Traci M. Cihon

The effects of textual prompting and reading fluency on the acquisition of intraverbals.

The study examined the effects of textual prompt fading on the acquisition of intraverbals in 3 individuals with developmental disabilities. An alternating treatments design was used to assess the two independent variables. The first independent variable was transfer of stimulus control without component skill fluency. The second independent variable was transfer of stimulus control with component skill fluency, in which participants were taught the textual responses used in the scripts to a level of fluency prior to transfer of stimulus control. The results suggest that transfer of stimulus control was effective for teaching intraverbals and that adding a fluency component resulted in faster acquisition for some participants.

Implementing Visual Phonics With Hearing Kindergarteners At Risk for Reading Failure

This study assessed the effects of See the Sound/Visual Phonics (STS/VP) on the phonemic awareness and letter-sound skills of Kindergarten students who were at risk for reading failure and who were not experiencing success in their general education classroom reading instruction. Participants were instructed in small groups (2–4 students) on specific unlearned prereading skills (i.e., letter-sound relations) previously instructed in their classroom. The authors used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants and sounds to demonstrate the effectiveness of STS/VP in teaching letter-sound relations to participants. Data indicate that STS/VP can be used to effectively instruct at-risk Kindergarteners in letter-sound relations and that these skills can be maintained once instructed.