Training Phonemic Segmentation Ability with a Phonemic Discrimination Intervention in Second- and Third-Grade Children with Reading Disabilities

Abstract

The present study examined the possibility that phonemic discrimination training could improve the phonemic segmentation ability of children with reading disabilities. Half of the 32 children with reading disabilities (14 male and 4 female second graders and 10 male and 4 female third graders, with mean ages of 99.2 and 109.7 months, respectively) deficient in phonemic segmentation skills were assigned to the training group, while the other half acted as a nontrained control group. The trained children were successful at significantly improving their performance on the phonemic segmentation task. The control group made no improvement. Requiring children with reading disabilities to make discriminations concerning phonemic information may have helped them discover properties of the phoneme that they previously did not know.

The possible use of IBM-compatible computers and digital-to-analog conversion to assess children for reading disabilities and to increase their phonemic awareness

“…The phonemic discrimination and segmentation tasks were the same as those used in the Hurford and Sanders (1990) and Hurford (1990) studies and were used to assess phonemic processing skills. The Word Identification and Word Attack subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised (Woodcock, 1987) were used to measure the ability of the students to read single words and to use phonics rules, respectively.…”

“…As mentioned above, phonemic segmentation has been found to be highly predictive oflater reading success. Hurford's (1990) results indicated that disabled readers who are deficient in phonemic segmentation can be trained to perform at significantly higher levels (p < .004) after exposure to the phonemic discrimination intervention. Hurford and Sanders (1990) and Hurford (1990) used mM-eompatible computers equipped with digital-toanalog (DfA) conversion boards (Qua Tech, ADM-ONE).…”

“…and Hurford (1990) have been successful at employing digital-toanalog (D/A) conversion to remediate phonemic processing deficiencies in young disabled readers. The present study outlines how D/A conversion might be used to identify students who are at risk for reading disabilities.…”

“…It is quite promising that disabled readers can be trained to improve their ability in phonemic discrimination. Hurford (1990) used the same training program that was used in the Hurford and Sanders (1990) study to train disabled readers to improve their phonemic segmentation ability. Phonemic segmentation is an ability more closely tied to actual reading than phonemic discrimination is.…”

“…These requirements are all satisfied with the use of mM-compatible computers equipped with DfA data-acquisition cards. Interestingly, the students who were involved in the training studies (Hurford, 1990;Hurford & Sanders, 1990) enjoyed the task. Holding the attention of young disabled readers is necessary if training is to be successful, and the game-like format of the computer training was more than adequate to ensure active participation.…”