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The Japanese Association of Special Education
NII-Electronic Library Service
The JapaneseAssociation of Special Education
Jpn. J. Spec. Educ., 45 (6), 473-488, 2008.
Original Article
Reading Remediation for Japanese Children
With Reading DiMculties: PASS Reading
Enhancement Program (PREP)
Naoko HAMAI-MUROYA" and Hisao MAEKAWA*'
In the present study, a Japanese versioll of the PASS Reading EnhancementProgram (PREP) was prepared and administered on a pilot basis te 11 lst- to7th-grade chitdren with reading dilllculties, in order to examine its eflectiveness.
Word reading', reading abiiity, and cognitive functioning were tested belbre andafter a 6- to 12-menth remediation period. Nonparametric analyses and changes
in individual scores indicated improvement in word rcading, word idcntification,and successive processing on the cognitive scale. The$e results suggest that PREPremediation may lead to improvement of word-reading-related skills, as has been
previeusly rcported. This remediation m.ay be based on the enhancement of
cognitive functioning accomplished throug'h the remediatioll. Furthermore, a
casc observation suggested that these changes might be accompanied by in-
creased variation in and appropriateness of use of strategies for reading.
Key Words: reading diMculties, remediation program, PREP (PASS Reading Enhanceincnt Program), strategy, lst- to 7th-grade children with
reading ditliculties
Reading is an extremely important academic skill. A deficit in reading ability
may cause failure in a widc range of academic performances. In particular, children
whose reading scores are much lower than expected from their other academic
performances are limited in what they can achieve unless appropriatc educational
support is provided to them,
The concept of "Iearning
disabllities" was ofilcially authorized in Japan by the
Ministry of Educ;ation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 1999.
Befbre that, children in regular classes wbo had difficulties in specific academic areas
such as reading had hardly any opportunity to receive speciai educational support in
public elementary and middle schools, even though, in recent years, under the recent
re-conceptualization of "special
education," students with mild developmental disabil-
ities have bccn considered to be children who should specifically be cared for, and
remediation of students with reading disabilities has become big concern of teachers.
"Institute
of Disability Sciences, University of Tsukuba"Graduate
School ol' Comprehensive Human Sciences, University ot' Tsukuba
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N. Hamai-Muroya ancl H. Maekawa
A MEXT survey of school teachers in 2002 suggested that 2.5% of Japanesechildren in public elementary and middle schools may have difficulties in literacy,that is, reading and writing skMs. The occurrence of dyslexia in Japan has beenreported to be lower than in Western countries (Makita, 1968). However, more recent
investigations have reported that many mere children seem to experience difficulties
in reading, and that eflective intervention is needed for them,
Deficits in decoding skill are supposed to be a characteristic of' individuals withdyslexia (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Catts, Hogan and Fey
(2003) reported that 70% of chiidren with reading disabilities showed poor decoding
skills. These authors suggest that development of decoding skill should be a i'unda-
mental step in reading remediation.
The PASS Reading Enhancement Program (PREP; Das, 1999; Das, 2eOO) is a
cognitive remedial program for children who have diMculty reading words or sen-
tences, This program is designed not only for children with reading disabilities who
have intellectual ability within the normal range, but also for children with intellectual
disabilities. The theoretical background of this program is based upon the PASS
(Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive processes) model of cognitive
functioning (Das, Naglieri, & Kirby, 1994). Each of the eight tasks in PREP targets
improvement in either successive or simultaneous processing', both of which are
required for reading. PREP was designed to develop infbrmation processing through
verbalization of strategies. It is not direct instruction.
Several reports dealing with experirnental remediation using PREP have demon-
strated improvements in deceding skill in children with reading disabiHties (Carlson& Das, l997; Das, Mashra, & Pool, 1995; Parrila, Das, Kendrick, Papadopoulos, &
Kirby, 1999),
Although the effectiveness of PREP as a reading enhancement prograni has
been demonstrated in North American studies, it is not necessarily the case that the
same results could be obtaincd by administering a translated PREP program to
Japanese children, because of the differences between the language systems. The
Japanese language is comprised of three diflerent types of characters, hiragana,katakana, and kanji (Chinese characters). In eiementary school, children learnhiragana phonograms first. Children with reading difficulties tend to show failure in
reading hiragana characters at this poifit in the school curriculum. Since there is
similarity in terms of phonograrns between the reading systems of hiragana and
English, PREP might possibly be applicable for remediation of Japanese children
who have problems in reading hiragana syllables.
