EBP Compendium: Summary of Systematic Review

Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education; the National Center for Learning Disabilities
Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies to Students with Learning Disabilities: A Review of Research
Gersten, R., Fuchs, L. S., et al. (2001).
Review of Education Research, 71(2), 279-320.

Indicators of Review Quality:

Description: This is a review of experimental or quasi-experimental studies investigating reading comprehension strategies for students with learning disabilities.

Question(s) Addressed:

Question not specifically stated.

Population: Students with learning disabilities.

Intervention/Assessment: Interventions targeting reading comprehension of narrative text (e.g., peer-mediated instruction, guided questioning) and interventions targeting reading comprehension of expository text (e.g., organization strategies, elaborative interrogation strategy, summary skills training).

Number of Studies Included: Not stated

Years Included: Through June 1999

Findings:

Conclusions:

• Treatment
  • Language
    • Reading Comprehension
      • "The research literature assessing the impact of instructional approaches designed to enhance the comprehension performance of students with learning disabilities is promising" (307).
      • Intervention strategies for narrative and expository text improved reading comprehension performance.
      • "For narrative text, teaching story grammar elements seems to be effective" (p. 307).
      • "When attempting to enhance the performance of students with serious learning difficulties"...the maintenance and transfer are questionable for "narrative text and when applying single strategies to expository text" (p. 307).
        

Keywords: Learning Disabilities, Written Language Disorders, Literacy

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Added to Compendium: March 2012