Enhancing Reading Comprehension Rates: Comparing following along and not following along during Listening-While-Reading Interventions in Middle School and Junior High School Students with Disabilities

A multielement brief experimental analysis was used to improve and extend previous research to compare the impact of listening while reading while following along (LWFA) and listening while reading while not following along (LWNFA) interventions on oral reading comprehension rate (ORCR), reading comprehension levels, and reading fluency in students with reading disabilities. The collected data for each of the eight middle school and junior high special education students who were participants in this study included: (a) words read correct per minute (WPM), (b) errors per minute (EPM), (c) comprehension questions answered correct per passage, and (d) ORCR. The students ranged from 11 to 14 years of age and 7 of the students were male and 1 was female. Student?s standard intelligence scores, as obtained from student records of formal assessment for eligibility for special education services, ranged from 66-116. All students were functioning at the fourth grade instructional level. Analysis by individual suggest that both listening while reading treatment conditions enhanced oral reading comprehension rates, reading comprehension levels, and increased reading fluency as compared to the control condition. Students displayed higher ORCR, total comprehension questions answered correctly, answered more factual questions correctly, and WPM under LWFA as compared to LWNFA and the control conditions. However, fewer EPM were reported overall for the LWNFA and higher reading comprehension inference questions answered correctly were also observed. Statistically significant differences were noted in reading fluency measures such that more words were read under LWFA as compared to the control condition and fewer errors were reported under LWFA as compared to the control condition. Methodological limitations associated with te current study,individual student performance difference and procedures for using ORCR are described