Reading interventions with behavioral and social skill outcomes: a synthesis of research.
Reading lessons alone do not improve behavior; layer on a real behavior program.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors pulled every study that paired reading lessons with behavior or social skills training.
They looked at whether reading gains spilled over into better behavior or social skills.
Kids ranged from preschool through high school in regular and special-ed classrooms.
What they found
Reading lessons did boost reading scores.
The same lessons rarely helped behavior and sometimes made it worse.
Stronger reading did not automatically lead to calmer or more social kids.
How this fits with other research
Leung et al. (2014) shows the fix: weave self-regulation games right into early literacy. Their KITS program lifted both letter skills and self-control for low-income preschoolers.
Veenman et al. (2018) backs this up. A meta-analysis of class-wide behavior programs found small but real drops in disruptive behavior and better on-task work in primary grades.
Adams et al. (2024) sounds like a contradiction. They added working-memory games to reading tutoring and saw no extra benefit. The difference is they kept the focus on cognitive drills, not social-behavior skills, so the null result actually supports the target review’s point.
Why it matters
If you run reading groups, add a separate, explicit behavior plan. Use group contingencies, self-regulation scripts, or social-skills primers. Do not wait for reading gains to magically fix behavior—they won’t.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Research findings have suggested that reading deficits and problem behaviors are positively related. This synthesis investigated how reading interventions impact behavioral/social skill outcomes by reviewing studies that included (a) a reading intervention without behavioral/social skill components, (b) behavioral/social skill dependent variables, and (c) students in Grades K-12. Fifteen articles were evaluated by the type of reading intervention, associations between positive reading effects and behavioral/social skill outcomes, and The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) determinants of study ratings. Findings suggested that reading interventions tended to have positive reading outcomes, while behavioral/social skill outcomes were small or negative. Research did not suggest an association between improved reading and behavioral performance, regardless of the WWC study determinants rating. Implications include reading instruction may not be sufficient to improve behavioral and social skill outcomes. Additional research is warranted to investigate the long-term impact of reading on behavioral and social skill outcomes.
Behavior modification, 2015 · doi:10.1177/0022219413504995