Use of the Audio Visual Tactile Treatment on Disabled Readers in Grades Three and Four : Its Effect on Word Recognition, Silent Reading Comprehension, and Attitude Towards Reading
Authors:   ,   Andrews University, de Alwis Shirani 
Published: June 2023

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Audio Visual Tactile (AVT) treatment in third - and fourth-grade disabled readers in three areas of reading: word-recognition skills , silent-reading comprehension skills , and attitude towards reading. Procedures A Quasi-Experimental Pretest-Posttest Nonequivalent Group Design was used. The subjects were 87 students in grades 3 and 4 with at least low-average intelligence ( I . Q. scores of 80 and above), receiving Title I reading-support services during the 1979-80 school year. The students were from the Central, Northside, and Oak Manor elementary schools in the Niles Community School District, Niles, Michigan. Two experimental conditions were employed for the study. (1) AVT treatment, and (2) Attention-Control treatment. The d is tr ic t reading specialist assigned students at Central elementary school to the AVT treatment group (N=46), and students at Northside and Oak Manor to the Attention-Control group (N=4i). Both experimental conditions received comparable instruction in reading during regularly scheduled reading class periods and during T itle I laboratory periods, where individual attention to reading problems was given. The only apparent reading curriculum difference was the introduction of the AVT method of reading into the AVT treatment group. Both groups spent equal time for reading instruction . The AVT treatment was administered in 9 groups (4-6 students in each group) by 3 instructors assisted by 3 aides trained in the AVT method. Students were randomly assigned to each of the 9 AVT treatment groups. The experimental period lasted for 9 weeks, with the AVT treatment groups receiving 16 to 18 hours of AVT instruction. Pretesting was conducted the week before and posttesting the week after the treatment period. Three instruments were used to collect data: (1) the Woodcock Word Id entificationsubtcst Form A for pretest, and Form B for posttest to determine word-recognition skills ; (2) the Nelson Silent Reading Comprehension subtest Form A for pretest and Form B for posttest to assess silent-reading comprehension skills ; and (3) the Heathington Intermediate Scale for pre and posttesting to determine attitude towards reading. Of the 87 students who participated in this experiment, 4 students did not meet the attendance c r ite r ia set by the researcher, thus data from 83 students were included for analysis (Attention Control group=40 students, AVT treatment group=43 students.) To analyze the data collected, three statistical methods were used: (1) one-way univariate analysis of covariance, (2) multivariate analysis of covariance, and (3) discriminant analysis. I.Q. scores and pretest scores served as the covariates. Results The analyses revealed the following results at the .05 level of significance: 1. AVT treatment significantly increased word-recognition scores for grades 3 and 4 combined, for grade 3, grade 4, and for average I . Q. students. There was no sig n ifican t difference in word recognition test means for the high-average or the low-average I.Q. students, although in both cases the non-significant difference was in the direction of the AVT treatment group. 2. AVT treatment significantly increased silent-reading comprehension scores for grades 3 and 4 combined, and for grade 3. No significant difference in test means was found for grade 4, high average, average, and low-average I . Q. students, although the nonsignificant difference favored the AVT treatment group. 3. No sig n ifican t differences in reading attitudes was shown between mean posttest scores of the AVT treatment and the Attention control groups. 4. There was a significant difference between the centroids of the two treatment groups with respect to posttest scores on word recognition, silent-reading comprehension, and attitude towards reading. 5. The AVT treatment group was significantly distinct from the Attention-Control group in that the former had significantly higher mean scores for word-recognition and silent-reading comprehension in that order of importance.