Using Experimental Analysis to Determine Interventions for Reading Fluency and Recalls of Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This study assessed the efficacy of experimental analysis for determining a best intervention program for improving oral reading fluency for students with learning disabilities. Following a two-session baseline condition, four treatments to increase reading fluency (repeated reading, listening passage preview, repeated reading with easier material; and listening passage with easier materials) were administered in one session each for the purpose of briefly assessing which method was most effective for each student. The methods producing the highest response rate for each student were then subjected to an extended analysis. Finally, the best interventions for each student were implemented and their effectiveness was monitored across time. Functional relationships among the number of words read correct per minute and best intervention programs determined through brief experimental analysis were shown for all students in instructional passages. Generalized outcomes were consistent only when a reinforcement criterion for generalization was applied. Additionally, the best intervention program had an effect on the number of recalls for instructional passages. The results suggest that experimental analysis is an effective procedure for determining the comparative usefulness of instructional methods to increase oral reading fluency, especially within the context of a thorough educational assessment.