Teaching Listening Comprehension of Science e-Texts for Students With Moderate Intellectual Disability

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a treatment package that combined technology-based supports and systematic instruction on the comprehension skills of elementary-aged students with moderate intellectual disability. Researchers used a multiple probe across participants design. Specifically, researchers examined the effects of constant time delay and a system of least prompts on both generating and answering questions about science electronic texts (e-texts) for student participants. A functional relation was demonstrated for both generating questions using an iPad and answering comprehension questions. All three students demonstrated an ability to correctly answer questions about an e-text read aloud via text-to-speech by either saying an answer from memory or independently searching the e-text and replaying the target text to find the correct answer. A functional relation also was demonstrated between constant time delay instruction and the points earned accurately generating questions using an iPad. Skills transferred to a third-grade general education classroom environment.