The effect of computer-based method of»sequential display of letters«on quick naming, phonological awareness, accurate and fluid reading of dyslexic elementary students

Helping children with learning disabilities in the first years of school by using attractive, technological, and accessible solutions is essential to overcome these problems in many situations, such as the pandemic of Covid-19 to help educators in the achievement of their goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of consecutive letter presentation, using a computer-based method on the improvement of the reading ability of dyslexic elementary students.

The research method is quantitative, within the framework of single-subject research projects, and A.B.A.B or Reversal Design. The population of the present study consisted of dyslexic students of Arak city who were studying in the academic year of 2019-2020. Six individuals (2 girls and 4 boys) were purposefully selected from this population. The research instruments were a researcher-made vocabulary checklist, Shirazi and Nilipour Reading Test (2004), Soleimani Phonological Awareness Test (2000) and Fast Naming Test. The research tool was researcher-made software prepared by Microsoft PowerPoint program and run in the final format of Adobe Captivate program in which the words were displayed and pronounced letter by letter, syllable by syllable and finally completely to the student. The research intervention lasted 4 weeks. In the first and third weeks, only the word reading test was administered every day. In the second and fourth weeks, the same tested words in the previous week were taught and exercised. Also, at the end of each week, the phonology test was repeated in the fifth session. Tests of fluency and accuracy of reading texts, phonological awareness, and rapid naming were also administered as pre/post-test before and after the intervention. The results were analyzed, using SPSS software and Wilcoxon and Friedman statistical tests.

The findings showed that the use of computer-based method of presenting consecutive letters can improve the accuracy of reading words separately, as well as the accuracy and fluidity of reading the text; and the student will be able to read in a shorter time and with fewer errors. Also, this method showed significant and upward progress in the phonological awareness of dyslexic students during the intervention. It was also found that after using this method, students did the task of naming the colors with greater speed and fewer errors; indicating that this method had a significant positive effect on information processing speed.

The intervention performed in this study, using the available software such as PowerPoint, was able to prove acceptable effectiveness in improving dyslexic students' reading skills, phonological awareness, and information processing speed. Predicting the budget and expert work force to produce content, or teaching the teachers how to prepare and use such programs can be on the agenda of primary educational centers. Also, research on more samples can increase the generalizability of the results.