Exploring the Korean Hangul Word Decoding Properties of Children with Reading Disabilities: Implication for Reading Intervention and Reading Related Language Factors

Objectives: This study analyzed the Korean Hangul word decoding properties of children with reading disabilities by considering reading intervention and reading related language factors.Methods: A corresponding sample t-test, correlation analysis, and repeated measurement were examined for the relevance of Hangul and reading difficulties, predictors of Hangul reading difficulties, and the effects of Korean word meaningfulness (word/non-word) and spelling regularity (regular/irregular) variables.Results: 1) After reading intervention, children with reading disabilities improved in their Hangul decoding, listening comprehension, phonological awareness, and word writing scores. 2) Before and after reading interventions, variables related to decoding were receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, word writing, and rapid naming. 3) The variables of children’s ability that predicted decoding were word writing, listening comprehension, receptive vocabulary, and rapid naming; and the variable that predicted non-word decoding was word writing. Phonological awareness, which showed significant correlation with decoding scores, did not act as a significant predictor of decoding scores. 4) Reading interventions and decoding-level variables (word meaning and spelling regularity) both showed significant effects in the decoding of Korean Hangul, especially after reading interventions.Conclusion: The reading disability of Hangul is acting on both the characteristics of the ideogram and phonogram system, and the characteristics of Hangul’s unique spelling system.

Inclusive learning strategies to enhance reading skill among the students with reading disability: An Occupation and Participation Approach to Reading Intervention (OPARI) in the rural Indian classroom

Reading is a challenging task for reading disability for which they need comprehensive strategies like sensory and neurocognitive requirements. With this notion, the article aims to find, the appropriate pedagogies and clinical practices used for intervening the reading disability in Indian public schools. To examine, qualitative interviews were conducted with ten high school teachers and four special education teachers, who work in Government schools in India especially in the state of Tamil Nadu. The interview focused the opinions of the teachers on reading disability, facilities and pedagogies provided to the reading disability and from the interview, the study has derived the results in three main themes as, teachers’ views on reading disabilities, inadequate teaching strategies for reading disabilities, special education to the reading disabilities. In the discussion section, the article attempts to resolve the issues raised in the interview by introducing an exclusive approach to intervene reading disability. The article incorporates the principles of the Occupational Participation and Adaptation to Reading Intervention approach (OPARI) to intervene the reading disability and attempts to find a solution to the issues. In addition, the article attempts to justify the neuroscience behind the OPARI by highlighting the dopamine activation in the brain while adapting to reading. In the conclusion section, the article emphasizes therapeutic associative teaching and the need to implement OPARI in Indian classrooms.

Effects of Varying Levels of Data Use to Intensify a Multisyllabic Word Reading Intervention for Upper Elementary Students With or At Risk for Reading Disabilities

For students who show inadequate response to research-based intervention, intensification of intervention using data-based decision making (DBDM) is recommended. There is a paucity of research on upper elementary students related to the efficacy of (a) word reading interventions and (b) DBDM procedures. This randomized controlled trial examined the differential effects of data use at two timepoints to intensify a multisyllabic word reading intervention for Grade 4 and 5 students with or at risk for reading disabilities (RD). Eighty-eight students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: initial customization of the intervention (IC-only), initial customization with DBDM (IC + DBDM), or a business-as-usual comparison condition. Results indicated that (a) students in both treatment conditions outperformed the comparison condition on multisyllabic word reading and (b) students in the IC + DBDM condition also outperformed comparison students on decoding. Implications, including the use of DBDM in addition to IC-only as well as methods for decision-making within a small-group context, are discussed.

Examining the Effects of Integrating Anxiety Management Instruction Within a Reading Intervention for Upper Elementary Students With Reading Difficulties

We present findings from the first cohort of third- and fourth-grade students with reading difficulties (128 students from 31 classrooms) who participated in a 2-year intervention examining the effects of a reading intervention with and without anxiety management. Using a randomized controlled trial, students were assigned to one of three conditions: (a) small-group reading intervention with anxiety management instruction (RANX), (b) small-group reading intervention with math fact practice (RMATH), and (c) business-as-usual (BAU) comparison condition (no researcher provided treatment). Personnel from the research team provided participants in the RANX and RMATH the same reading intervention with the variation in the two treatments being whether the same amount of time per lesson was allocated to anxiety management (RANX) or practicing math facts (RMATH). Students in the RANX significantly outperformed students in the BAU on reading comprehension (effect size [ES] = 1.22) and students in the RMATH outperformed BAU on reading comprehension (ES = 0.77). Groups did not differ significantly on other reading outcomes. Reading anxiety moderated the main effect of the RANX intervention on Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) word reading when contrasted against the BAU group indicating a significant difference favoring RANX where treatment’s effect decreased by 0.94 units (about 1 point on the outcome) on word reading for each additional point increase in reading anxiety.