Background: Fluent word reading is a key characteristic of skilled reading, yet most children with reading disorders have impaired word-reading skills. Previous research has demonstrated that multi-component interventions targeting phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle are effective for children with reading disorders. However, about 25%…

This intervention study was conducted to document conditions under which a computer based literacy game (GraphoGame™) could enhance literacy skills of first grade students in an African city. The participants were first grade students from Government schools (N = 573). These students were randomly sampled into control (N = 314) and various…

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…

This study explores whether two computer-based literacy interventions--a "synthetic phonics" and an "analytic phonics" approach produce qualitatively distinct effects on the early phonological abilities and reading skills of disadvantaged urban Kindergarten (Reception) children. Participants (n=53) were assigned by random allocation to one of the…

In a longitudinal intervention study, the effects of three intervention strategies on the reading skills of children with reading disabilities in Grade 2 were analyzed. The interventions consisted of computerized training programs: One bottom-up intervention aimed at improving word decoding skills and phonological abilities, the second…

Discusses how interactive, whole class techniques (using a student-generated Big Book adaptation of "Corduroy") improved the reading skills of high risk first grade readers. Describes several activities, including sight word strategies, decoding techniques, and word processing, and suggests 27 Big Books for use with these activities. (MM)