Effectiveness of a Computer-Assisted Intervention for Young Children with Attention and Reading Problems

Abstract

Children who are significantly inattentive and poor early readers require intervention, and traditional tutoring approaches may not be effective with this group. Using a single-subject, multiple-baseline-across-participants design, Study 1 examines whether a computer-assisted reading intervention increases performance for three first-grade children with teacher-rated inattention and early reading problems. Study 2 replicates this intervention using three second-grade students. The independent variable was an evidence-based computer-assisted intervention (Earobics). Dependent variables were oral reading fluency, phoneme segmentation, and attention-to-task. Results provide evidence of reading gains, suggesting moderate size effects. For all, attention-to-task was higher during the computer-assisted intervention than during small-group reading instruction. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. The use of computer-assisted interventions for children who are inattentive and poor early readers may be an effective solution to improve reading performance.