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Reading Ability and a Comparison of Reading and Listening Comprehension for Students Aged 16–22 with Intellectual Disability
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology. Linnaeus University, Linnaeus Knowledge Environments, Education in Change.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4570-6288
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology. Stockholm University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1502-055x
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7261-590X
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2608-6204
2025 (English)In: International journal of disability, development and education, ISSN 1034-912X, E-ISSN 1465-346X, Vol. 72, no 2, p. 247-262Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Many studies have examined students with reading and writing difficulties. However, relatively little research has examined reading difficulties in students with intellectual disabilities (ID). The present study included 70 students, 46 with mild and 24 with moderate ID, from six different upper secondary schools for students with ID in southern Sweden. The study had the following aims: first to investigate the students’ reading ability, and second to compare students’ reading and listening abilities. The results revealed that few of the students reached the average decoding and reading comprehension levels for grade 3 students in compulsory school. Furthermore, students generally performed better on listening comprehension than reading comprehension, and this benefit was particularly prominent for students with moderate ID. These findings suggest that systematically practicing listening comprehension may help students with ID increase text assimilation. However, more research is needed to confirm this possibility.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis Group, 2025. Vol. 72, no 2, p. 247-262
Keywords [en]
intellectual disabilities, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, decoding, upper secondary school
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-129395DOI: 10.1080/1034912x.2024.2355341ISI: 001222398600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-86000381872OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-129395DiVA, id: diva2:1858738
Available from: 2024-05-17 Created: 2024-05-17 Last updated: 2026-04-22Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Assisterande teknik - att ta till sig och producera text: Ett stöd för elever i anpassad grund- och gymnasieskola
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Assisterande teknik - att ta till sig och producera text: Ett stöd för elever i anpassad grund- och gymnasieskola
2024 (Swedish)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Many students with intellectual disability experience significant difficulties in assimilating written text through reading and even more struggle with writing. This dissertation aims to investigate whether assistive technologies such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text contribute to providing more opportunities for students with intellectual disability to assimilate and produce text. The first study in the dissertation was a crosssectional study that examined reading and listening comprehension abilities among 70 students with mild or moderate intellectual disability in the age group of 16 to 22 years. The results showed that the students had weak decoding and reading comprehension skills and better listening comprehension. This was particularly evident for students with moderate intellectual disability. In the second study, five fourth-grade students with mild intellectual disability received a decoding intervention. Using a single-subject design, the study demonstrated that all students increased the number of decoded words after the intervention, albeit to varying degrees. For some students, additional decoding training could prove beneficial, while others require alternative approaches. The third study employed a quasi-experimental wait-list control group design involving 41 students with mild or moderate intellectual disability in upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disability. The purpose was to investigate whether the students further increased their listening comprehension abilities after a period of intervention with text-to-speech. Additionally, there was an interest in monitoring the development of decoding skills during the intervention. The results confirmed that the students assimilated text better through listening and improved even further with listening comprehension training, but no significant differences were found. The students also improved in decoding despite not specifically training for it. The fourth study utilized a single-subject design with four students with mild intellectual disability aged 10 to 14 years. The students were trained to use speech-to-text to produce words and sentences in writing. Three of the students could hardly produce anything in writing via handwriting, while one student could read and write traditionally. However, the results showed that all students increased the number of produced words and sentences and their text quality compared to writing by hand or keyboard. In summary, the results of the four studies demonstrate that many students with intellectual disability have significant difficulties assimilating and producing text through reading and writing traditionally. Most of the students also demonstrated better listening comprehension than reading comprehension. When alternatives such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text were provided, the conditions for understanding the content of written text and the opportunities for producing written text improved. An important conclusion that can be drawn from the studies is also that students with moderate intellectual disabilities may be assumed to face greater difficulties than they actually do if they are only offered traditional reading and writing methods.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Växjö: Linnaeus University Press, 2024. p. 75
Series
Linnaeus University Dissertations ; 528
Keywords
assistive technology, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, decoding, intellectual disability
National Category
Applied Psychology Didactics
Research subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-129531 (URN)10.15626/LUD.528.2024 (DOI)9789180821636 (ISBN)9789180821643 (ISBN)
Public defence
2024-06-14, Newton, hus C, Växjö, 13:15 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2024-05-23 Created: 2024-05-23 Last updated: 2025-03-25Bibliographically approved

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Sand, ChristinaSelenius, HeidiFälth, LindaSvensson, Idor

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