A Comparitive Study of Two Treatment Approaches for Improving Middle School Students' Reading Comprehension

• Main Author: Cartmill, Vessa Annette
• Other Authors: P.R. Hoffman
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2003
• Subjects: Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0409103-111757/

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of having material read to and discussed with learning disabled students (i.e., a compensatory approach termed Accommodated Reading in this study) compared to teaching the literate language of text structures to students (i.e., a language intervention approach termed Communicative Reading Strategies). Participants were two 5th grade students and three 6th grade students, classified as learning disabled according to criteria of the State of Louisiana. Students took part in the study 3 times per week, 40 minutes per day for 5 ½ weeks during their regular speech-language therapy time. After each reading in both conditions, participants answered literal and nonliteral questions based on the text read. Pretest and posttest comprehension measures were taken utilizing standardized tests. Results of a t-test indicated that CRS and AR phases were not statistically different from baseline for four subjects; however, one subject did reach statistical significance with scores favoring Communicative Reading Strategies.