Promoting parent use of empirically supported reading interventions: two experimental investigations of child outcomes

Abstract

Two experimental investigations of the effects of parent delivered reading interventions were conducted. Tutoring packages consisting of empirically supported intervention components were delivered by parents for at least several weeks after initial parent training. Both experiments used single-case experimental designs and measured participants' oral reading fluency in passages. Experiment 1 used a multiple-probe design across tasks (passages) to evaluate tutoring effects for two students with learning disabilities. Results indicate that both students increased their reading fluency and maintained those increases over time. Experiment 2 used a brief experimental analysis that included both experimenter and parent delivered instructional trials to validate the treatment package. Next, the treatment package was evaluated using an alternating treatments design. Results were uniformly positive. An interesting but not surprising correlation was also found between treatment integrity and student outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of the framework and skills that behavior analysts have for working with parents and schools to improve their children's academic responding.

Parental educational involvement conceived as the arrangement of contingency operations

“…or "Right!"'. Contingent verbal praise has proven to increase children's academic activity and performance in a large number of experimental classroom studies (e.g., Merrett & Wheldall, 1990;Wheldall, 2005) and it is an integral component of programmes of demonstrated effectiveness in teaching parents to tutor their children (e.g., Duvall et al, 1992;Persampieri et al, 2006;Resetar et al, 2006). The anticipated role of positive reinforcement in effective instruction is also represented in PCSB scale items such as 'My parents are good teachers'.…”

“…In particular, a number of researchers have reported negligible, and in some cases adverse, effects of parental homework assistance on children's school achievement (Cooper, 1989;Levin et al, 1997;Pezdek, Berry & Renno, 2002). On the other hand, there is clear evidence from experimental analyses that when parents are trained in effective instructional techniques, their interventions in their children's education are reliably and substantially effective (e.g., Duvall, Delquadri, Elliot, & Hall, 1992;Persampieri, Gortmaker, Daly, Sheridan, & McCurdy, 2006;Resetar, Noell, & Pellegrin, 2006).…”

Interventions in Specific Learning Disabilities Through Families

“…Despite all this, parents are often not aware of how to play these aspects to their advantage. They often lack the strategic knowledge needed to help their children with academic tasks, even though with adequate support, they can be very effective intervention agents (Persampieri, Gortmaker, Daly, Sheridan, & McCurdy, 2006), which makes work with families highly commendable. There are two branches of intervention in LD using the family.…”

MLAR: Machine Learning based System for Measuring the Readability of Online Arabic News

“…In other words, for a certain text, what is the suitable grade level that can easily read and understand it? In addition some researchers were interested in related applications such as book recommendations [4], measuring curriculum difficulty [5] and reading assessment [6]. Table 1 shows some of the most commonly used readability formulas for English text.…”