Headsprout® Early Reading for children with severe intellectual disabilities: a single blind randomised controlled trial |
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| Authors: | Corinna F Grindle Clodagh Murray Richard P Hastings Tom Bailey Helen Forster Sabia Taj Andreas Paris Michael Lovell Freddy Jackson Brown J Carl Hughes |
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| Institution: | 1. University of Warwick;2. Emirates College for Advanced Education;3. Calthorpe Academy School;4. University of Warwick
Centre for Behaviour Solutions Ltd;5. Centre for Behaviour Solutions Ltd;6. Bangor University |
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| Abstract: | Research evaluating phonics reading programs for children with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited. The current study investigated whether using an online reading program (Headsprout® Early Reading; HER) as supplementary reading instruction for children with a severe ID leads to improvements in reading skills as compared to children not receiving this additional instruction. Fifty-five children from a special school were randomly allocated into the HER group or a waiting list control group. For six months, children in the intervention group received HER as supplementary instruction, whereas children in the control group received only ‘reading as usual’ teaching. Pre- and post-intervention tests on standardised reading measures were conducted. Analysis of data from outcome measures indicated that the HER group made improvements at post-intervention in comparison with the control group, with medium effect sizes on two domains from the main outcome measure. These results support the case for a larger research trial of HER for children with severe ID. |
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| Keywords: | computer assisted instruction Headsprout® Early Reading randomised controlled trial severe intellectual disabilities |
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