In 2 experiments I used a delayed multiple probe design to test the effects of teaching students to vocally segment the component phonemes after listening to composite words on the emergence of untaught textual responses, spelling responses, and vocal phoneme blends. All participants were kindergarten students and had been selected because they could textually respond to and write graphemes but did not learn textual responses and spelling responses for words from instruction. There were 2 phases in Experiment I. In Experiment I, Phase 1, I examined the effect of teaching 3 students to vocally segment the component phonemes in a five-word subset of phonemically transparent Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words on the emergence of (a) textual responses, (b) dictated written spelling responses (c) vocally blending the component phonemes into a composite word, and (d) vocally segmenting the component phonemes from untaught composite words. During the vocal phoneme segmentation intervention participants were vocally presented with a composite word and were taught to vocally segment and produce each component phoneme separately in the same sequential order as the component word (e.g., cat...c...a...t). Results showed that derived relations emerged across all topographies after learning to vocally segment the phonemes in 2 sets of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. In Phase 2, I used the same response topographies as Phase 1 using a set of 20 consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant (CCVC) words. All 3 participants demonstrated errors in which they did not include a fourth phoneme (e.g., spelling stop as sop). Results showed that learning to vocally segment a 5-word set of CCVC words established the essential stimulus control for correctly responding to CCVC words. Experiment II was a systematic replication (Sidman, 1960) of Experiment I, Phase 1, which included extra measures of learning and experimental control. Five participants acquired untaught derived relations after learning to vocally segment the component phonemes in composite CVC words. The participants in Experiment II required between 2 and 3 instructional sets before demonstrating derived learning. An additional measure showed that the rate of learning for textual responses increased across all participants after the intervention. Results also showed that verbal operants learned before the intervention joined with the newly acquired spelling repertoire for some participants after the intervention. The results from both experiments demonstrated that children who can identify phonemes and graphemes, but do not learn to textually respond and spell from instruction will acquire those skills as a function of learning the relationship between composite words and the component phonemes through vocal phoneme segmentation.

I conducted 2 experiments in which I tested the effects of a reader immersion procedure on the technical reading comprehension responses to print stimuli for 4 kindergarten students and 3 first grade students. The participants selected for this study textually responded to words at a rate of 80 words correct per minute with 0 incorrect words per minute. They demonstrated early reader repertoires and speaker-as-own listener verbal capablities including incidental language learning (also referred to as Naming), self-talk, and say-do correspondence, all neccesary prerequisites for a child to acquire reader-as-own listener capabilities. However, they were not yet verbally governed by print to complete simple tasks as demonstrated by their performance on “read and build” and “read and draw” reading comprehension tasks. In the 1st experiment, the dependent variables were technical reading tasks that included 1) a 10-step “read and build” task and 2) a 10-step “read and draw” task. During pre-intervention and post-intervention probe assessments, each participant was given a list of 10 written directions and the corresponding materials required to complete the tasks. The independent variable was a reader immersion procedure in which the “need to read” was established by providing access to a preferred item after the emission of correct reading-governed (i.e., read and do) responses. Following the reader immersion procedure, responses to novel reading comprehension responses increased for the participants. The particpants’ behavior was controlled by print stimuli to complete simple reading tasks in which they had to build a structure or reproduce an image with a writing implement. In the 2nd experiment, 4 participants received the 10-step pre-intevention probe assessments used in Experiment 1 along with 2 additonal pre and post-intervention probes in which they completed a 1) 20-step “read and build” task and 2) a 20-step “read and draw task.” The independent variable was the reader immersion procedure used in Experiment 1. Following the reader immersion procedure, responses to novel reading comprehension tasks increased for all dependent variables. Findings suggest that untaught reading comprehension responses emerged as a function of the reader immersion procedure which included a motivating operation as well as repeated opportunities to mediate behavior in response to print stimuli. I describe technical reading as a verbally governed response to print that is a necessary prerequisite to the advanced reader and writer repertoires that will result in success in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields of study.

The purpose of this study was to determine the screening measures used to assess students entering kindergarten in the state of Indiana. In addition, this study sought to determine how the data from these measures are used to inform classroom reading instruction. Eighty-nine schools participated in the study and sixty-two of those schools completed the entire survey, as they were amongst the schools that assess students upon entrance into kindergarten. The survey was sent a total of four times. General findings indicated that Indiana schools assess students inconsistently upon entrance into kindergarten, with variations existing in the administration procedures of screening measures and the type of screening measure. Schools who responded to this survey generally expressed dissatisfaction with current screening measures administered and the results gathered from these measures. In addition, schools who participated in this study reported the use of data to inform classroom instruction, but not all schools specified that reading instruction was informed by the data. / Department of Elementary Education

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-122). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to describe the behaviors of kindergarten students during Sustained Silent Reading sessions modified to be developmentally appropriate.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-248).

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Mississippi State University. Department of Curriculum and Instruction. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2006. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 129 pages. Includes bibliographical references.