In the present study, we adopted PREP as the material for remediation of
Japanese children with reading difiiculties. The original PREP material in Eng'lish
was translated into Japanese and modified to adjust for features of the Japaneselanguage, The resulting Japanese-version of PREP is called J-PREP. An intervention was undertaken with 11 students, in order to examine whether
J-PREP was effective as a reading remediation program fbr Japanese-speakingchildren with learning difficulties. In addition to statistical anaiyses of the results,
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Remediation fbr Children With Reading Difficulties
strategy development was examined through description of a case, in order to
understand the results of the statistical analyses better.
Method
ParticiPants
Eleven students participated in this study, 9 males and 2 females, including onefirst-grader, two second-graders, four third-graders, two fifth-graders, one sixth-
grader, and one seventh-grader. Profiles of the participants are in Table 1. The
participants were recruited because they were experiencing diMculty in reading at
schooi. Most of them were not intellectually impaired, but a few of thern rnight be out
of the normal range on intelligence scores.
Participants A to J attended regular classrooms, and all of them, except Ibr
Participant B, studied in a resource room at some time each week. Participant K was
in a special class for students with inteil,ectual disabilities. All the students were
identified by their teachers at their school or an adviser in an educational consulta-
tion at a university as having reading pcrfbrmance that was much poorer than would
be expected from their performance in other academic areas, such as mathematics or
oral comprehension,
Procedure
Pmparation of JL-PREP. PREP contains eight tasks, five of which are relating to
word reading, and three of which are tasks fbr training sentence reading (seeAppendix), Word reading-related tasks are Joining Shapes, Window Sequencing,
Connecting Letters, Transportation Matrices, and Related Memory. Sentence
reading-related tasks are Tracking, Shape Design, and Shapes and Objects.
Each of the eight tasks involves both a global component and a bridging
componcnt. The global component basically does not require students to read; the
bridging component is a curriculum-related task containing word- or sentence-
reading. Bridging tasks involve the same cognitive demands (simultaneous and
successive pro ¢ essing) as their rnatched global tasks (Das et al., l994; Das, 2000).
First, the English manual of the original PREP was translated into Japanese.Then, stimulus words and sentences were selected tbr the teaching materials, and
partially modified in order to suit the eharacteristic reading diMculties of the
Japanese language. The stimulus words used in the word-reading tasks were chosen
from the standard Japanese educational curriculum's fundamental words for first- to
third-graders. For some tasks of the J-PREP, we prepared two word sets, one of which
was concerned with word length, and the other, with phonological cemplexity, so that
instructors could choose the appropriatc set for each student;s nceds. Gradually as
the difliculty levei increases, longer words appear in the word-length set. At the
beginning of the task of di'Mculty level 1, stimulus words contain only 2 mora, such
as "asa"
Cmorning). Six-mora words, such as "denshi
renji" (microwave oven), appear
at dificulty level 3.
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N. Hamai-Muroya and
TABLE 1 Profilesot'
H. Maekawa
Participants
Partici- Grade Parlt
WISC-IIIVIQ PIQ FIQRSS**Numbers
of
PREP Tasks'AdministeredDescription
ol' Participants' Reading
A
B
C
D
EF
G
H
I
J
K
1
2
2
B
Bs
3
5
5
6
7
63
106
94
82
9676
96 101
97
8S
95
81
89 89 88106 108 I08
50
82
58
68
57
50
7a
89
69
76
44
78
70
65
63
(46)
4B
46
39
57
41
35
32
32
8
7
8
8
87
8
8
8
4
3
Difficult to read text aloud all togctherl'Easy to lose the place in text when he/shc reads.
