A short reading session helped children with reading difficulties

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   80 children in grades 2 to 5 from three US public schools took part. 33 had reading difficulties, 17 had ADHD signs but no reading difficulties, and 30 were typical readers. Of the 33, 21 also had ADHD signs.

2. 02

   What they did

   Everyone read stories and answered questions. One group first heard praise for past reading and a clever label for answering questions with few errors. They were also challenged to beat their last level and another child's score. The other group got the same stories with no such talk.

3. 03

   What happened

   Students with reading difficulties read more fluently and understood more than the other group did. Typical readers also improved. Children with ADHD signs but no reading difficulties did not clearly improve. The session did not clearly help reading difficulties more than typical readers.

What the study found

1. Helped

   Praise and goals to beat their last level and a peer helped students with reading difficulties understand more.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Rule: Compete or compare with otherstested

   Small randomised trial of 80 children with reading problems, ADHD or neither · vs students given plain instructions · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

2. Helped

   Students with reading difficulties read more fluently than the other group did.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Rule: Compete or compare with otherstested

   Small randomised trial of 80 children with reading problems, ADHD or neither · vs students given plain instructions · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

Source