Reading interventions for middle and secondary students with emotional and behavioral disorders: a quantitative review of single-case studies.

Spriggs et al. (2015) looked at 11 single-case studies. All studies taught reading to middle or high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD).

The team used Tau-U to combine results. This method gives one number that shows how well the interventions worked across all studies.

Reading interventions gave a medium effect: Tau-U = .59. That means students improved about six tenths of a standard deviation.

In plain words, the average student moved from the 50th to the 73rd percentile after the reading program.

McKenna et al. (2017) dug into the same pool of studies two years later. They found two promising tactics: cognitive mapping and listening while reading. Yet they also showed that two-thirds of the studies failed basic quality checks.

Kostulski et al. (2021) extended the idea to students with autism. They let kids pick their own texts while teaching vocabulary and main idea. Choice plus structure worked there, too.

The pattern is clear: reading help works for secondary students with tough behaviors, but only if you pick solid practices and keep quality high.

You can add reading goals to behavior plans without fear. Pick brief, evidence-based routines like listening while reading or cognitive mapping. Track data each session so you meet both behavior and academic needs.