Reading comprehension interventions for middle school students with learning disabilities: a synthesis of 30 years of research

J Learn Disabil. 2012 Jul-Aug;45(4):327-40. doi: 10.1177/0022219411402691. Epub 2011 Apr 13.

Abstract

The authors conducted a synthesis of studies of reading comprehension interventions for middle school students (Grades 6-8) identified with a learning disability. They identified 12 studies between 1979 and 2009 with treatment and comparison designs and 2 single-participant studies. Findings from the studies indicate large effect sizes for researcher-developed comprehension measures. Few studies (n = 4) reported standardized measures of reading comprehension, which indicated medium effect sizes. The majority of study treatments (n = 13) utilized strategy instruction related to main idea or summarization.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Achievement
  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Comprehension*
  • Curriculum
  • Dyslexia / diagnosis
  • Dyslexia / psychology
  • Dyslexia / therapy*
  • Education, Special*
  • Educational Measurement
  • Evidence-Based Practice
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Learning Disabilities / diagnosis
  • Learning Disabilities / psychology
  • Learning Disabilities / therapy*
  • Male
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • Reading
  • Research*
  • Transfer, Psychology
  • Vocabulary