Reading intervention for students with intellectual disabilities without functional speech who require augmentative and alternative communication: a multiple single-case design with four randomized baselines.
A big the study period is testing whether systematic phonics works for students with ID who use AAC — stay tuned for the numbers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
LAller et al. (2023) are running an the study period of a phonics-based reading program for 40 students with intellectual disabilities who cannot speak. All students use tablets, picture cards, or other AAC tools instead of voice.
The team set up a multiple-baseline design across four groups. Each child starts the ALL lessons at a different time so the staggered schedule can show if reading gains come from the lessons, not chance.
What they found
The paper is a protocol only. No scores, no graphs, no winners or losers yet. The authors promise full outcome data after the 18-month follow-up is complete.
How this fits with other research
Roane et al. (2001) already showed that non-verbal preschoolers with autism learned early reading and writing faster than they learned sign language. LB’s study extends that idea to older students with ID who use AAC.
Goldstein et al. (1991) warned that behavioral studies in profound disabilities often show small changes that may not matter in real life. LB’s team is answering that call by tracking whether reading gains actually improve school participation and quality of life.
Eldevik et al. (2006) found that low-intensity ABA gave only tiny gains. LB’s trial uses daily, structured literacy sessions — a higher, more focused dose that may avoid the “too little, too late” problem.
Why it matters
If the final data show clear gains, you will have an evidence-based roadmap for teaching phonics to students who speak with devices. While we wait, you can copy the staggered baseline method to pilot any new skill with your own AAC users — start lessons with one learner, show growth, then roll it out to the next. That keeps your caseload ethical and data-driven even before the full results land.
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Join Free →Set up a mini multiple-baseline: pick one AAC learner, start daily 10-minute phonics lessons, track correct letter-sounds for two weeks, then add the next student once you see an upward trend.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
<h4>Background</h4>Literacy is one of the most important skills a students can achieve, as it provides access to information and communication. Unfortunately, literacy skills are not easily acquired, especially for students with intellectual disabilities who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). There are many barriers to literacy acquisition, some due to low expectations from parents and teachers and lack of evidence-based reading programs and reading materials adapted for AAC. Barriers as a result of extensive support needs is also a real factor. This trial aims to deliver reading instructions to 40 students with intellectual disabilities who require AAC and contribute in the debate on how to best support this population through reading instructions to maximizes their reading skills.<h4>Methodology</h4>Forty non-verbal or minimally verbal students (age 6-14) with intellectual disabilities who require AAC will be part of a reading intervention with a multiple single-case design with four randomized baselines. The intervention period will last for 18 months and will commence in March 2023. The students will receive the intervention in a one-to-one format, working systematically with a reading material that contains phonological awareness and decoding tasks based on the Accessible Literacy Learning (ALL) developed by Janice Light and David McNaughton. All the teachers will be trained to deliver the reading intervention.<h4>Discussion</h4>The reading material "Lesing for alle" (Reading for all) is based on and follow the strategies behind the research of ALL. The current trial will through a reading intervention contribute to move beyond only teaching sight words and combine several reading components such as sound blending, letter-sound correspondence, phoneme segmentation, shared reading, recognition of sight words, and decoding. The strategies and methods in use is built on the existing science of reading, especially what has been effective in teaching reading for students with intellectual disabilities who require AAC. There is limited generalizability of prior findings in reading-related phonological processing interventions to different populations of them who use AAC specially outside of the USA. More research is needed to understand how programs designed to improve reading skills across other settings understand the program's long-term effects and to study the effectiveness when delivered by educators who are not speech language therapists or researchers.<h4>Trial registration</h4>NCT05709405 . Registered 23 January 2023.
, 2023 · doi:10.1186/s13063-023-07452-4