Reading disability

Fast, efficient reading skills are essential in college where the majority of learning comes from independent reading. However, reading college-level expository texts is a potential problem for college students with learning disabilities (LD) who classically have difficulty with reading. Since little is known about young adults with LD who attend college, the purpose of this study was to examine the reading abilities of this group. More specifically, reading comprehension scores, from both oral and silent reading, as well as analyses of oral reading miscues were examined. Additionally, the influence of expository text structures on reading comprehension and oral miscues was explored. A total of forty undergraduate subjects from one state university participated in the study: twenty were upper class (junior/senior status) students with childhood diagnoses of LD in reading; twenty were upper class students without LD who were considered poor college readers. Four passages from a college textbook on social problems were selected for the reading assessment: two passages of an enumeration text structure, and two of an historical text structure. All subjects read two passages silently and two passages orally from each structure, The subjects' oral readings were analyzed for types of miscues. After reading each passage, the subjects then orally summarized the readings. A comprehension score was derived for each passage from the oral retellings. Results revealed that the college students with LD produced a greater total number of oral reading miscues and earned fewer comprehension points than their peers without LD. Text structure did not effect the comprehension scores of the students with LD; however, the type of text structure did effect the oral reading comprehension scores of the students without LD. The subjects with LD also produced a significantly higher percentage of miscues categorized as loss-of-meaning miscues. The results of this study indicated that college students with LD continue to have reading difficulties: difficulty decoding words; poor comprehension; and a lack of metacognitive awareness and use of strategies for comprehending various expository text structures.

Struggling readers need guided and motivating instruction on a daily basis in order to improve their literacy skills in a significant way. One approach for providing this type of instruction is through the use of an at-home literacy program. In this study, parents were given training and feedback in the use of simple, inexpensive, yet motivating reading techniques which they used at home with their children. A comprehensive literature review on the Neurological Impress Method (NIM), oral reading fluency, and the connection between parent involvement and student achievement and/or literacy development was conducted. Based on information obtained from the literature review, the study examined the effect of the NIM, used in an at-home program on the oral reading fluency, and word recognition in struggling readers. The study followed an experimental design in which a treatment group and a control group simultaneously completed a ten week at-home program. At the end of the program, two parents in each group were interviewed, and a NIM questionnaire was given to parents in the treatment group. The study showed no significant difference in the gain in oral reading fluency, and increase in word recognition for struggling readers whose parents used the NIM compared to the struggling readers whose parents used the read aloud technique. Based on parent responses obtained from the interviews and the NIM questionnaire, the study also showed that parents demonstrated an attitude of interest and support for the at-home literacy program. The findings of this study can serve as a reference point for educators interested in creating at-home literacy programs, as well as a topic for further research. It appears that the at-home literacy program seemed to create opportunities for parent/child bonding. Since the at-home program offered parents an opportunity to spend one-to-one quality time with their children, it seems likely that the at-home program would have a positive effect on the parent/child relationship. Because this form of parent involvement could motivate children's interest in learning, and perhaps lead to increased literacy development and academic achievement, further research in this area should be conducted.