We evaluated a procedure for teaching two children, one typically developing and one with autism, a higher-order generalized operant response class of unscrambling sight words. The procedures were efficacious in teaching the participants to unscramble words appearing in isolation and in the context of a sentence, with 98% of the presented…

The study investigated the relationship between listening and reading vocabularies and their contributions to English listening comprehension of advanced Chinese EFL learners from two universities in China. Measures of reading and listening vocabularies consisted of 5,000 and academic vocabularies. Two tasks involved in the listening comprehension…

The purpose of this article is to rethink how sight words are categorized in early childhood classrooms. Three categories of words (regularly spelled, temporarily irregularly spelled, and permanently irregularly spelled) are presented as a way to think about the orthographic representations of words and how these representations interact with…

We modeled word reading growth in typically developing (n = 118) and children with dyslexia (n = 20), Grades 2-5, across multiple exposures to 30 words. We explored the facilitative versus inhibitory effects of exposures to differential mixes of words that support high- versus low-frequency vowel pronunciations. One training corpus contained a…

Students with intellectual disability often have difficulty reading commonly used words. Researchers have found altering printed text from fluent, easy-to-read font, to disfluent, difficult-to-read font can enhance comprehension and recall. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare sight-word acquisition and…

The aim of this single-case study was to evaluate the effects of a Direct Instruction flashcard system on the sight word identification of a tenth grader with a learning disability. To appraise the benefits of the intervention, a changing criterion single-subject design was applied. Findings indicated that the student profited greatly from the…

Teaching children too many words during a lesson reduces retention. The amount of new information a student can successfully rehearse and recall later is called acquisition rate (AR), which has been reliably measured with students in first, third, and fifth grades. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of assessing AR for sight…

This study examined the effects of a reading racetrack game on acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of sight words for four kindergarten students who are deaf. The game consisted of placing sight words around a racetrack board and prompting the participant to read the words. A multiple probe design across word sets demonstrated a…

Despite the importance of literacy in today's educational curriculum, learning to read is a challenge for many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the foundational skills of early literacy learning is the ability to recognize sight words. This study used a single-subject, multiple-probe, across-participants design, to investigate…

Incremental rehearsal (IR) is a flashcard technique that has produced strong effects for a variety of outcomes including word recognition. We utilized theory-based modifications to IR to enhance maintenance and generalization of sight words. We utilized a within-subjects design in which 41 participants in 2nd and 3rd grade were taught seven…

This study examines the initial word reading performance of fourth-grade struggling readers and the extent to which differing levels of word reading performance at pretest influenced their response to reading interventions. A large group of students with significant reading comprehension difficulties (N = 481) were classified into three clusters…

For the purpose of this research, a concurrent multiple baseline design was used to measure the effects of a Constant Time Delay (CTD) intervention. CTD was implemented as an intervention to support four transition students' abilities to recognize functional sight words. The sessions were held during a summer transition program on a large…

Hey Siri, Alexa, Google, can you help me learn to read? Speech recognition apps can take dictation. Elementary, middle, high school students, and adults, who struggle to read can dictate to speech recognition apps and see their oral vernacular become written words. However, at the time of this study, speech recognition apps remained notoriously…

Students with learning and behavioral problems often face enormous barriers to successful school performance. When the language of instruction is not the students' first language and they are already in secondary school, this is compounded by additional challenges, especially with regard to vocabulary and reading -- subjects that are fundamental…

The role of verbal working memory (VWM) in early language and literacy development among typical and atypical monolingual children exposed to different orthographies is well established. Less is known how English Language Learners (ELLs) allocate their VWM resources in early stages of literacy acquisition in English (L2). This study examined the…