Reading skills are an important component of academic success for school-age youth, and are associated with increased academic performance and positive attitudes about school. The presence of an animal appears to reduce stress during reading. Therefore, the goal of this study was to assess the feasibility and effects of a 6-week after-school…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental group comparison study using a repeated measures comparison group design with random assignment of subjects to groups was to investigate the effects of handwriting instruction on reading progress for learners in grade 1 and grade 2. At three points in time, the number of words each student read…

Reading assistance dogs can be incorporated into reading programs to increase a child's desire and ability to read. However, more data is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of such programs. A 5-week reading assistance dog program was implemented to assess feasibility and effectiveness. Participants included 18 children entering the 2nd grade…

Low reading skills constitute a serious achievement problem. Although there are remedial support in schools, between 2% and 6% of the student population continues to show persistent reading difficulties despite intensive intervention. The research problem in this study addressed the lack of effective reading interventions for students who were in…

It has been well established that poor reading skills in the first grades of primary school can lead to poor reading skills in all coming years. A reading acceleration program (RAP) known to improve reading skills in adults and children with and without reading difficulties (RD) was tested for its effect on children in second grade with standard…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the differences in second grade students' reading fluency and comprehension scores when using varying levels of teacher-guided iPad® app instruction to determine effective reading practices. Design/methodology/approach: This study reports the results of the quasi-experimental pre-post study by providing…

Student achievement in literacy has been a focal concern in the United States for many years. Improving teachers' knowledge and skill that leads to improved student achievement, particularly in the early grades, can place children on an improved trajectory that can have long-term impacts on life outcomes. Over the past decade, a large body of…

With an increasing percentage of schools moving toward approaches to data-based instructional problem-solving and early remediation of learning difficulties, the development and execution of intervention plans often warrants the pragmatic question: How intensive should an intervention be so that it is effective, while also feasible and time…

The ability to flexibly approach the pronunciation of unknown words, or set "for variability", has been shown to contribute to word recognition skills. However, this is the first study that has attempted to teach students strategies for increasing their set for variability. Beginning readers (N = 15) were instructed to correct oral…

An existing school program in which therapy dogs are integrated into the reading curriculum was analyzed to determine the effect on student reading. Previous literature suggests an improvement in both reading skills and attitudes towards reading when students read in the presence of a therapy dog. Using a mixed method model, the researchers…

This longitudinal study examined (a) the second-grade reading outcomes of 368 children who participated in either experimental or school-designed supplemental intervention in kindergarten, and (b) the influence and interactions of learner variables and type of intervention on reading achievement. Descriptive findings indicated that percentages of…

To assess the efficacy of guided oral reading as a remedy for low-achieving readers, two experiments were conducted in the early grades of primary school. In the first, poor-reading students were randomly divided between two treatment groups and a control group. In treatment groups, the intervention was delivered one-to-one, either in a repeated…

This article presents a critical review of the literature surrounding the potential impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision impairment on reading development in the early years of primary school. Despite pre-school screening programmes, it is still possible for children to enter school with undiagnosed, uncorrected vision impairments. This can…

Improving student reading skill and attitudes toward reading creates challenges in the classroom. The purpose of this research was to study the effect of reading partnerships on the reading skills and attitudes of kindergarten and second-grade students. Participants included two kindergarten and two second-grade intact classes in a pretest…

The study was implemented in the Title I Marinette School District using a randomized experimental design and parallel quasi experimental design spanning three grades 1-3 in 3 district elementary schools. The Remediation Plus Intervention is a multi-sensory, systematic synthetic phonics curriculum for all ages of students who struggle with…