The use of music to enhance reading skills of second grade students and students with reading disabilities.

Full Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of using music as a remedial strategy to enhance the reading skills of second-grade students and students who have been identified as having a specific learning disability (SLD) in reading. First, an intensive short-term music curriculum was designed to target reading comprehension and vocabulary skills at the second grade level. The curriculum was then implemented in classrooms at two public schools in the Southeast. Reading skills were evaluated pre and post curriculum intervention via the vocabulary and reading comprehension subtests of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test for second grade. Analysis of pre/posttest data revealed that students with a specific disability in reading improved significantly from pre to post on all three subtests:
word decoding (p = .04), word knowledge (p = .01), reading comprehension (p = .01), and test total (p = .01). Paired t-tests revealed that for 2nd grade students, both treatment and control classes improved significantly from pre to post on the subtests word decoding, word knowledge, and test total. While both classes made gains from pre to post on the subtest, reading comprehension, neither improved significantly. Analysis of Covariance revealed that the treatment class made greater gains pre to post than the control class on all 3 subtests (Including reading comprehension), and significantly greater gains on the subtest, word knowledge (p = .01).

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Author information

Author/s: Register, Dena (D); Darrow, Alice-Ann (AA); Standley, Jayne (J); Swedberg, Olivia (O);

Affiliation: The University of Kansas, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of music therapy (J Music Ther), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 44 (issue 1) : pp 23-37

Dates: Created 2007/04/10; Completed 2007/06/12;

PMID: 17419662, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Child
Dyslexia - diagnosis; therapy
Educational Measurement - methods
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans

Male
Multivariate Analysis
Music Therapy - methods
Reading
Students - psychology
Treatment Outcome

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