Comparing Computer-Based Single-Phrase and Multiphrase Interventions on Generalized Reading in Postsecondary Students With Disability

Abstract

Adapted alternating treatment designs were used to evaluate and compare two computer-based phrase-reading interventions in four postsecondary students with an intellectual or developmental disability. Each intervention targeted eight unknown words from each student’s elective college class. For each word, interventions included three stimulus-response–stimulus-response learning trials, which prompted students to read a brief phrase containing an unknown word. During the single-phrase intervention, for each unknown word, three learning trials including the same phrase were presented. During the multiphrase intervention, three different phrases per unknown word were presented. Three generalization phrases were developed for each word. Both interventions increased students’ accurate reading of words embedded in generalization phrases and the entire generalization phrases, with the multiphrase intervention resulting in more rapid learning. Discussion focuses on future research designed to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of phrase-reading interventions on generalized reading performance in students with disability.