The self-teaching hypothesis describes how children progress toward skilled sight-word reading. It proposes that children do this via phonological recoding with assistance from contextual cues, to identify the target pronunciation for a novel letter string, and in so doing create an opportunity to self-teach new orthographic knowledge. We present…

The lexical decision (LD) and naming (NAM) tasks are ubiquitous paradigms that employ printed word identification. They are major tools for investigating how factors like morphology, semantic information, lexical neighborhood and others affect identification. Although use of the tasks is widespread, there has been little research into how…

The ability to extract visual word forms quickly and efficiently is essential for using reading as a tool for learning. We describe the first longitudinal fMRI study to chart individual changes in cortical sensitivity to written words as reading develops. We conducted four annual measurements of brain function and reading skills in a heterogeneous…

This study evaluated the impact of a comprehensive reading program enhanced with sign language on the literacy and language skills of three elementary school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Students received individual and small group comprehensive reading instruction for approximately 55 minutes per session. Reading…

This study compared the effectiveness of SMART Board, interactive whiteboard technology and traditional flash cards in teaching reading in a small-group instructional arrangement. Three students with moderate intellectual disabilities were taught to read grocery store aisle marker words under each condition. Observational learning (students…

The purpose of this study was to compare student's tested recognition of the Dolch 220 words with their responses to the 220 highest frequency words found by Kucera and Francis in their "Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English." Subjects consisted of 155 second graders and 179 third graders from classrooms in four schools…

The present research investigated the relationship between Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) performance, letter-string reading measures of sight vocabulary (SV) and phonetic decoding (PD), and lexical decision. Criterion-based naming rates were obtained from three types of RAN tasks: digits, letters, and letter sounds. Latency measures were obtained…

PCI Education sought scientifically based evidence on the effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program--Level One" for students with severe disabilities. During the 2007-2008 academic year. Empirical Education conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) in two Florida districts, Brevard and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. For this…

Volume 1 of the final report of Project FAST consists of reports on 13 experiments concerning: (1) the application of associative learning strategies to the development of a basic sight vocabulary among mentally retarded children and adults, and (2) the development of text reduction techniques designed to facilitate comprehension and recall of…

This is the story of Lily, a 12-year-old girl with Williams Syndrome (WS). A reading program was developed to meet Lily's specific reading needs while addressing her individual learning style; this includes attending to the unique characteristics of Williams Syndrome. During this school year, Lily showed significant gains in sight word recognition…