Early reading intervention by means of a multicomponent reading game

Abstract

This study examined the effects of an intervention with a multicomponent reading game on the development of reading skills in 60 Dutch primary school children with special educational needs. The game contains evidence-based reading exercises and is based on principles of applied gaming. Using a multiple baseline approach, we tested children's word, pseudoword and text reading fluency, as well as their reading motivation, at three test occasions. The results indicated that the short intervention (9 × 15 min) enhanced children's pseudoword reading fluency as well as their text reading fluency. Interestingly, the early intervention group showed a sustained intervention effect (i.e., also during retention), which shows that using this reading game has a long-term effect on early text reading development. Intervention did not affect reading motivation, which suggests that the multicomponent reading game can be used to facilitate early reading development without compromising reading motivation.