Reading Instruction for Students with Emotional Disturbance: A Mixed-Methods Investigation.
Kids with emotional disturbance got almost no reading growth because teachers lacked training.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Fyke et al. (2021) visited elementary classrooms that serve students with emotional disturbance. They watched reading lessons and interviewed teachers.
The team wanted to see how well these kids were learning to read and how teachers felt about their own skills.
What they found
Kids made almost no reading growth. Most sat back or acted out during lessons.
Teachers said they had little training for this population and few good materials.
How this fits with other research
Pettingell et al. (2022) found the same weak teaching in autism classrooms. Both studies show poor lesson quality across special-ed groups.
Mulder et al. (2020) flips the script. They gave teachers five short behavior workshops and saw student gains. The difference: those teachers got training.
Bearss et al. (2025) tried a full ABA package for paraeducators. Confidence rose, but student behaviors stayed flat. Together these papers say training helps, yet quick fixes are not enough.
Why it matters
Your ED students will stay stuck if you wait for perfect materials. Ask for a simple behavioral-skills workshop this month. Model clear prompts, praise, and quick error correction during reading. Track one kid’s words read per minute for two weeks. Small teacher moves can beat the zero growth William saw.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Although there is a substantial body of observation research investigating the manner in which reading instruction is provided to students with learning disabilities, there is little research in this area involving students with and at risk for emotional disturbance. The purpose of this investigation was to contribute to the limited corpus of observation studies investigating school-based practice in reading for this student population. In this investigation, 11 teachers from two states were systematically observed while providing reading instruction over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. Participating students were also observed over the course of the year and completed two standardized reading assessments at the beginning and end of this investigation. Teachers were also interviewed to identify contextual factors that promote or impede the provision of high quality reading instruction to this student population. Study findings suggest that teachers are in need of additional training, support, and resources to maximize instructional time. Students in this sample tended to make no or minimal progress in reading and were frequently observed displaying low levels of academic engagement across settings. Implications for school practice and areas for future research are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2021 · doi:10.1177/0145445519868804