Effects of Instruction in the Use of a Visual-Imagery Strategy on the Reading-Comprehension Competence of Disabled and Average Readers

Thirty-nine upper-primary disabled readers and 39 third-grade average readers matched with the disabled readers on word-recognition ability were randomly assigned to three training conditions - visualization instruction only (VI), visualization instruction plus pictorial display (VI+P), and a read-reread (RR) control condition. Training and testing took place over four 40-min. sessions in small groups of five. Results indicated that the VI+P condition, in which subjects were instructed to make pictures in their mind and were shown a pictorial display that illustrated the temporal-spatial sequence of the reading text, was particularly effective in facilitating disabled readers' comprehension performance. However, adequate time and practice are necessary for mastery of the strategy, and appropriate gradual fading of external support is critical to promote internalization and generalization of strategy use.