Far too many middle-school (6th-8th grades) students with disabilities have trouble reading and then leave high school functionally illiterate (Riley, 1996). The plethera of scientifically-based reading research on how to best teach reading supports direct and explicit instruction in the five essential sub-skills; phonics, fluency, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2002;NPR). However, most of this research has focused on students in K-3 grades creating a gap in our knowledge of how to best teach middle school students. These students, many who end up in special education, are in dire need of research based reading instruction designed specifically for the unique needs of adolescents. While research has answered many questions concerning specific instructional techniques necessary for the remediation of each NPR subskill, it has not provided enough information concering the most effective way to sequence and balance instruction of each sub-skill to maximize responsiveness to instruction (Torgesen, Alexander, Wagner, Rashotte, Boeller, & Conway, 2001). The challenge then for reading instruction designed to meet the needs of adolescents is not how or what to teach, but how to best sequence and balance the introduction of the NPR's five essential sub-skills to maximize student responsiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to begin examining the best way to organize instructional sequencing of the NPR sub-skills. This study will examine the effect of integrated (all essential sub-skills taught within a single lesson) versus sequentially integrated (each new sub-skill is sequentially integrated into the instruction of the previous sub-skill(s)) instructional schedules on the reading skill acquisition of middle school students with reading disabilities.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
1R03HD048988-01
Application #
6861266
Study Section
Pediatrics Subcommittee (CHHD)
Program Officer
Mccardle, Peggy D
Project Start
2005-01-01
Project End
2006-12-31
Budget Start
2005-01-01
Budget End
2005-12-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$62,220
Indirect Cost
Name
Georgia State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Education
DUNS #
837322494
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30302