Promoting Parent Use of Empirically Supported Reading Interventions: Two Experimental Investigations of Child Outcomes

Two experimental investigations of the effects of parent delivered reading interventions were conducted. Tutoring packages consisting of empirically supported intervention components were delivered by parents for at least several weeks after initial parent training. Both experiments used single-case experimental designs and measured participants' oral reading fluency in passages. Experiment 1 used a multiple-probe design across tasks (passages) to evaluate tutoring effects for two students with learning disabilities. Results indicate that both students increased their reading fluency and maintained those increases over time. Experiment 2 used a brief experimental analysis that included both experimenter and parent delivered instructional trials to validate the treatment package. Next, the treatment package was evaluated using an alternating treatments design. Results were uniformly positive. An interesting but not surprising correlation was also found between treatment integrity and student outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of the framework and skills that behavior analysts have for working with parents and schools to improve their children's academic responding.