Reading Instruction in Science for Students with Learning Disabilities

As a growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) receive science instruction in general education settings, students with LD continue to perform significantly lower than their non-disabled peers. The shift from textbook-driven instruction to inquiry-based approaches to science learnin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLearning disability quarterly Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 160 - 173
Main Authors Kaldenberg, Erica R, Watt, Sarah J, Therrien, William J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities 01.08.2015
Subjects
Comparative Analysis
Effect Size
Elementary School Students
High School Students
Inquiry
Intervention
Learning Disabilities
Literature Reviews
Meta Analysis
Middle School Students
Reading Comprehension
Reading Difficulties
Reading Instruction
Science Curriculum
Science Instruction
Teaching Methods
Vocabulary Development
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Summary:As a growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) receive science instruction in general education settings, students with LD continue to perform significantly lower than their non-disabled peers. The shift from textbook-driven instruction to inquiry-based approaches to science learning supports students who struggle with reading. However, research continues to show that for students to fully access the science curriculum, it is critical to address effective ways to increase reading comprehension of expository science text. This meta-analysis identified 20 studies from 12 articles that evaluated the efficacy of such interventions. Effect sizes were calculated for each study. Across all studies, a mean effect size (ES) of 0.98 was obtained. Findings align with past research on reading comprehension of expository text indicating that students with LD benefit from explicit vocabulary instruction (ES = 1.25) and the use of multicomponent interventions (ES = 0.64) when reading science-related material.
ISSN:0731-9487
DOI:10.1177/0731948714550204