A process approach to remediating word‐decoding deficiencies in Chapter 1 children

Difficulties in remediating reading deficiencies in Chapter 1 children have been well documented. Using samples of children from this population, we report the results of two studies employing a recently developed program designed to remediate word-decoding deficiencies. The Process-Based Reading Enhancement Program (PREP) is based on the Luria-Das model of information integration. It involves instruction twice weekly over 14 to 16 weeks. In Study 1, 50 children were randomly selected from a fourth-grade Chapter 1 population. From this group, random assignment was made to experimental and comparison groups (N=25 in each group). The PREP was administered using a student-teacher ratio of 2 to 1. The Word Attack and Word Identification subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised (WRMT-R) were used as pre- and posttests. For both measures, significant group-by-time interactions were detected. In Study 2, a different sample of 100 Chapter 1 fourth-grade children was randomly divided into remediation and comparison groups (after attrition, Ns=37 and 41, respectively). As in Study 1, all children were pretested and posttested on alternate forms of the Word Attack and Word Identification subtests of the WRMT-R. The time x treatment interactions were significant for both measures. The results of these studies support the efficacy of the PREP to improve word-reading and decoding abilities.