Teaching Reading Comprehension and Language Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities Using Direct Instruction

Abstract

There is limited research demonstrating Direct Instruction (DI) as an effective reading comprehension intervention for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities (DD). Previous research has shown that DI, when portions of the program were implemented, resulted in increased skills (Flores & Ganz, 2007; Flores & Ganz, 2009). The purpose of this pilot study was to implement DI comprehension programs without modification, using whole lessons. Eighteen elementary students with ASD or DD participated in the study and data were collected using curriculum-based assessments. One-way analyses of variance indicated that there were significant differences in students' skills over time. Results and their implications will be discussed.