ERIC Number: ED233328
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983-Mar
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Behavioral Reinforcement within a Perceptual-Conditioning Program of Oral Reading.
Strong, Mary Winifred; Traynelis-Yurek, Elaine
Studied for its effects on the reading fluency of elementary school students, R. C. Heckleman's Neurological Impress Method has proved an inexpensive but effective method for motivating low achievement readers. Twenty-six subjects from grades 2 to 6 practiced reading in unison with a tutor during four 15-minute sessions a week. During the sessions with this experimental group, the tutor emphasized reading at a normal rate rather than comprehending the text. Once a week the students received a reward session with games, art activities, and recess time for accumulating four "attentive" points. Results from the Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT), administered as a pretest and again after 5 months of the program to the experimental subjects and to 26 subjects from grades 2 to 6 in the control schools, revealed no significant difference between oral reading gains in the two groups, but when a t-test was applied to the experimental subjects' SORT scores, the findings were significant. Furthermore, tutors expressed strong approval of the program and classroom teachers noted a more confident, positive attitude toward reading among subjects. A student attitude survey showed that after the program 83.3% of the experimental subjects felt they read better and 100% said they enjoyed reading more. Records of individual progress indicated that by the end of the program students read more pages per session with more word fluency and confidence. (MM)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A