An ABAB withdrawal design was used to investigate the effects of explicit timing on accurate oral reading rate of sight word phrases of four elementary students demonstrating difficulty with reading. During baseline the students were exposed to flash cards with sight word phrases and asked to read them out loud and were not made aware that they…

The double-deficit hypothesis of developmental dyslexia proposes that deficits in phonological processing and naming speed represent independent sources of dysfunction in dyslexia. The present article is a review of the evidence for the double-deficit hypothesis, including a discussion of recent findings related to the hypothesis. Studies in this…

This study focused on teacher-education students taking a special-education language-arts course in which information about English word structure was taught. The relationship between students' component reading-related abilities and their performance on three measures of word-structure knowledge, before and after course instruction about word…

People with reading difficulties experience automatic gaze guidance when using gliding text (subtitles). Reading exercises with gliding text eliminated reading difficulties for 21 second graders in 24 15-minute sessions. Mean reading speed increased from 10 to 24 words per minute. (SK)

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the use of a reinforcement package with four middle school students who were below grade level in reading. Data were gathered, independently by two observers, for on-task behavior for the number of correct words read for a two-minute timed trial, and for book pre- and posttests. These data were…

The study involving 11 reading disabled and 9 normal elementary school children evaluated the relative efficacy of practice with feedback on accuracy and practice with feedback on both accuracy and response rate related to response speed on word reading performance. Ss were exposed to randomized blocks of 10 high frequency words and 20 words which…

The paper describes a method of estimating a person's oral reading rate from a small sample (a short sentence) of his speech. Reading rate was obtained by measuring the speaking portion of a considerable amount of reading, and dividing it by the number of phonemes in the material. (Author/PHR)

The difficulties experienced by below-average readers in phonological decoding tasks are well documented. Recent research has suggested that additional deficits in perceptual-motor fluency, handedness, and memory may also exist among below-average readers. To evaluate these claims, average and below-average readers and spellers were compared on a…

Forty-two below-average readers (ages 7 to 10 years) were given single-word training, phrase training, or no training. Trained children in either condition learned to decode target words quickly and accurately using flashcards, and had better comprehension than untrained children. (SLD)

The effects of assisted reading (in which students listen to the passage and then read it along with the teacher prior to reading the material independently) on three elementary students with learning disabilities were evaluated using a multiple baseline design. Assisted reading resulted in more words read correctly, fewer words read incorrectly,…

A study of two forms of the Auditory Reading Test with 53 elderly participants with normal or low vision and hearing found mild-to-moderate hearing loss did not reduce auditory reading rates as much as expected. Participants with low vision read as quickly using computers and natural speech as sighted participants. (Contains references.)…

Addresses the relationship between four eye movement parameters and reading speed of 20 twelve-year-old children during silent and oral reading. Predicts reading speed by the following variables: recognition span, average fixation duration, and number of regressive saccades. Indicates that in terms of reading speed, significant interrelationships…

Investigates whether asynchrony of speed of processing between visual-orthographic and auditory-phonological modalities can account for word recognition deficits among dyslexic readers. Indicates that dyslexic readers were slower than control readers in most of the experimental tasks. Proposes a theory suggesting that asynchrony between the…

Examines the temporal processing deficit hypothesis. Administers a comprehensive battery to reading disabled adults and elementary students (reading-level controls). Finds that the timing tasks shared little variance with phonological sensitivity and contribute little unique variance to word reading. Provides evidence for the involvement of naming…

Acknowledges that symbol naming speed is an important correlate of reading skill. Proposes an informal model and reviews evidence for several of its links. Concludes that use of such a model may focus research questions more finely and lead to a more precise conceptualization of the basis for naming speed-reading relationships. (SG)