Reading	Lesson 3: Readings (2)	-

Reading Software for Students with Learning Disabilities: Hypermedia-based Children's Literature

Lewis, R. B. (1999)

Retrieved November 21, 2000, from the World Wide Web:
http://www.ldonline.com/ld_indepth/technology/lewis_rdgsftware.html

Abstracted by Anne Daugherty

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This purpose of this article is to describe Project LITT, Literacy Instruction Through Technology, a three-year research project funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education. Also included in the article is a discussion of the body of software under study and preliminary results from several empirical studies.

Project LITT investigates the effectiveness of hypermedia-based children's literature software in improving the reading skills of students with learning disabilities. The author contends that hypermedia-based children's literature programs, sometimes called "talking storybooks," are one of the most popular types of software today. These programs read stories aloud to students in realistic digitized speech to the accompaniment of colorful graphics. Often students often can interact with both text and graphics. Examples are the programs in series such as Living Books, Disney's Animated Storybooks, and Reader Rabbit's Reading Development Library.

Hypermedia-based children's literature has advantages for students with learning disabilities:

• The software is appealing, likely to capture and hold students' attention.
• The text is speech-enhanced.
• The software is a computer translation of children's literature, with texts and illustrations are preserved.
• Many programs allow students to hear the story read aloud in either Spanish or English
• Most of the software is general education software and reflects the reading experiences of typical children.

The disadvantages include:

• Reliance on discovery learning, where students choose their own paths through the programs. Students with learning disabilities will require instructional support to really benefit from the software.
• In some programs, students can virtually ignore the text and concentrate on interacting with its illustrations. Easily distractible students will not benefit from this feature.
• Students with learning disabilities may encounter difficulty in the use of speech-enhanced text to support the reading process.
• The software is designed for general education audiences, geared to the interest levels of students achieving at grade level. Students with learning disabilities typically read below grade level.

When researching the available software, the author found more than 300 titles were available in October 1998. The software was found to be extremely heterogeneous, varying only in their length, difficulty level, and the types and numbers of opportunities they provide to students to interact with text, graphics, and activities.

Finally, the author conducted focus group discussions with 42 special education teachers and 13 students with learning disabilities. In general, the students were very enthusiastic about the talking storybook programs they viewed, and the teachers were "generally positive."

Project LITT's purpose is to now gather the data needed to determine the instructional usefulness of talking storybooks for students with learning disabilities.