The Effects of Reading Fluency Interventions on the Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension Performance of Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Research from 2001 to 2014

Abstract

Fluent word reading is hypothesized to facilitate reading comprehension by improving automatic word reading, thus releasing a reader’s cognitive resources to focus on meaning. Many students with learning disabilities (LD) struggle to develop reading fluency, which affects reading comprehension. This synthesis extends Chard, Vaughn, and Tyler’s (2002) review, synthesizing fluency intervention research from 2001 to 2014. The search yielded 19 studies examining reading fluency and comprehension outcomes of reading fluency interventions for students with LD in kindergarten through 5th grade. Results showed repeated reading (RR), multicomponent interventions, and assisted reading with audiobooks produced gains in reading fluency and comprehension. Providing a model of fluent reading and performance feedback, using easier level text, setting a performance criterion, and practicing RR with peers also contributed to improved outcomes. Findings suggest that RR remains the most effective intervention for improving reading fluency for students with LD. Limitations include sample size, only three group design studies, and infrequent use of standardized measures.

Technology-based reading intervention programs for elementary grades: An analytical review

“…Finally, in their review of fluency interventions, National Reading Panel has concluded that repeated oral reading approaches have proven to be more effective than other approaches. More recent review studies have come to the same conclusion by admitting the effectiveness of repeated reading approach (M. K. Kim, Bryant, Bryant, & Park, 2017;Lee & Yoon, 2017;Stevens, Walker, & Vaughn, 2016).…”

Reading comprehension and strategy use in fourth- and fifth-grade French immersion students

“…Therefore, slow and inaccurate readers are spending more time trying to decode the text (Stevens, Walker & Vaughn, 2017). For example, Proctor et al (2005) and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test were used to measure these abilities.…”

Intensive summer intervention drives linear growth of reading skill in struggling readers

“…Research into the utility of phonological awareness-based interventions for struggling youth suggests that even the most severely disabled children will respond to directed instruction and that the earlier in a child's life you intervene, the more substantive and expeditious the outcomes for the average child (Berninger, 2001;Lovett et al, 2017;National Reading Panel, 2000;Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1999). Further work supports the importance of incorporating strategies for comprehension and fluent reading skill, on top of a foundation of phonological awareness (Morris et al, 2012;Stevens et al, 2016;Wolf & Katzir-Cohen, 2001). The success of these intervention approaches has led to policy initiatives aimed at creating nationwide standards for reading instruction and intervention (Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, 1998;Gersten et al, 2009;National Reading Panel, 2000).…”

“…Due to its high incidence, and the non-trivial impact on long-term academic achievement (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2006;Raskind & Goldberg, 1999), a large body of scientific research has focused on the development of effective treatments for developmental dyslexia. Research starting in the 1980s has concluded that an effective intervention curriculum (a) explicitly teaches phonological awareness (Ehri et al, 2001;Slavin, Lake, Davis, & Madden, 2010;Torgesen, 2006;Wagner & Torgesen, 1987), (b) starts early at a child's first indication of struggle (National Reading Panel, 2000; S. E. Shaywitz et al, 2008;Torgesen, 1998;Wanzek et al, 2013), and (c) is multicomponential in nature layering in training in strategy, orthography, morphology and fluency (Lovett et al, 2008;Morris et al, 2012;Stevens, Walker, & Vaughn, 2016;Wanzek & Vaughn, 2010).…”