Can read hiragana characters; Makemanv errors to read words and sen- itences.T'end
to avoid reading; Adds or skips
letters when h ¢ /she reads,
aomprihends text with his/her own
impressien; Frequently asks about what
was said.
Difficult to read and wiite.
Inaccurate reading; Skips letters fre-
quently when he!she reads; Ha.s confu-sion in color name and right-and-leftdistinctionCan read hiragana characters; Spells outa sentence; Reading oi' complex syllables1ike you-on is difficult.
Can,not read with pauses following kuto-ten (marks that indicate punctuationsuch as conmia and period)Strongiy feels him/herseif poor in read-ing; Letter by letter' reading; Reading of'
tomplex syllab!es like you-on is not stable.
Can rcad hiragana or basic kan,ii;DiMculty in comprehension of the test
Can read most hiragana; Reading of
complex syilable like you-on is not stable,
"8
tasks: Joining Shapes, X4rindow Sequencing, Connecting Letters, Transportation
Matriccs, Related Memory, Tracking, Shape Design, Shapes and objects.
4 tasks U): Window Sequencing, Connecting Letters, Shapc Design, Shapes and
Objccts.
S tasks (K): Window Sequencing, C]onnecting Letters, Shape Dcsign,""
rcading standard score.
In the phono]ogical complexity set, phonological complexity increases as
difficulty Ievel progresses. At the beginning of the task at diMculty level 1, stimuluswords contain only sei-on (voiceless) sounds. After that, daku-on (voiced), han-daku-on (the p-sound in the kana syllabary), soku-on (syllables with long consonants),
cho-on (syllables with elongated vowels), yo-on (basic syllables modified by the
addition of ya, yu, or yo), and yo-cho-on (yo-on syllables with elongated vowels)
sounds gradually appear, as diMculty level increases to level 3).
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Remediation fbr Children With Reading Difliculties
In the sentence tasks, all the kanji characters used were ones taught in the first
grade of elementary school in Japan. In the next step, paper-based material was prepared, similar to the original
PREP, and then computer-based teaching materials were prepared for the Japaneseversion. In the computer version, the pictures, words, and sentences of the teaching
materials and the work space were shown on the computer dispLay, For example, in
Transportation Matrices, picture cards of vehicles appeared on the computer display
and turned over when a card was clicked on the display. This system replaced having
an instructor put cards on a desk and manipulate them by hand. The computer
version was designed so that an instructor could administer the remediation programto students in a resource room having only a persoflal computcr and an instruction manual.
7'1?st sthedule. To evaluate the efficacy of the translated and modified J-PREPfbr Japanese students with reading difficulties, the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment
System (DN-CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997), a word decoding task and a non-word
decoding task (Hosokawa, Muroya, Futakami, & Maekawa, 2e04), and a TK-style
reading test (Kitao, 1984) were given to the children before and at'ter the remediation
period, as pre- and posttests.
For analysis of the Cognitive Assessment System test data, standard scores on
planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive, and full scores were examined.
For the decoding tasks, the children read aloud a list of 40 three-mora real words
or 40 three-rnora non-words, as fast as they could. Reading time fbr the list and the
number of reading errers made were recorded.
For the reading test, scores (1 to 10) were given on five subtests. The children
were asked to find and circle as many nouns as they could in 2 minutes in real
sentences (word identification subtest: WI) or meaningless sentences (wordidentification from non-sentence subtest: WI-n) written in hiragana characters
(approximately 28X 15 syllables).
For the sentence cornprehension subtest, the ehildren were required to choose an
appropriate word to fi11 in a blank in a sentence. On the rneaning memory subtest,
the children were asked to recognize the meaning of' sentences that had been shown
earlier. For the int'erence subtest, the children read short stories and answered
questions relating to the stories.
Remediation Procedure. Remediation using J-PREP was undertaken at five ele-
mentary schools, one middle school, and 2 consultation rooms for children with
disabilities. Participants received the remediation procedure either from school
teachers who were trained in instructing J-PREP, or university graduate or under-
graduate students who were majoring in areas related to special support education.
The intervention took ffom 6 to 12 months, dcpending on the case.
