Sentence Reading Comprehension by Means of Training in Segment-Unit Reading for Japanese Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) often have difficulty in sentence reading and comprehension. Previous studies have shown that training in segment-unit reading (SUR) facilitates the acquisition of sentence reading comprehension skills for Japanese students with ID. However, it remains unknown whether SUR training is also effective for individuals unable to read sentences and can generalize to untrained sentences. In this study, we examined the improvement and generalization of sentence reading accuracy and comprehension for two children with ID through SUR training with listening comprehensible sentences. During training, the segments were sequentially presented in their correct spatial locations, and participants read them aloud. After the training, participants' reading accuracy and comprehension improved for both trained and untrained sentences. The results suggest that presenting the components of stimuli sequentially in their correct spatial locations is key to facilitating the development of sentence reading accuracy and comprehension for individuals with ID.

Segment-Unit Reading Comprehension Training for Japanese Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Learning Disabilities

“…The participants could not read and comprehend whole sentences in the baseline phase, whereas they learned to comprehend whole sentences by matching sentences with corresponding pictures after training. These results suggest that repeatedly presenting each segment facilitates comprehension in Japanese students with developmental disabilities as assessed by a matching task (Omori & Yamamoto, 2018) and verbal expressions (Nakagawa et al, 2013). However, previous studies did not directly compare the training effects of the two repeated reading procedures in students with ASD and LDs.…”

“…There might also have been possible testing effects caused by the pre-post design of this study, and a no-training group or a waiting-list group of participants should be included to examine testing effects in future studies. Preparing untrained sentences could also be a solution for canceling the testing effects of SUR training, as indicated in a previous study (Omori & Yamamoto, 2018). One reason for the difficulties faced by Japanese students with developmental disabilities in reading whole sentences could be the difference in eyemovement patterns during reading (Omori, 2019).…”

“…Recent studies have shown that repeatedly reading sentence segments facilitates Japanese reading comprehension skills for closed-ended (Omori & Yamamoto, 2018) and openended (Nakagawa et al, 2013) questions for students with developmental disabilities. Nakagawa et al (2013) WSUR training required the participant to read whole sentences repeatedly, whereas SUR training required him to read the segments sequentially in their correct spatial locations within sentences.…”

“…Recent studies have shown that repeatedly reading sentence segments facilitates Japanese reading comprehension skills for closed-ended (Omori & Yamamoto, 2018 ) and open-ended (Nakagawa et al, 2013 ) questions for students with developmental disabilities. Nakagawa et al ( 2013 ) compared the training effects of WSUR training and segment-unit reading (SUR) training with one student with ASD.…”

“…However, his reading accuracy and comprehension of literal questions only improved after the SUR training. Omori and Yamamoto ( 2018 ) investigated SUR training for children with ASD and LDs with intellectual disabilities and reported that training improved reading comprehension of closed-ended questions. The participants could not read and comprehend whole sentences in the baseline phase, whereas they learned to comprehend whole sentences by matching sentences with corresponding pictures after training.…”