Prior to silently reading basal stories, 24 school-identified learning disabled children (eight to nine years old) were exposed to a plans-and-goals activity and a conceptual-overview statement activity. The plans-and-goals activity was found to affect the children's reading comprehension significantly. Results support the purported importance of…

This study investigated the effects of repeated readings on the reading abilities of 4, third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade English language learners (ELLs) with specific learning disabilities (SLD). A multiple baseline probe design across subjects was used to explore the effects of repeated readings on four dependent variables: reading fluency…

Williams syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. Children with the syndrome evidence large individual differences in both broad language and reading abilities. Nevertheless, as a group, children with this syndrome show a consistent pattern characterized by relative…

This article synthesizes previous research studies examining reading instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD) through classroom observation methods. An extensive search of the research literature between 1980 and 2005 yielded 21 observation studies. Findings revealed that reading instruction for students with LD is generally of low…

This study was conducted to determine the relative efficacy of text-structure strategy instruction compared to traditional instruction on the reading comprehension of 40 postsecondary students with learning disabilities (LD). Participants were randomly assigned to either a text-structure strategy condition or a traditional instruction condition.…

Comprehensive, authoritative, and designed for practical utility, this handbook presents evidence-based approaches for helping struggling readers and those at risk for literacy difficulties or delays. Leading experts explain how current research on all aspects of literacy translates into innovative classroom practices. Chapters include clear…

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…

Investigation of learning-disabled elementary school students' (N=29) ability to comprehend narrative text when important information was systematically dispersed or centralized within the text revealed no significant effect for input mode on measures of comprehension and recall. (Author/CB)

Adolescents with learning disabilities (n=117) participated in 3 studies examining the effectiveness of elaborative interrogation for improving recall and comprehension. Elaborative interrogation had a large effect on recall with isolated facts, but differential effects were noted for recognition and comprehension of paragraph-length materials as…

This action research project sets out to identify which component of multi-text instruction is most effective in increasing the reading comprehension level of middle school students with learning disabilities. The research is going to be conducted over a two-week time period during the Spring 2009 with three male middle school students with…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the component reading skills of adolescent struggling readers attending urban high schools. Specifically, 11 measures of reading skills were administered to 345 adolescent readers to gain a research-based perspective on the reading skill profile of this population. Participants were assessed in…

Boys identified as learning-disabled gifted or twice exceptional, at two different grade levels (5th or 6th grades, and 11th or 12th grades), were asked to read a history text with unknown vocabulary words, internal inconsistencies, and prior knowledge violations inserted to make immediate comprehension difficult. The students were asked to read…

Thirty-two learning disabled and 32 average elementary students, matched by grade, read under three conditions: classroom group, individual, and individual restatement condition, requiring subjects to summarize contents during passage reading. Overall results of comprehension tests failed to confirm predicted differential effects of conditions on…

Results indicated that normally achieving children were more aware of passage organization than learning disabled elementary children. However, both groups focused on dimensions such as sentence length, decoding and vocabulary difficulty and informational load, rather than passage organization as determinants of task difficulty. (Author/CL)

The purpose of this evaluation of Scholastic's "System 44" conducted by RMC Research was to expand the existing research on students with learning disabilities by conducting a randomized study of struggling readers with approximately half of the sample comprised of students with learning disabilities. Specifically, this evaluation…