Computerized Silent Reading Rate and Strategy Instruction for Fourth Graders at Risk in Silent Reading Rate.

Fourth graders whose silent word reading and/or sentence reading rate was, on average, two-thirds standard deviation below their oral reading of real and pseudowords and reading comprehension accuracy were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 7) or wait-listed (n = 7) control groups. Following nine sessions combining computerized rapid-accelerated-reading program (RAP), which individually tailors rate of written text presentation to comprehension criterion (80%), and self-regulated strategies for attending and engaging, the treated group significantly outperformed the wait-listed group before treatment on (a) a grade-normed, silent sentence reading rate task requiring lexical- and syntactic-level processing to decide which of three sentences makes sense and (b) RAP presentation rates yoked to comprehension accuracy level. Each group improved significantly on these same outcomes from before to after instruction. Attention ratings and working memory for written words predicted posttreatment accuracy, which c...