Closing the Gap: Can embedded supports help students with learning disabilities comprehend grade...
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Closing the Gap: Can embedded supports help students with learning disabilities comprehend grade level science text? This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs No. H327S120011. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. Andrea Boykin, George Mason University Introduction • Government mandates require students with disabilities educated in separate facilities or self contained classroom to access grade level standards (Cawley, 2002). • Students with learning disabilities may find content area text especially challenging to read (Garjia, 2007). • Students in special education accessing grade level curriculum require supports to access and succeed within the curriculum. • Regardless of a students disability, assistive technology paired with specific strategies can help students access grade level text. Previous Research Text to Speech •Research has determined that audio text, including text to speech, can increase student comprehension. (Dolan, 2005; Mooram, 2010, Dawson, 2000,) Graphic Organizers •Research presents conflicting results for the use of graphic organizers with TTS to support student comprehension (Boyle, 2002;Douglas, 2011). Purpose •Although both TTS and graphic organizers can support comprehension, very little research has combined graphic organizers and TTS features as a combined strategy in supporting the comprehension of middle school students accessing grade level curriculum. Research Questions Is there a functional relation between text to speech with dynamic highlighting and graphic organizers that would cause an increase in expository text comprehension of middle school students with learning disabilities? Is there a differential effect that would result in an immediate level change between expository text comprehension of elementary students with learning disabilities when accessing digital text with text to speech features and dynamic highlighting compared to utilizing text to speech features with the support of digital graphic organizers and dynamic highlighting? Participants Name Grade Disabili ty Gende r Ethnici ty Independen t Reading Level Passage Comprehensi on Ania 7th LD F A.A 1 st grade 1 st grade Yuri 7th LD M A.A 4 th grade 4 th grade Zeke 6th LD, OHI M A.A 2.2 grade 2.4 grade Chris 7th Autism, LD, OHI M A.A 2.0 grade 1.4 Setting • A private special education school located in an urban city on the east coast. Method Science Passages • Multiple baseline and alternating treatment single subject design replicated across participants. Minimum of five treatment points in baseline and ten for treatment. • Alternating treatment design was replicated across participants and utilized with each participant receiving the same treatment and passage at the same time. -6 th and 7 th grade students with LD as one of their disabilities were included in the study. Students must have an independent comprehension two years or more below grade level and perform poorly on in class comprehension activities. Students were excluded from study who have receptive language deficits. -Italicized scores are from Woodcock Johnson Reading Assessment Variables • Passages pulled from the Jason Project, an online science curriculum for middle school students that correspond to state standards from 6 th and 7 th grade level. • Text ranged from 4-12 th grade. Each passage was modified to have a readability level of 8.9 to 9.9. Number of words ranged from 220 to 290. Procedures Multiple Choice Content Interview Dependent Independent Chri s Ania Yuri Zeke Zeke Yuri Ania Chri s • Multiple choice data had high variability in baseline and treatment. Overall PEM for embedded supports combined, TTS, and graphic organizers is 34%, 34%, 41%, respectively. • Content interview responses have less variability in baseline and treatment. Overall PEM for embedded supports combined, TTS, and graphic organizers is 83%, 80%, 86% respectively. Results Discussio n • Embedded support features increased comprehension. • Graphic organizers had a greater impact on comprehension compared to TTS alone. • Multiple choice may accurately reflect student comprehension. • Teachers should utilize TTS with embedded supports to help students with learning disabilities access grade level text and utilize multiple methods of assessment to determine a students comprehension.
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Transcript of Closing the Gap: Can embedded supports help students with learning disabilities comprehend grade...
Closing the Gap: Can embedded supports help students with learning disabilities comprehend grade level science text?
This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs No. H327S120011. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted.
Andrea Boykin, George Mason University
Introduction
• Government mandates require students with disabilities educated in separate facilities or self contained classroom to access grade level standards (Cawley, 2002).
• Students with learning disabilities may find content area text especially challenging to read (Garjia, 2007).
• Students in special education accessing grade level curriculum require supports to access and succeed within the curriculum.
• Regardless of a students disability, assistive technology paired with specific strategies can help students access grade level text.
Previous Research
Text to Speech•Research has determined that audio text, including text to speech, can increase student comprehension. (Dolan, 2005; Mooram, 2010, Dawson, 2000,)
Graphic Organizers•Research presents conflicting results for the use of graphic organizers with TTS to support student comprehension (Boyle, 2002;Douglas, 2011).
Purpose•Although both TTS and graphic organizers can support comprehension, very little research has combined graphic organizers and TTS features as a combined strategy in supporting the comprehension of middle school students accessing grade level curriculum.
Research Questions
Is there a functional relation between text to speech with dynamic highlighting and graphic organizers that would cause an increase in expository text comprehension of middle school students with learning disabilities?
Is there a differential effect that would result in an immediate level change between expository text comprehension of elementary students with learning disabilities when accessing digital text with text to speech features and dynamic highlighting compared to utilizing text to speech features with the support of digital graphic organizers and dynamic highlighting?
Participants
Name Grade Disability Gender Ethnicity Independent Reading Level
Passage Comprehension
Ania 7th LD F A.A 1st grade 1st grade
Yuri 7th LD M A.A 4th grade 4th grade
Zeke 6th LD, OHI M A.A 2.2 grade 2.4 grade
Chris 7th Autism, LD, OHI
M A.A 2.0 grade 1.4
Setting
• A private special education school located in an urban city on the east coast.
Method
Science Passages
• Multiple baseline and alternating treatment single subject design replicated across participants. Minimum of five treatment points in baseline and ten for treatment.
• Alternating treatment design was replicated across participants and utilized with each participant receiving the same treatment and passage at the same time.
-6th and 7th grade students with LD as one of their disabilities were included in the study. Students must have an independent comprehension two years or more below grade level and perform poorly on in class comprehension activities. Students were excluded from study who have receptive language deficits.
-Italicized scores are from Woodcock Johnson Reading Assessment
Variables
• Passages pulled from the Jason Project, an online science curriculum for middle school students that correspond to state standards from 6th and 7th grade level.
• Text ranged from 4-12th grade. Each passage was modified to have a readability level of 8.9 to 9.9. Number of words ranged from 220 to 290.
Procedures
Multiple Choice Content Interview
Dependent Independent
Chris
Ania
Yuri
ZekeZeke
Yuri
Ania
Chris
• Multiple choice data had high variability in baseline and treatment. Overall PEM for embedded supports combined, TTS, and graphic organizers is 34%, 34%, 41%, respectively.
• Content interview responses have less variability in baseline and treatment. Overall PEM for embedded supports combined, TTS, and graphic organizers is 83%, 80%, 86% respectively.
Results
Discussion
• Embedded support features increased comprehension.
• Graphic organizers had a greater impact on comprehension compared to TTS alone.
• Multiple choice may accurately reflect student comprehension.
• Teachers should utilize TTS with embedded supports to help students with learning disabilities access grade level text and utilize multiple methods of assessment to determine a students comprehension.
