Background: Sleep problems are common in children and are known to detrimentally affect language and cognitive abilities, as well as academic achievement. Aims: We aimed to investigate effects of sleep on oral word and non-word reading in a large, cross-sectional sample of children. Sample: Of 428 children who attended a public psychological…

The purpose of this study was to examine word learning efficiency in at-risk first grade students (N = 93) participating in a yearlong study evaluating a multicomponent intervention targeting word reading and decoding skills. As part of each intervention lesson, students participated in a 1 to 3-min sight word reading activity in which…

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…

The aims of this study were to (a) compare sight word training and phonics training in children with dyslexia, and (b) determine if different orders of sight word and phonics training have different effects on the reading skills of children with dyslexia. One group of children (n = 36) did 8 weeks of phonics training (reading via grapheme-phoneme…

Students exhibiting speech deficits may not have the appropriate skills or support structures necessary to obtain adequate or acceptable literacy development as mixed results from past research have indicated that some students with speech impairments have the capacity to gain appropriate literacy skills. The purpose of the qualitative holistic…

This study examines the relationship between working memory and reading achievement in 57 Swedish primary-school children with special needs. First, it was examined whether children's working memory could be enhanced by a cognitive training program, and how the training outcomes would relate to their reading development. Next, it was explored how…

Sight-word instruction can improve functioning with various daily, recreational, and work-related tasks among children with moderate to severe disabilities. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of drill methods to teach sight words if the model contains at least 50% known items, which would also increase the number of opportunities…

This research review looks at whether learning to read is different for children and adults and the emphases of top-down, bottom-up, and connectionist views of skilled reading. Concludes that phonological awareness is an important part of skilled reading. (SK)

The role of spelling recognition was examined in word reading skills and reading comprehension for dyslexic and nondyslexic children. Dyslexic and nondyslexic children were matched on their raw word reading proficiency. Relationships between spelling recognition and the following were examined for both groups of children: verbal ability, working…

The aim of this research study was to compare two strategies of sight word instruction in children attending a school for learners with moderate to severe mental disability, namely modified orthography (MO) and modified orthography where an association was made between the modification and the traditional orthography (MO/TO) together with a…

Italian dyslexic children are characterized by a pervasive reading speed deficit, with relatively preserved accuracy. This pattern has been associated with predominant use of the nonlexical reading procedure. However, there is no evidence of a deficit in the lexical route of Italian dyslexics. We investigated both lexical and nonlexical reading…

In a classroom setting, five children (aged 5 or 10 years) classified as severely emotionally disturbed and mildly mentally retarded received sight word instruction that included time delay to transfer stimulus control from a verbal prompt to the printed word. Four students mastered the words without direct instruction. (TJH)

Evaluates the effectiveness of two different intertrial intervals for increasing the sight word vocabulary of four learning disabled students. Results indicate that, when measuring learning as a function of instructional time, immediate presentation resulted in a faster learning rate than did the five-second condition for three of the…

Auditory pattern recognition skills in children with reading disorders were investigated using perceptual tests involving discrimination of frequency and duration tonal patterns. A behavioral test battery involving recognition of the pattern of presentation of tone triads was used in which individual components differed in either frequency or…