Abstract
Traditional drill and practice (TDP) and incremental rehearsal (IR) are flashcard drill techniques for teaching sight words to students. Although both have extensive research support, no study to date has compared these methods with children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Utilizing an adaptive alternating treatments design, the present study compared TDP and IR with a second-grade student, educated in a substantially separate classroom, who was diagnosed with ASD (N = 1). Retention, maintenance, and generalization results suggested that both methods were effective interventions for enhancing sight-word recognition. However, TDP was more effective and efficient than IR across retention, maintenance, and generalization measures. Limitations and implications of the study for school-based professionals are discussed.
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This project was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Grant Number ULITR001064. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
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Mulé, C.M., Volpe, R.J., Fefer, S. et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Two Sight-Word Reading Interventions for a Student with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Behav Educ 24, 304–316 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-015-9220-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-015-9220-5