Cited by 196Assistive Technology in Communication and MobilityReading and Literacy DevelopmentDisability Education and Employment

Effects of Assistive Technology for Students with Reading and Writing Disabilities

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Svensson, Idor, Nordström, Thomas, Lindeblad, Emma, Gustafson, Stefan, Björn, Marianne, Sand, Christina, Almgren/Bäck, Gunilla, Nilsson, Staffan·2021·Disability and Rehabilitation Assistive Technology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Assistive technology has been used to mitigate reading disabilities for almost three decades, and tablets with text-to-speech and speech-to-text apps have been introduced in recent years to scaffold reading and writing. Few scientifically rigorous studies, however, have investigated the benefits of this technology. PURPOSE: The aim was to explore the effects of assistive technology for students with severe reading disabilities. METHOD: This study included 149 participants. The intervention group received 24 sessions of assistive technology training, and the control group received treatment as usual. RESULTS: Both the intervention and control groups improved as much in 1 year as the normed population did. However, gains did not differ between the groups directly after the intervention or at 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The use of assistive technology seems to have transfer effects on reading ability and to be supportive, especially for students with the most severe difficulties. In addition, it increases motivation for overall schoolwork. Our experience also highlights the obstacles involved in measuring the ability to assimilate and communicate text.Implications for rehabilitationsAssistive technology (AT) can be useful for children with reading disabilities to assimilating text as well as boosting their reading.Children with reading disability using AT increased reading performance as much as a norm group, i.e. the students enhanced their reading ability despite no training in traditional reading remediation.Children's and adolescents' motivation for schoolwork can be boosted when using AT as a complement for those with reading and writing disabilities.

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  1. Siegel L. Understanding dyslexia and other learning disabil- ities. Vancouver (BC): Pacific Educational Press; 2013.
  2. White DH, Robertson L. Implementing assistive technolo- gies: a study on colearning in the Canadian elementary school context. Comp Hum Behav. 2015;51:1268-1275.
  3. Woodcock RW. Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests: WRMT-III. Pearson. The sub test listening comprehension, translated into the Swedish language. 2011.

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Authors
Svensson, I., Nordström, T., Lindeblad, E., Gustafson, S., Björn, M., Sand, C., Almgren/Bäck, G., & Nilsson, S.
Affiliations
  • Linnaeus University (SE)
  • Linköping University (SE)
  • Department of Psychology, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
  • Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
Corresponding author
Svensson, Idor
Venue
Disability and Rehabilitation Assistive Technology
Published
2019-08-16
Volume
16
Issue
2
Pages
196-208
ISSN
  • 1748-3107 (ISSN-L)
  • 1748-3115
OpenAlex
W2968682989
Cited by
163
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
FWCI
16.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Disability and Rehabilitation Assistive Technology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
Keywords
assistive technology, reading disorders, writing difficulties, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, assistive technology training, reading transfer, academic motivation, children and adolescents
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Child, Female, Humans, Learning Disabilities, Male, Self-Help Devices, Children with Disabilities, Disabled Children, Mobile Applications

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