The efficacy of Sounds first reading system in contrast to an Orton-Gillingham approach for children who have language learning disabilities

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Authors
Robinson, Martha Mary Whelan
Advisor
Davis, Andrew S.
Issue Date
2013-12-14
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (Ph. D.)
Department
Department of Educational Psychology
Other Identifiers
Abstract

This is the first study to explore the efficacy of Sounds First Reading System (SFRS). The study is of SFRS in contrast to an Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach for 18 children with language learning disabilities. The study compares the results of 5 subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) (Woodcock & Mather, 2001) over two years with a matched sample. The study is a record review of archival data on 36 children who attended a private school exclusively for children with language learning disabilities. Eighteen were matched controls. The data consisted of three occasions of the 5 assessments (Letter-Word Identification, Word Attack, Passage Comprehension, Reading Fluency and Spelling) on three occasions over the course of two years; the Baseline, Assessment 2 after a year of OG instruction and Assessment 3 after a year of SFRS instruction for the SFRS sample and a second year of OG instruction for the matched sample. Two-way ANOVA with between and within subjects factors was run to determine if there were differences in the patterns of achievement in raw scores of the WJ III ACH test for the SFRS sample in comparison to a matched sample. As a study on archive data there were limitations due to a lack of a random sample and a small sample. There were no significant differences between the two groups however, there were significant changes within the factors and there was evidence that SFRS was as effective as OG for this group of children.