Eighteen severely retarded readers in a state hospital school were given six hours of phonic skills instruction in brief, small-group sessions. Nine subjects were taught with a commercially available program. The remaining nine received an experimentally developed program. Comparison of pre- and post-test scores on a Phonic Skills Test showed instruction had significantly improved phonic skills in both groups. Results also showed that the experimental group had learned to generalize the skills, whereas the group that had received the commercial program had not. It was concluded that the experimental program offers possibilities for providing effective instruction in hospital schools.
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