Teaching Sight Words to Elementary Students With Intellectual Disability and Autism: A Comparison of Teacher-Directed Versus Computer-Assisted Simultaneous Prompting.
Teacher-led simultaneous prompting edges out the same procedure on a computer for elementary students with autism or ID, yet both paths work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three elementary students with autism or intellectual disability took part.
Each child learned sight words under two formats: teacher-led and computer-based simultaneous prompting.
The team used an alternating-treatments design to compare the formats session by session.
What they found
All three kids mastered the word lists in both formats.
Teacher-directed lessons gave a small edge in speed or preference for every learner.
No child needed extra help when the teacher ran the trials.
How this fits with other research
May (2011) already showed that massed trials with prompting and praise teach sight words to students with autism; Beth et al. simply add the computer option.
Klaus et al. (2019) later compared simultaneous prompting with progressive time delay and also saw equal results for most kids, backing the idea that the prompting family works.
Mueller et al. (2000) looks like a contradiction: preschoolers with autism learned vocabulary faster on a lively computer game than with a teacher. The gap fades when you note the age, task, and flashy animations used in 2000. Elementary sight-word drills are leaner and kids may value the human voice and quick praise the teacher gives.
Why it matters
You can place sight-word trials on a tablet when a para is unavailable and still get gains. Start with the teacher model, though; it stays the slightly stronger tool and gives you room to add social praise and instant fixes. If a child stalls, pivot back to face-to-face trials before reshaping the task.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of teacher-directed simultaneous prompting to computer-assisted simultaneous prompting for teaching sight words to 3 elementary school students with intellectual disability. Activities in the computer-assisted condition were designed with Intellitools Classroom Suite software whereas traditional materials (i.e., flashcards) were used in the teacher-directed condition. Treatment conditions were compared using an adapted alternating treatments design. Acquisition of sight words occurred in both conditions for all 3 participants; however, each participant either clearly responded better in the teacher-directed condition or reported a preference for the teacher-directed condition when performance was similar with computer-assisted instruction being more efficient. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-53.3.196