Paul T. Sindelar

The Effects of Repeated Readings and Attentional Cues on Reading Fluency and Comprehension.

The failure of some researchers to find improved reading comprehension with increased fluency may result from the assumption that readers automatically shift attention to comprehension when fluency is established. Research on cuing readers to a purpose in reading suggests that a simple cue about comprehension may be sufficient to prompt this attentional shift. In this study, the effects of repeated readings and attentional cues on measures of reading fluency and comprehension were examined. Thirty third graders read separate passages one, three, and seven times following cues to attend to either reading rate or meaning. After the final reading of each passage, the students retold as much of the story as they could. Fluency and proportion of story propositions retold were analyzed in repeated measures analyses of variance. Significant main effects for both repeated readings and attentional cues were obtained on both dependent measures. Thus, both fluency and comprehension increased as the number of repeated readings increased. In addition, readers cued to fluency read faster but comprehended less than those cued to comprehension. These results suggest that increasing fluency is a less efficient means of improving comprehension than presenting cues about comprehension.

The Effectiveness of Resource Programming

This article reviews the results of 17 studies of resource programs and their effects on the academic achievement and personal-social development of exceptional children. Only those studies which include relevant comparison groups are reviewed. Problems in efficacy research are discussed; many of the limitations of studies of special class placement are applicable to research on resource room programming. Results are not definitive in either domain. In the academic domain, programs for learning-disabled and mildly disturbed children proved generally more effective than programs for retarded children. In the personal-social domain, positive effects of resource programming have not been established. In general, the most carefully designed studies support the effectiveness of resource programming. Finally, the authors recommend the incorporation of formative evaluation procedures into resource program development as a supplement to traditional summative methodology.

The Effects of Supplemental On-Task Contingencies On the Acquisition of Simple and Difficult Academic Tasks:

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of different reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of both a simple and difficult academic task. Distractible students were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions, reflecting the two independent variable manipulations: simple task with contingencies for attention and correct academic performance (SAP), simple task with contingencies, for correct academic performance alone (SP), difficult task with contingencies for attention and correct academic performance (DAP), or difficult task with contingencies for correct academic performance alone (DP). The results indicated that for difficult tasks students assigned to contingencies for correct academic performance alone (DP) were off-task more and scored significantly lower on two measures of academic performance than those students who were assigned to the DAP condition. No such differential effect was noted for students assigned to the simple task conditions; all students, regardless of contingency condition (SAP or SP), maintained high rates of time and task and academic performance. The results were discussed in terms of both theoretical and practical implications. It was suggested that teachers could not only task analyze specific instructional skills but also plan and implement specific contingency management strategies based upon the characteristics of the component skill to be presented.

The Potential Effects of Meta-Analysis On Special Education Practice

A recent development is the use of meta-analysis to integrate research in the special education literature. The usefulness of research integration, in general, is limited by the fields weak empirical orientation and by the skewed distribution of published findings. Nonetheless, the authors regard meta-analysis as an improvement over traditional methods of research integration. Advantages are increased objectivity, freedom from arbitrary levels of statistical significance, and potential to relate an array of independent variables to effect size. Disadvantages include questionable reliability of ratings, nonequivalence of effect sizes, and limited range of effect sizes. The authors believe that most of the problems can be rectified and advocate the cautious application of meta-analysis. However, they question the impact it can have on a largely nonempirically oriented field.

Response Cost and Reinforcement Contingencies of Managing the Behavior of Distractible Children in Tutorial Settings

The effects of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and response cost (RC) on the attending behavior of two distractible children were assessed in two case studies. In the first study, a seven-year-old learning disabled girl was initially rewarded for completing segments of her reader without looking away, then punished by the removal of a token contingent upon lookaways. Both contingencies were effective in reducing the frequency of lookaways although response suppression was slightly greater during the RC phases. Oral reading rates increased concurrently with the reduction in lookaways, and was highest during the RC phases. In the second case study, the same strategies were used with a ten-year-old, behaviorally disordered girl. The DRO contingency failed to control the frequency of her lookaways although the RC contingency proved successful. The differential effects of the DRO contingency in the two case studies were attributed to differences in the reinforcement schedules; the differential effect of the RC contingency was ascribed to the temporal precision with which it was administered.

