English language learners (ELLs), or students who first acquired a language other than English, continue to underperform in reading compared to their English-speaking peers, they are particularly at-risk for reading and academic…

Fundamental research has indicated that (a) difficulties in reading are linked to a deficit in phonemic awareness and word reading and (b) in French, decoding and word reading are based on the syllable as a functional unit. A software program involving two tasks, namely, phonemic discrimination and grapho-syllabic segmentation, was proposed to…

The literacy skills of deaf children generally lag behind those of their hearing peers. The mechanisms of reading in deaf individuals are only just beginning to be unraveled but it seems that native language skills play an important role. In this study 12 deaf pupils (six in grades 1-2 and six in grades 4-6) at a Swedish state primary school for…

A phonics-based reading curriculum in which students used an iPad to respond was created for students with developmental disabilities not able to verbally participate in traditional phonics instruction due to their use of augmentative and assistive communication. Time delay and a system of least prompts used in conjunction with text-to-speech…

Microsoft PowerPoint software is widely used in business and higher education and is growing in use with school-aged students. A small body of research has demonstrated that it can be effective in enhancing skill instruction for individuals with disabilities. PowerPoint is not a difficult program to learn, but it provides endless possibilities for…

Considers how good phonics instruction should encourage children to recognize rimes and to identify an unfamiliar word by blending its onset with the rime that follows. Discusses seven conclusions/implications for phonics software derived from research into phonics instruction. (SG)

Reports research using eye-tracking methods to investigate how native Japanese speakers read kanji script. Focus is on the relationship between phonology in reading kanji and the spatial ability of the reader. Findings suggest, that regardless of the reader's spatial orientation, phonological coding is an important factor in understanding kanji.…

This paper describes studies at the University of Colorado, where children with reading problems read stories/books on talking computers using DECtalk. Supported by accurate word feedback, the children's word recognition and phonological decoding have improved. Projects using computer speech programs in a spelling program, home-based reading…

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of "Phonics Alive 2: The Sound Blender", a computer-based phonological skills training program, delivered with both at-home and at-school components over a 10-week period, as a potential treatment of phonological dyslexia. Participants were 20 dyslexic primary students with an average delay of…

Indicates that use of two microcomputer word recognition programs led to substantial increases in word recognition/decoding skills and to substantial improvements in comprehension at the word and proposition/sentence level, but to no improvement at the passage level. (NKA)

This investigation examined the use of computer-assisted instruction (i.e., "WordMaker") on students having different levels of reading ability. Of particular interest were the effects of "WordMaker" on the spelling performance of first graders in a co-taught classroom. In a short 10-week period, the "WordMaker" software program had a positive…

The efforts to develop and study the effects of a microcomputer program to enhance children's decoding and word recognition skills are described in this paper. The first section of the paper discusses theory and research in the area of cognitive psychology upon which the program, "Construct a Word," is based. The second section describes…