Development of a Reading Support Program for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities to Improve Reading Fluency and Comprehension Skills

Abstract

In Turkey the specific learning disabilities (SLD) is a category of special education frequently mentioned in recent years, but the recognition of SLD by the specialist dates back to a century ago. It is stated that the roots of the researches on SLD are extended to 1800’s. The definition of SLD which has changed with advances in medicine and social sciences, is used today as a term that includes a group of heterogenous disorders that manifests in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, basal reading, comprehension, arithmetical operations, mathematical reasoning and the acquisition and use of written expression skills. The students with SLD have the most common problem in the field of reading. Difficulties in reading negatively affect students’ performance in all academic areas and school achievements. In order to minimize these negative effects it is aimed to design a Support Education Program for Reading Fluency and Comprehension. For this purpose, in this research, which is designed with a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to determine the practices and problems faced by teachers working with SLD. Second, four students with SLD were observed and notes were kept in their one-on-one education at special education and rehabilitation centers
where they received educational support during 14 hours and seven students with SLD were observed in the primary school during the 16 hours of lessons and 12 recesses. In the findings of this study, it is observed that the participating teachers’ views varied with the content of the reading program, and according to the field notes, the observed students with SLD have problems on self-confidence and reading fluency skills