The Effects of Cross-Aged Tutoring On the Comprehension Skills of Remedial Reading Students

To compare the effects of 3 tutorial reading programs, 53 elementary-aged disabled readers were assigned to 1 of 3 experimental (tutorial) treatments — hypothesis/test (H/T) instruction, oral-reading (OR) practice, or word-recognition (WR) training — or to a small group H/T control. Students received 20, 15-minute lessons and were tested on WR, OR, and cloze comprehension measures, and on a standardized comprehension test. Differences were significant on the cloze measure only: The H/T tutorial group scored significantly higher than the WR group. The tutorial and H/T control groups did not differ. Thus, the cross-aged tutors administered the H/T program as successfully as did the teachers working with small groups. The use of tutoring and H/T instruction in programs for disabled readers is advocated.

Deviant Behavior in Learning Disabled and Behaviorally Disordered Students as a Function of Level and Placement

Differences in the social behavior of learning disabled and behaviorally disordered students as a function of age and placement were investigated using teacher ratings of classroom behavior. Resource and special class teachers of the learning disabled and behaviorally disordered at the elementary and secondary levels reported the proportions of students in their classrooms exhibiting each of five patterns of deviant behavior: withdrawn-seclusive; anxious-fearful; hyperactive; aggressive; and rule-breaking. Their responses were categorized in an 8-cell, level x placement x classification matrix and separate statistical tests were conducted for each behavior pattern. Significant differences were obtained for classification on all five patterns, for level on rule-breaking, and for placement on anxiety and rule-breaking. Behaviorally disordered students exhibited more of each of the problem behaviors than did learning disabled students; secondary students exhibited more rule-breaking than elementary students; and more anxious, fearful behavior and rule-breaking were exhibited in special classes than resource rooms. These results are related to the literature on differential classification, developmental trends in behavioral disorders, and differential placement.

Behavioral observation methodologies for early childhood education

Paul T. Sindelar, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Special Education Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania THE NUMBER of assessment instruments available to early childhood special educators has been increasing in recent years. Some examples of new assessment instruments are the Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development (Brigance, 1978); the Learning Accomplishment Profile: Diagnostic Edition (LeMay, Griffin, & Sanford, 1978); the Camelot Behavioral Checklist (Foster, 1974); and the Portage Developmental Sequential Checklist (Shearer, Billingsley, Frohman, Hilliard, Johnson, & Shearer, 1971). Many of these instruments consist of behavioral checklists that follow a normal developmental pattern. Use of these assessment instruments is appropriate as a first step in generating behavioral targets, although only as a first step. If teachers or care givers were to terminate the assessment process after administering and analyzing the results of an assessment instrument, they would have an incomplete measure of a childs functioning. For example, if a child receives a check for aggression within the area of social functioning, numerous questions arise: Is the child verbally or physically aggressive or both? Exactly what behaviors define

A Proposed Certification Model for Special Education

L ike many teacher educators, we believe that teacher certification based on categories of student disability is passe. In many places, it is also entrenched. In Florida, for example, although we have generic (varying exceptionalities or VE) certification and programs, categorical certification and teacher training still predominate. Thus, to offer certification in emotional handicaps (EH) and learning disabilities (LD), for example, training programs must offer two separate methods courses—methods of teaching students with emotional handicaps and methods of teaching students with learning disabilities. As you might guess, the overlap in the content of these two courses is nearly complete. This is not the only redundancy among certification requirements in Florida, and Florida is not unique in experiencing problems of this sort.

Guidelines for Teachers' Interpretations of Student Performance Data

The use of criterion-referenced measurement has recently been extended from paper-and-pencil tests to observational recording procedures. While numerous authorities discuss procedures for collecting and reporting observational data, little attention has been given to the issue of data interpretation. The present paper explores this issue by examining and illustrating techniques for visually inspecting graphically displayed data. These procedures may assist the educator in determining the impact of intervention procedures on learner performance.