READ: Field Test of an Educational Approach to Reading Disability.

This investigation describes a field test of the materials entitled "Reading: An Educational Approach to Disability" (READ), which were developed to aid disabled readers in the beginning stages of learning to decode English print. The subjects were 15 Title I reading teachers working in small groups with 183 second-grade children. The questions of interest were whether the READ materials, more effectively than games of traditional phonics, could teach students to decode short vowel trigrams and increase students' word recognition and reading comprehension skills. Results suggest that both the READ and the games programs were more effective than traditional phonics in developing students' ability to decode the meanings of written sentences and that the READ materials were more effective in developing the ability to decode unknown words in isolation for children in the lowest achievement subgroup. Revisions in the program prior to dissemination, followed by repeated validation study, are recommended. Tables illustrating the text are included. (Author/JM)