There has been a recent increase in the number of studies done on the use of music therapy and the use of music in general to support social connections, literacy, language skills, and communication in students with disabilities; however, little has been published that supports the specific benefits of using music to increase engagement and retention during reading activities in a special classroom setting. The purpose of this study is to determine if singing stories would increase engagement, decrease task-avoidant behaviors, and increase retention in students with disabilities. Sixty-two students with disabilities between the ages of five and eight listened to stories read in either a spoken or sung voice and were asked to recall a specific sequence from the stories. Students were video recorded during the readings and coded for their level of engagement and instances of task avoidant and self-stimulatory behaviors. Findings revealed that sung story conditions produced significantly higher engagement scores than that of spoken stories. Retention scores were also significantly higher for the sung condition of the story compared to the spoken condition, in that more students were able to recall a sequence from the story with more accuracy when the book was sung. Frequency of self-stimulatory behaviors and task avoidant behaviors was not significantly affected by the condition in which the story was read, spoken, or sung. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]