Title of the study: Sight Word and Phonics Training in Children With Dyslexia
Authors: Genevieve McArthur, PhD, Anne Castles, PhD, Saskia Kohnen, PhD, Linda
Larsen, BSc Hons, Kristy Jones, BSc Hons, Thushara Anandakumar, BSc Hons, and Erin Banales, BSc Hons
Complete APA citation:
Mcarthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., &
Banales, E. (2013). Sight Word and Phonics Training in Children With Dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(4), 391-407. doi:10.1177/0022219413504996
Purpose of study: To compare sight word training and phonics training in children with dyslexia and to determine if different orders of sight words and phonetics have differing effects on reading skills of children with dyslexia
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For the experimental procedures, the participants were given four screening tests, which was made up of 40 nonwords (grenty), 40 irregular words (yacht), and 40 regular words (marsh). These words were presented in random order. Children read the words until making 5 mistakes in a row, when this happened the testing of that specific item was stopped and testing began on other types of words. The participants nonverbal IQ was also tested with the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (Kaufman and Kaufman, 2004). After this testing took place and each child had a baseline, the participants went through three types of training- sight word training, phonics training, mixed training. Sight word training consisted 36 children. They were instructed to do 5 sight word training sessions a week for 8 weeks; which consisted of 30 minutes and used one of 30 provided lists with 24 words Parents were to keep up with the number of successful completions of each session. Phonics training consisted of 36 children and used computer based sessions, 5 days a week for 8 weeks at 30 minute increments. This training focused on accuracy more so than fluency. Mixed training consisted of 32 children and used the same types of exercises in sight word and phonics training. However, the participants did the training on alternating days, sight word one day and phonics the next day. This study was completed over the span of 2 years and the drop out rate was low. After the 8 week training period, the child …show more content…
However, results show that no significant difference was observed between all of the participants. It is reported that for every test: trained irregular word accuracy, nonword reading accuracy, nonword reading fluency, reading comprehension and word reading fluency, all showed significantly positive findings in reference to the children’s post testing after having trainng for 8 weeks.
Discussion of Findings: This study proves that training sight words and phonics for children with dyslexia is extremely beneficial for the child to receive both types of training. It also points out that children with dyslexia need more than phonics training. It is helpful for them to have sight word training exposure as well. They go hand in hand, with one greatly supplementing the other.
Conclusions: In conclusion, the study provides that children with dyslexia are greatly benefited when sight word training is paired with phonic training, instead of only offering phonic training. It is also noted that especially for children with dyslexia, the training of phonics first, then sight-reading is more beneficial for the child’s reading progress in the