Vadasy, P.F., Sanders, E.A., & Peyton, J.A. (in press). Effectiveness of paraeducator-supplemented individual instruction: Beyond basic decoding skills. Journal of Learning Disabilities.
In this study, second- and third-grade students with low word-level skills were randomly assigned to one of two groups that received supplemental phonics-based reading instruction. One group received 21 hrs instruction early in the year, and one group served as the control for this early treatment group, and then received 17 hrs instruction later in the year. Paraeducators were trained in a standard treatment protocol to provide individual instruction for 30 min/day, 4 days/week. At the first posttest, the early treatment group outperformed the control group on reading accuracy and passage fluency. Second graders outperformed third graders on these measures. At 3-month follow up, the early treatment group showed no evidence of decline in reading accuracy, passage fluency, or spelling. The late treatment group demonstrated significant growth in reading accuracy and spelling during their intervention. The early treatment group made significantly greater gains per instructional hour across reading accuracy, passage fluency, and spelling. In this study, the supplemental instruction provided by paraeducators moved students in the early treatment group to nearly grade level reading accuracy. Treatment fidelity for tutors in both studies was high, averaging 3.8 on a 4-point scale.
Summarized by: Patricia Vadasy, August 2006
Last modified February 14 2008 11:23 AM