Befbre starting, the instructor chose the J-PREP tasks to be used fbr remediation,
taking into account the profile of each student, such as the student's reading level,
strengths and weaknesses in infbrmation processing style, or intellectual ability. Also,
the schooPs schedule was a major concern, because class lessons in the resource room
were often cancelled because of other activities at the school or national holidays. In
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N. Hamai-Muroya and H. Maekawa
those cases, supplementary lessons were not provided.
The number of tasks that the students completed varied from three to eight
(Table 1). All the J-PREP sessions were done individuaUy,
The children took the pretests at the beginning of a series ofJ-PREP sessions,
were given remediation using J-PREP, and then took the posttests.
The procedure used for J-PREP instruction was based on a translation of the
English-language manual.
Data anaipsis. Non-parametric analyses comparing the pre- and posttest mea-sures were conducted in order to examine improvement in cognitive aspects, decodingskMs, and reading skills, such as word identification from meaningfu1 or meaningless
sentences, sentence comprehension, meaning memory, and inferences.
Cbse clascription. In addition to the statistical analyses, the behavior of Partici-
pant B was described in regard to the strategies that he used. Because in interventionprocess in PREP children develop strategies required for reading, observation of hisstrategies was important and helpfu1 in understanding the process of his progress inreading skills.
B could read all the hiragana syllables, but could not read words. This is a
typical reading problem that PREP targets. Moreover, because the present authorswere directly in charge of B's remediation, he could be observed in detail. For thesereasons, B was selected fbr the case description reported below.
Results
Pre- and Posttests
Means and standard deviations of the scores are shown in Table 2. Wilcoxon'ssigned rank test was performed in order to examine changes in the test scores betweenthe pre- and posttests. Because age and intellectual ability varied to a large extentamong the children who participated in the present study, a nonparametric test was
used to analyze the data. Furthermore, the changes in each individual between thepre- and posttests were examined, in order to check on the statistical results in detail
(Figs. 1, 2, and 3).
Das-JVaglieri Cogrnitive Assessment SNstem (DJV:-CAS,} Tlast
Significantiy higher posttest performances were found for the successive scale
component (Wilcoxon's Z=-2.l38, P<.e5) and the fu11 scale scores (Z=-2.I42,P<.05). Scores on the planning scale (Z=-1.558, P=.lI9) and the simultaneous
scale (Z== -1.582, P==.114) were not statistically significant, although the perfor-mance of individual students appeared to show progress between the pre- and
posttests (Fig. I). The pianning scale scores of Student G decreased 1l points fromthe pre- to the posttest, and that might have resulting in the planning scale score
results not being significant. Significant diflerences were not found on the attention
measure.
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Remcdiation forChildrenWithReading Difliculties
TABLE2 Meansand Standard Deviations for Pre-andPosttest
MeasuresPretest PosttestM SD M soWilcoxon's a P value
DN-CAS
Ptanning Simultaneous
Attention
Successive
Full Scale
91.378.382.069.771.613.316220.6I7.5IB.996.587.682.577.681A13.316.22Ll16.6I6.6-l.558
-1.582
-O,153
-2,138
-2,142
O.ll9O.114O,878O.033*O.032*
Decoding
Word decoding (RT) Non-word decoding (RT) Word decoding (ER) Non-word decoding (ER)
73.999.1
2.5
9.0
56.043,9
2,9
6.8
5LO83.6
1.0 3,8
25.326.5
1.8 4.9
-2.578
-I.201
-2.395
-2.501
O.OIO*O.230O.O17*O.O12*
Reading Test
WI -
meaningful
WI -
meaningless
Sentence comprehension
Meaning memory
Inference
RSS
4.9 3.I
3.3 4.6
3.940.1
2,72.l1,52.61.39.2 6.4・ 5.4
4.3 4.6
3.744.7
1.72.82.0l.51.79.8-L811
-2.207
-1,552
-O,175
-O.I07
-1.997
O.070te,o27*O.l2IO.861e.915O.046*
WI == word identificatienl*p<,05,
tp<.10.
RSS=reading standardscore.
