I included 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in my study. There were 6 students
selected from each grade's3 students with reading difficulties and 3
students reading at grade level according to the classroom teacher. The
students all were trained on how to use the Reading Pen II. Then they
had one week to use the Pen during their reading period. After one
week, they were tested on how well they could scan 5 pre-selected words
in a story. They had to scan 4 out of 5 correctly (80%) in 2 scans or
less (they had 2 scans to get the word). 13 out of 18 students had at
least 80% or higher in scanning the words. I retrained the 5 students
that didn't pass. This took five minutes or less; most of them weren't
starting to scan the word far enough back. After the retraining, all 5
of the students passed. 4 passed with 100% accuracy and 1 passed with
80% accuracy. They were all included in the rest of the study. The
following are the results from the 4th-6th grade students:
4th Grade
-3/3 of the students with reading difficulties did better
with the Pen and errors were cut in half or more. - The student with
the learning disability did better with the Pen and retained 6/6 of the
words scanned. - 3/3 of the students with reading difficulties had a
better retention rate the second day after using the Pen.
5th Grade
- 2/3 of the students with learning disabilities did better
with the Pen. - 2 of the students with learning disabilities retained
3/4 and 5/5 of the words scanned.
6th Grade
- 1/3 of the students with reading difficulties did better
with the Pen. - The student with the learning disability did better
with the Pen and retained 4/5 of the words scanned. The students
without reading difficulties didn't do significantly better with the
Reading Pen II. They did indicate in their interview that the Pen
helped them and they enjoyed it. This study would suggest that the
Reading Pen II did make a difference in the error rate of the students
with reading difficulties. 6 out of 9 students with reading
difficulties did better in oral reading accuracy when using the Reading
Pen II. 5 out of 9 of the students with reading difficulties were
entitled to special education services with a learning disability. 4
out of 5 of the students with learning disabilities did better in oral
reading accuracy when using the Reading Pen II. They also retained most
of the words they scanned one day later.
