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| Achieving Fluent Responding in Young Children with Disabilities |
| Monday, May 30, 2005 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Stevens 1 (Lower Level) |
| Area: DDA; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Brian Doyle (HMEA) |
| Discussant: Brian Doyle (HMEA) |
| CE Instructor: Robyn E. Stewart, M.Ed. |
| Abstract: Teachers often encounter students who present with both academic deficits and social-behavioral difficulties. Deficiencies in basic academic skills can eventually lead students to be excluded from general education classrooms, while a lack of appropriate social skills affects not only their development of advanced communicative abilities, but also further exacerbates their isolation from peers. Both of these deficit areas are strong predictors of later problems in life. Fluency training, with its emphasis on ?the student knows best? approach, offers alternate strategies for addressing these issues. Fluency training has been found to increase acquisition and retention of both component and composite skills. This presentation examines how fluency training in combination with other treatments can improve a basic academic skill (i.e., oral reading and comprehension) and social skills in young children with developmental disabilities. Results will be discussed with respect to the retention, endurance, and application of these skills in classroom settings. |
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| Increasing Sight Word Fluency Through Audio Taped Recordings |
| KARA MUIRHEAD (HMEA), Michael J. Cameron (Simmons College), Michele D. Mayer (HMEA) |
| Abstract: Research that focuses on sight word acquisition and its relation to reading fluency and comprehension have yielded mixed results. One group of studies has demonstrated support for within context teaching to increase reading fluency and comprehension through repeated readings, peer-mediated instruction and previewing. Other studies, however, have shown that within context instruction does not necessarily increase reading fluency and comprehension when compared to out of context strategies. This study seeks to increase the fluency of sight word recognition using audio tape recordings of a student diagnosed with Kleinfelter’s Syndrome, Developmental Delay and ADHD. This subject was chosen due to the desire of his TEAM to increase his time in the general education classroom and the gap between his instructional reading level in comparison to his peers. A changing criterion design demonstrated the effectiveness of increasing sight word recognition. A correlation is made between the increased fluency in sight word recognition during out of context instruction and the fluency of in context reading and comprehension. |
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| Increasing Oral Reading Fluency Through Video Modeling and Sight Word Training |
| ROBYN E. STEWART (HMEA) |
| Abstract: Educators indicate that literacy skills are among the most necessary skills for functional living in today’s society. Additionally, students who read well are more likely to achieve success in school. Students with learning disabilities often struggle to read fluently which teachers suggest later leads to difficulty with reading comprehension skills. A variety of interventions including repeated readings, tutoring, phonological training programs, sight word training, and video self-monitoring have yielded mixed results. These intervention approaches have identified a variety of challenges as children attempt to generalize these skills to novel reading materials. For example, in some studies an increase in a child’s ability to identify sight words did not correlate to an increase in oral reading fluency. This study sought to increase oral reading fluency through fluency training for sight word identification, utilizing a matching to sample procedure, and then additionally following a video modeling procedure. Results indicate that the treatment package of sight word training in addition to video modeling, was successful in increasing oral reading fluency for a learner with PDD-NOS. |
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| A Classroom Approach to Increasing Social Interactions Among Preverbal Pre-school Children with Autism |
| HEATHER LYNN LEWIS (Autism Education and Support Services) |
| Abstract: Intensive behaviorally-based classrooms provide quality research-based programs that allow for the implementation of dynamic and comprehensive therapy packages. The resources and expertise of a quality program aides in the development of many children on the autism spectrum. In a pre-school setting, an optimal environment to teach social skills, research is limited in the area of pre-school-based interventions, particularly with pre-verbal children. Using a multiple baseline design, six pre-verbal children between 36-60 months diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders participated in a variety of treatment combinations in a classroom setting to determine effective classroom strategies for increasing social interactions. Results indicate establishing operations and targeting highly preferred activities vs. those pre-determined by an adult increase peer interactions between non-verbal children. Targeting these skills also indicated increased fluency of peer-initiated interactions as compared to adult directed play interactions. The results of this study provide specific socialization strategies that will aide classroom teachers with behaviorally-based pre-school classrooms. |
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