Teaching early reading skills to non-vocal students with severe learning disabilities using Headsprout Early Reading©

Many students with learning disabilities find it difficult to acquire basic reading skills. This is even more of a challenge for students who are non-vocal. The purpose of the present study was to pilot the use of Headsprout Early Reading (c) (HER (c)), an online reading programme, with four non-vocal students with a severe learning disability (SLD), over the course of a nine-week period. Additional table-top activities were designed and implemented to augment the online instruction. None of the students completed the programme. Three students improved their early reading skills over the course of the intervention. Staff members indicated positive experiences of using HER (c), especially mentioning how motivated the students were to engage with the programme. HER (c) for students with SLD requires one-to-one support and a longer implementation period to achieve completion; these have implications for resourcing in special schools. However, HER (c) shows promise with non-vocal students with learning disabilities and evidence supports the need for larger-scale evaluation research.