145ots
130eco
115YS
100[S
85coco
70co<
55a
40
FIG.
.IVbtes.
1 Individual Cegnitive Measurement Performance
Cegnitive Assessment System (DN-CAS) Letters A-K refer to participants in the study,
on the
F+Ai+B+c-X-D+E--O-F+G=erH
//,-.-I
・-JI-m-K
Das-Naglieri
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N. Hamai-Muroya and H. Maekawa
Decoding Measures
Significant difibrences were found on reaction time for word decoding (Z==-2.578,
P<.05) and number of words read incorrectly from both the real word list
(.{r= -2.395,
P<.05) and the non-word list (Z= -2.501,
P<.05). The mean reaction
time fbr word decoding was 73.9 seconds (standard deviation, SD= 56.0) and 51.0
seconds (SD=25.3) ibr the pre- and the posttest, respectively. The mean number of
errors on the real word list was 2.5 (SD:=2.9) and 1.0 (SD=1.8) on the pre- and
posttests, respectively, and 9.0 (SD=6.8) and 3.8 (SD=4.9) on the pre- and posttestnon-word list. According to Hosokawa et al. (2004), mean reaction time of third
graders (N=24) without disabilities was 27,9 seconds (SD=5.6) for real-word lists
and 55.2 seconds (SD=16.5) for non-word list. The mean number of errors was
O.2 (SD ==O.4) tbr real words and 1.2 (SD=1,1) for non-words.
Reading Ability
Participants A, F, G, and K could not take the reading test for the fbllowing
reasons: the participant's age was outside of the range fbr the test (A), the test
scheduling problem (F), and the reading test was too effbrtful tbr the students
(G, K), Differenees were found on both word identification tasks (Z=
- 1.81 1, P<.1O fbr
meaningfu1 sentences; Z=-2.207, P<.05 for meaningless sentences) and overall
reading standard scores (Z=-1.997, P<.05). The mean grade scores of word
identification from meaningfui sentences were 4.9 (SD==2.7) and 6.4 (SD=1.7) forpre- and posttests, respectively. The mean grade scores fbr identification of words
from meaningless sentences were 3.1 (SD=2.1) and 5.4 (SD=2.8) for the pre- and
posttests, respectively. The mean standard scores tbr reading were 40.1 (SD=9.2)and 44.7 (SD==9.8) fbr the pre- and posttests, respectively. However, significant
2506o
2eo8・e
lsoF-
.S ioopo2'
so
o
FIG.
l
i
III-
N--M
--- -l. Isi xx "eL="it
-
-
-
oLap ca oaWD
eLaPcoemnon-WD
25
20
m 15tst-
10
5
o
Mtes.
'-x---
-
2 Individual Reaction Perfbrmance and
Errors fbr Word and Non-Word Decoding
Letters A-K refcr to panicipants in the study;
-48e-
t lt!
+A+B+c-X-D+E+F+G--fi-
H I,--J-m-K
:
Number of Reproduction
WD:=word decoding,
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Remediation for Children With Reading DiMculties
improvement was not found on sentence comprehension, meaning rnemory, or
inference,
Case DescriPtion
Participant B. Participant B (see Table 1) had been identified at the publichealth examination when he was a 18-months old as having a delay in early language
development, and after that, attended group therapy for children at risk of' develop-mental delay. He said his first meaningfu1 word when he was 18 months old. He
experienced difficulty in reading words written in hiragana characters, even though
he could read individual hiragana characters when he was in the first grade.Specifically, he oftcn lailed to read you-on and soku-on sounds, a frequently observed
feature of children's reading disabilities in Japanese, His speech was fluent but
rambling,
Cl) Rernediation Schedule: Seven tasks from the J-PREP were administered,
taking one year, from September when he was in the second grade to the next
September. Because it was not possible to take more than one year fbr the application
of J-PREP, the Tracking task was omitted, taking into account his cognitive feature
and the time available, Because his profile on the Kauiman Assessment Battery fbr
Children (K-ABCI Kauiman & Kauiman, 1983) indicated that his simultaneous
processing (115± 8) was significantly stronger than successive processing (90± 9)
(P<.Ol), the task that aims at simultaneous processing was omitted. Participant B
spent about 30 minutes once a week in individual lessons from J-PREP, and he
appeared to enjoy them.
