Improving Oral Reading Fluency: A Brief Experimental Analysis of Combining an Antecedent Intervention With Consequences

Abstract

A brief experimental analysis was used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of combining two consequences (contingent reinforcement or performance feedback) with an antecedent intervention (listening passage preview and repeated readings) on the oral reading fluency of 6 elementary students. The antecedent intervention increased the number of correctly read words per minute for all 6 students. For 4 of the students, pairing the antecedent intervention with either of the consequences resulted in higher reading rates over the antecedent intervention alone. Undifferentiated results were obtained for the remaining 2 participants. These results suggest that combining an antecedent intervention with consequences may enhance the oral reading fluency of students with reading problems. However, individual responsiveness to the different intervention components indicates that brief experimental analyses are warranted to identify the most effective intervention.

The Effect of Colored Overlays on Reading Fluency in Individuals with Dyslexia

“…Listening-Passage-Preview (LPP) is considered to be an effective intervention for increasing reading fluency and accuracy (Daly and Martens 1994;Eckert et al 2002). In the LPP condition, the participant was handed the DIBELS passage (without a colored overlay) and instructed to visually follow along while the experimenter read the passage aloud.…”

“…First, we examined the effects of colored overlays to improve reading fluency of individuals with dyslexia by comparing reading fluency with and without use of colored overlays. If no differences were found, we implemented ListeningPassage-Preview (Daly and Martens 1994;Eckert et al 2002) or Modeling (Knapp and Winsor 1998;McCurdy et al 1990;Skinner et al 1997) to improve reading fluency of each participant. Second, whereas the body of research investigating colored overlays has relied on pre-post tests to determine treatment effect, we sought to directly and repeatedly measure reading fluency to determine whether the intervention had any effect across multiple measures of reading behavior.…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Combined Reading Interventions on Improving Oral Reading Fluency of Students with Reading Disabilities

“…These strategies are generally grouped into two broad categories: skill-based and performance-based interventions. Skill-based interventions typically include various antecedent teaching strategies such as listening passage preview (modeling), repeated readings and error correction whereas performance-based interventions involve the manipulation of consequences including performance feedback and contingent reinforcement (Chafouleas, Martens, Dobson, Weinstein, & Gardner, 2004;Eckert, Ardoin, Daly, & Martens, 2002). In general, skill-based interventions are implemented as a single or combined strategy for improving reading fluency.…”

“…Performance feedback and contingent reinforcement are two types of performancebased interventions which have been typically used in combination with skill-based interventions (Chafouleas et al, 2004;Eckert et al, 2002). Performance feedback has been defined as providing students with information regarding their reading behavior (Ysseldyke & Elliott, 1999) whereas contingent reinforcement involves the provision of reward after student meeting specified criterion for reading rate.…”

“…For example, Eckert et al (2002) used alternating treatment designs to examine the effects of listening passage preview and repeated readings alone or in combination with performance feedback, contingent reinforcement, or both.…”