An Evaluation of Read Naturally® on Increasing Reading Fluency for Three Primary Students with Learning Disabilities (2015)

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of the reading fluency program Read Naturally®. This program employs passage reading and comprehension questions. These are graded at various instructional levels (kg. to adult). The program employs several practice procedures such as passage reading along with a pre-recorded audiotape, reading the passage independently, and finally reading the same passage again to an adult. The participants were two, third graders (one boy and one girl), and a fourth grade boy. Data were collected on the correct words read orally per minute across various lessons. These data were gathered in the elementary school's resource room and taken daily. The effectiveness of the Read Naturally® program was evaluated with a multiple-baseline design. Our overall outcomes indicated that there was little change in correct words read per minute without practicing the passage (a cold read) and a large increase in correct words read after practice (a hot read). The results suggest that the procedure of repeated practice with an audiotape and practicing independently are effective procedures for increasing words read per minute. While the present outcomes were positive, further research is warranted regarding the efficacy of the Read Naturally® in the schools.According to the summary findings of the National Reading Panel (2000) found five skills taught that are critical if children are going to learn to read. These are phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, fluency with text, vocabulary, and comprehension. In the natural progression of reading, students are expected to have mastered the skill of decoding by the end of third grade and move on to reading for meaning through the intermediate grades. Students in intermediate grades began to receive more course work that requires the ability to read fluendy and comprehend the material content (Camine, Silbert, Kameenui, & Tarver, 2010; Kameenui, 1998). LaBerge and Samuels (1974) described the importance of fluency as being able to automatically free up cognitive resources that can be devoted to text comprehension (p. 293 ). Fluency has also been suggested as a very important measure of reading competency (L. Fuchs, D. Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001; Samuels, 2002). When students have difficulty in developing accurate and fluent reading skills, it reduces their ability to learn to read for meaning because they may have to stop, decode and reread. When this occurs, reading becomes frustrating, laborious, and students may begin to dislike reading. When students develop literacy skills, it may prevent them from dropping out of school when schoolwork becomes too frustrating (Chambers, Dunn, & Rabren, 2004; McLaughlin & Vacha, 1992).Fluency intervention needs to take place so that students can carry on in their education. The Read Naturally® program (Hasbrouck, Ihnot, & Rogers, 1999) is designed to improve reading fluency. It is an individualized program design that makes use of the research that links dependent comprehension and fluency. Also, the National Reading Panel (2000) listed the following areas as essential in reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. All of these essential areas of reading are found throughout the Read Naturally® program (Hasbrouck et al., 1999). Three Read Naturally® strategies that help develop essential reading elements are: (a) reading along with a fluent model, (b) individual repeated readings of the same passage at the student's reading level, and (c) progress monitoring of the students improvement (Hasbrouck et al., 1999). The Read Naturally® program may be used as a reading supplement that provides extra practice for young readers, for students learning the English language, and as an intervention for struggling readers. When using Read Naturally®, students progress at their own pace; this aspect of the program could reduce anxiety that students may experience with reading because they are not forced to move ahead before they are ready. …