Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction on Word and Pseudoword Reading of Reading-Disabled Students

In this chapter, a review of six Dutch experiments on the transfer effects of computer-assisted instruction is presented. Because the effect on general reading skill is the ultimate goal of any instruction of reading-disabled students, the review describes the effects on word and pseudoword reading. In general, progress of the reading-disabled students after computer-assisted instruction is quite small in comparison to control conditions. Multicomponential training did not affect reading achievement. Single component methods had specific effects. Improvement on pseudo- word reading was stimulated by phonological decoding training, especially in combination with limitation of exposure duration. Training to increase speed of reading sub lexical units affected accuracy and speed of reading. In addition, the single component training conditions may elicit a progress on a continuous trial word recognition task. The well-controlled experiments indicate that reading-disabled students are hard-to-teach. However, single component meth odes seem to be promising.