Teaching the reading of connected text through sight-word instruction to students with moderate intellectual disabilities.
Use simultaneous prompting to teach students with moderate ID to read phrases and sentences, not just single words, and the skill generalizes to real-life text.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three middle-school students with moderate intellectual disability joined the study.
Each child could already read about 50 single words.
The team used simultaneous prompting to teach short phrases and sentences.
They started with two-word phrases like "I see" and moved to full sentences.
Sessions happened in the classroom for 10-15 minutes each day.
The teacher showed a card, gave the prompt, and the child read aloud.
After each lesson, they tested if the child could read the phrase without help.
What they found
All three students learned to read connected text.
They mastered 20-25 new phrases in about 15 sessions.
The skill stuck for at least four weeks after teaching stopped.
Best part: the kids could read new sentences in menus, signs, and storybooks.
One student read a birthday card to his mom without any help.
How this fits with other research
This study extends Dogan et al. (2002) and Cariveau et al. (2023).
Both used simultaneous prompting, but only for single pictures or listener skills.
Jones et al. (2010) shows the same tactic works for reading whole phrases.
Delgado-Lobete et al. (2019) used textual prompts to build spoken requests.
The two studies together prove the prompting logic crosses from reading to speaking.
May (2011) reviewed nine sight-word studies and found strong effects for single words.
Jones et al. (2010) goes further by teaching phrases and proving real-world use.
Why it matters
You can move past single-word drills.
Teach short phrases with simultaneous prompting and watch the skill spread to real text.
Start with two-word chunks the child will see in daily life.
Test in the cafeteria, hallway, or library to prove it works everywhere.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Sight-word instruction is the most common method of reading instruction for students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities reported in the research literature. The purpose of this study was to go beyond instruction of single word units to instruction of multiple-word phrases. This study demonstrated the instruction of reading and comprehending individual words and connected text through the use of simultaneous prompting. Instruction progressed through a series of phases which systematically introduced various parts of speech and combinations of parts of speech. Following acquisition, students demonstrated generalization across connected text found in community environments and leisure-reading materials.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.06.011