Book to the Basics: Systematically Teaching Children to Read Well

Abstract

As the rates of reading difficulties in school children increase, so does the need for effective interventions. Direct Instruction (DI) is an evidence-based approach that uses applied behaviour analysis principles to teach a variety of different educational topics. For our study, we used the Direct Instruction based curriculum called ‘Teach Your Child to Read Well’, derived from the Maloney Method, in order to assess its effectiveness in teaching reading. The current study included three participants, aged 5 through 7, all of which were considered to be underperforming compared to their same-grade peers. The DI program was implemented once a week, in a 1:1 session, for 12 weeks. Participants were also assessed every session on their sound and word fluency (correct responses per minute). Throughout the intervention, each participant's scores showed a continuous increasing trend in fluent accurate responses, and all participants more than tripled their fluency scores for reading words in just 12 weeks when compared to their baseline scores. Results from this study show the successful effects for these three participants, suggesting the Maloney Method as an effective DI program for children falling behind in reading, and adds to the current literature supporting the use of DI programs in teaching academics.

Faculty Mentors: Miranda Macauley & Dr. Russ Powell