Computerized trainings in four groups of struggling readers: Specific effects on word reading and comprehension.
Computerized comprehension training lifted both understanding and word reading in teens with LD, while decoding training only made them faster.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Anna and her team worked with 58 middle-schoolers who had learning disabilities. All kids read below grade level. The kids were split into two groups. One group used a computer program that taught reading comprehension. The other group used a program that drilled fast word decoding. Each kid trained 25 minutes a day, five days a week, for five weeks. The teachers only helped with log-ins and tech trouble.
What they found
The comprehension group jumped forward in both understanding stories and recognizing words. Their comprehension scores rose about one school year. Their word-reading speed also got faster. The decoding group only got quicker at calling out words. Their understanding of stories did not change. Both groups kept the gains when tested two weeks later.
How this fits with other research
Ulriksen et al. (2024) showed that kids with intellectual disabilities who use AAC can learn decoding when teachers give clear phonics lessons. Anna’s study moves the same idea to older kids with LD and lets a computer do the teaching. The results line up: direct skill teaching works.
Morgan et al. (2025) used a low-tech method called reader immersion. Preschool and second-grade students had to read short directions to get toys. Like Anna’s comprehension software, immersion quickly lifted comprehension scores. Together, the studies show the target skill, not the tool, drives the gain.
Davenport et al. (2019) trained teachers to run a racing game that drilled sight words. They saw big fluency jumps, much like Anna’s decoding-only group. The two studies agree: fluency grows fast when practice is repeated and timed.
Why it matters
If you serve older students with LD, start with comprehension software. Anna’s data show it spills over and improves word reading too. A 25-minute station fits inside most resource-room blocks. Track both comprehension and word-recognition each week; you may see double benefits while using only one program.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Four groups of poor readers were identified among a population of students with learning disabilities attending a special class in secondary school: normal readers; specific poor decoders; specific poor comprehenders, and general poor readers (deficits in both decoding and comprehension). These students were then trained with a software program designed to encourage either their word decoding skills or their text comprehension skills. After 5 weeks of training, we observed that the students experiencing word reading deficits and trained with the decoding software improved primarily in the reading fluency task while those exhibiting comprehension deficits and trained with the comprehension software showed improved performance in listening and reading comprehension. But interestingly, the latter software also led to improved performance on the word recognition task. This result suggests that, for these students, training interventions focused at the text level and its comprehension might be more beneficial for reading in general (i.e., for the two components of reading) than word-level decoding trainings.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.07.016