The Effects of Planning, Goal Setting, and Performance Feedback on Avoidance Behaviors for Struggling Readers

To improve reading achievement, teachers must ensure students actively engage in productive and meaningful reading tasks. Students with an established history of reading difficulty—including those with reading disabilities—may, over time, develop behaviors for passive and active avoidance of reading tasks. The current study explored the effects of a behavioral intervention on the latency to engagement in reading tasks for middle school students with (n = 3) and without (n = 3) reading disabilities. A multicomponent intervention using planning, goal setting, and performance feedback was examined using a multiple baseline across participants design. Results of visual analysis indicated a functional relation between changes in latency and implementation of the intervention. Quantitative analysis indicated a strong overall effect that is statistically significant, Tau-U = ？0.85, 95% CI = [–1, –0.35], p < .01. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed