READING AS A FUNCTION OF VISUAL AND AUDITORY PROCESS TRAINING

Abstract. The effects of visual and auditory process training on reading achieve-ment are explored. Twenty-four subjects identified as learning disabled were assigned to three treatment groups: (a) Auditory Training and Reading group, (b) Visual Training and Reading group, and (c) Reading Only group. The subjects received at least forty hours of process training in the assigned groups. All three groups received equal amounts of academic training; reading was taught on an individual diagnostic-prescriptive basis. Metropolitan Achievement Test scores for Word Knowledge, Reading, and Arithmetic were dependent variables for academic achievement. Several tests from the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Auditory Skills Test Battery were used as dependent variables measuring improved process skills. The results of ANOVA indicate that there were no significant differences between the three treatment groups for improvement in process skills. ANOVA achieve-achievement scores indicated significant differences for the Word Knowledge and Reading variables, but not for Arithmetic. Duncan's Multiple-Range Test indicated that the Visual Training and Reading group was superior to both other groups for Word Knowledge. Both the Visual Training and Reading and the Reading Only group were significantly different from the Auditory Training and Reading group for the reading variable. The results of this study indicate that the process-training model remains essentially nonvalidated. The educational utility of visual and audi-tory process training has been a center of controversy since the development of th