(2) Perfbrmance: The criterion for progressing to the next level on a task was
10
.g
,9iS4o 3 2 1
+B+c
DEH
J
FIG. S Individual Perfbrmanccs on Reading Subtests
IVbtes, WI=word idcntification from meaningfu1 selltences; WI-n=word identi-
fication from meaningless sentences; SC=sentence comprehension;
MM == meaning memory; INF =・,:・・inferenees,
Letters B-E and H:J refer to participants in the study.
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TABLES BriefTask
N. Hamai-Muroya and H.
Deseription (modified frorn
Maekawa
ll. ayward,Das, & Janzen, 2007)
Task Global Component Bridgin,g Component
aonnecting letters
(Successive)ahildren are required to followlines of diflering colors to findwhich letters on the left side of the
page are connected to letters on
the right side of the page, Eachstimulus eard has five letter pairs,Children write or say the letter
pairs. Children then repcat this
procedure; however, the lines con-necting letters are now in blackink. At the highest kwe! of
diMculty, the stirnulus cards hayeconnecting lines in black ink and
include distractor 1ines,
Stimulus cards hav¢ colored lineswith Ietters on the left and rightsides of the line and dispersedalong the lme to fomi words.
Children connect thc letters and
say or write the word spelled bythe letters.
Shapes and objects
(Simultaneous)Children categorize a group gopictured cornmon ob.iects into oneof three abstract shapes that the
object most closely resembles.
Children, read, with or withouti'acihtator support, a series ot'
phrases or sentences written on
stimuLus cards and place the cards
into one of three categorics pro-vided on wiitten worksheets. Fur-thermere, one card in the series
ivi11 not fit a categoryl children
must also identify which card doesnot fit the categories.
having more than 80% of the answers correct. Wc decided that Participant B should
discontinue the global task of Window Sequencing and the Bridging task of Trans-
portation Matrices halfKvay through, because his performance did not reach the
required level. Other than that, he was able to complete all the items in each task,
Among the tasks that Participant B completed were Connecting Letters, which
fbcused on successive processing, and Shapes and Objects, which fbcused on simulta-
neous. His performance was analyzed in order to examine his strategy development.
Connecting Letters (see Table 3, partial!y copied from Hayward, Das, & Janzen,2007): This was the first task of the J-PREP that he worked on. On the global task,
he used line eolor as a cue. At Level 1, he put both index fingers on the syllables at
each end of the colored line after a glance, and did not trace the lines with his eyes
when connecting the syllables.
At Level 2, he put his fingers on the syllables on both sides of the Iine when he
sounded out the answer. Even after an instructor used a Level-2 prompt, promptinghim to trace the line with his finger, he did not trace the lines as carefu11y as the
instructor had prompted him to do, and failed to connect the syllables on both side
of the line. Instead, he used exclusion to answer the items at the end of the series.
At Level 3, he used his hand to cover syllables that he had already finished
answering, so that he could easily find the remaining items. Also, it was observed that
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Rernediation for Children With Reading DiMculties
he spoke aloud the process that he was using to solve the problem (e.g., C`I
should
follow the Iine. So, go straight here.").
On the bridging task, he traced the lines with his eyes and spelled out each
syllables while putting his fingers on the syllables. At Level 1 and 2, he guessed the
words from the first onc or two syllabies. He also used line color as a cue in Level 2,
At Level 3, he traced the lines with his eyes and spelled out each syllable. He also
used line color as a cue, but did not guess words.
Shapes and Objects (see Tablc 3): On the global task, he examined each picture
very carefully in erder to categorize them. When he categorized a picture incorrectly,
the instructor prompted him with the namc of the shape, and he then pointed out a
characteristic common te all pictures in that category by himself.
On the bridging task, he read the important part of each sentence or found key
words, which enabled him to minimize the effort of reading. At Level 2 (there was no
Level 3 on this task), he judged the category by identifying a feature of zhe sentence
that was comrnon with the category name (e.g., "Ball
play is children's amusement,
so it goes in the category `children's
play'"), He also used exclusion to categorize some
items when he could not decide.
