This study was conducted to ascertain if repeated reading or question generation was more effective at improving reading fluency and comprehension of fourth- through sixth-grade students with learning disabilities or reading problems. Adult tutors trained by the investigator conducted the interventions. Instructional components and training within…

Learning disabled, average, and above average readers (Total N=45) in grades 5-7 were assessed on their metacognitive knowledge about vocabulary difficulty and passage organization in relation to ease of studying a passage. Findings indicated a consistency between the children's expressed metacognition and subsequent study behaviors. (Author/JW)

Thirty-five learning-disabled readers (mean age 10) and 43 controls were compared on a sentence span task and on recall of everyday features, consequential events, and misleading information. Results indicated that subjects were deficient on working memory and naturalistic measures, but their naturalistic memory deficits did not appear to relate…

As part of the activities at the Research Institute in Education of Learning Disabled Children, work was carried out with a group of about 30 children (grades 4 through 6) disabled in the comprehension of written language. Most of these children, when reading, went beyond using prior knowledge to provide schemata and interpretations; they…

The study validated a method of identifying children (in grades four-six) with specific reading disabilities by identifying discrepancies between their reading and listening comprehension abilities. The test requires children to listen to or read alternate sentences. The method may be more appropriate than measures which examine discrepancies…

The efficacy of a keyword mnemonic strategy to teach word meanings was evaluated with 64, 12-year-old learning disabled poor readers. Subjects were instructed via either keyword-image, picture context, sentence-experience context, or control. Results indicated that the students in the keyword condition significantly outperformed other students…

The investigation involved a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the reading and writing behavior of 13 upper elementary level learning disabled students. Data were collected on student responses to 11 language tasks, including drawing; forming letters, numbers, and their names; being read to; reading; and answering questions about reading and…

Twenty fifth- and sixth-grade normal and disabled readers learned the meaning and pronunciation of unfamiliar words varying in length and in letter-sound regularity and complexity. Naming accuracy and latency were more strongly related to both regularity and complexity for disabled readers. (Author/BS)

This 5-month action research project examined effects of a short-term interactive vocabulary instruction on reading comprehension with four intermediate grade students identified as having learning disabilities in reading. Participants read a narrative text and an expository text without vocabulary instruction and then received vocabulary…

This study applied Reader Response theory (which stresses an aesthetic experience with the text) with seven less proficient readers (learning-disabled fifth and sixth graders). Student response was best when the text was read to them, when their responses were oral, and when instruction focused on active meaning construction and the reader/text…

Assisted and unassisted performance of 14 average readers and 14 readers with learning disabilities (ages 10-13) were compared on a reading comprehension task. The groups differed in how easily they learned to find the main idea under different topic sentence placement conditions, with the learning-disabled readers requiring significantly more…

This study investigated the correlation between self-concept and reading achievement level in 20 reading-disabled students (mean age 10.3 years, mean grade level 4.75), having average intelligence. Self-concept was assessed using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and reading achievement level by the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment…

Evaluation of the metacognitive strategies used by four upper elementary gifted students with reading disabilities during a reading comprehension think-aloud task found that, although the students monitored their reading and reported use of evaluation, paraphrase, and regulation metacognitive strategies, they were not proficient in these…

Investigated the contribution of two working-memory systems (the articulatory loop and the central executive) to the performance differences between learning-disabled and skilled readers. Found that, compared to skilled readers, learning-disabled readers experienced constraints in the articulatory and long-term memory system, and suffered…

The study analyzed oral reading miscues in both first and second reading languages of 20 Hispanic successful and 20 learning disabled readers in the intermediate grades. Significant differences were found for English reading in grammatical relationships, comprehension, and grammatical function. (Author/DB)