Discussion
In the present study, the PASS reading enhancement program (PREP) was
translated into Japanese U-PREP) and modified so that it would be suitable fbr
childrcn with reading diMculties in Japanese.
Decoding Related Skilts
To investigate the efllcacy of remediation using J-PREP, reading related scores
were compared between pre- and posttests. Statistical analyses indicated that there
may have been improvement in word-level measures, such as reaction time of word
reading, the number of reading errors on word and non-word lists, and word
identification tasks of reading test (Table 2, Fig. 2, Fig. 3),
Prior studies applied PREP to children with decoding difficulties (Das et al.,
1995), children receiving special support from a national fund for students who had
been educationally deprived (Carlson & Das, 1997), and first-graders with reading
diMculties (Parrlla et al., 1999), and examined the changes in the children's decoding
skills after thc remediation period. The results of those studies indicated significant
improvement, especially on the word attack measurc, which is a test ot' non-real word
decoding.
The results of the present study are consistent with these studies, although there
were procedural diflerences, in that our decoding task demanded reading of a list of
words, instead or separate words.
Many ehildren with reading dirnculties experience failure in decoding (Wolf &
Bowers, 1999). Especially, a deficlency in reading nonsense werds is believed to be
based on poor phonological processing, which is a typical indicator of a reader with
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difficulties (Rack, Snowling, & Olson, 1992). Otherwise, poor successive processingability has shown to be a characteristic of decoding problems <Hayward et al., 2007).
Since five of the eight PREP tasks aimed at cognitive training of successive process-ing, it would seem reasonable that the children's successive scale scores on the
Cognitive Assessment System test would improve significantly at the posttest aftcr the
remediation period (see Table 2, Fig. 1). From this evidence, it is estimated that
improvement of word decoding-related skills could be derived from improvement in
cognitive processing, such as suceessive processing,
A possible explanation of why the reaction times for non-word decoding were not
significantly shortened, although the number of errors was significantly reduced,
could be that the children developed strategy use through the J-PREP remediation.
If children applied a strategy on thc non-word decoding measure such, as `CihlIow
the
syllable sequence carefu11y" or "make
the souncl internally", they would take some-
what longer, and so would not be unreasonable that their reaction times were not
significantly shortened. To support this hypothesis, two examiners who had adminis-
tered the posttest reported anecdotally that the children obviously looked at and/or
sounded out the words or sentences on the test sheet carefully, compared with their
behavior as seen on the pretests.
The children were asked to find and circle nouns in real (WI) or meaningless
(WI-n) sentences, written in approximately 28 × 15 hiragana characters. Six of the
seven students who took that reading test showed progress in grade score on the word
identification tasks (Fig. 3). Some examiners reported infbrmally that students had
traced each line more fluently and carefully than on the pretest.
Some ef the children had relatively lower VIQ score. For examp!e, it was
estimated that Participant G may experience some dilllculties in verbal comprehen-
sion, vocabulary, or verbal expression. Nevertheless, her word reading errors were
reduced, and an improved attitude about using a strategy was seen at posttest, so that
this experience rnay help her read other words and sentences,
Reading Abilities
Text-level reading measured by sentence comprehension, meaning memory, and
inference was not significantly improved. Those three subtests require students to
choose the optimal answer from between two choices. Examiners reported anecdotally
that the children had read the sentences and questions more attentively and tried
harder to find correct answer on the posttest compared with the pretest. So, it is
possible that the pretest scores of some of the students did not validly refiect the
children's real ability on those three subtests because the task was too demanding for
them.
Stratagy Development
PREP aims at the developrnent of information processing strategies, such as
successive or simultaneous processing. Participant B's strategy on the global task of
Connecting Letters at level 1 was te use line color as a cue. This was indeed not the
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Remediation fbr Children With Reading Dirnculties
strategy that we had expected, but we did not correct him. Rather, he was promptedto trace the lines with his eyes or fingers, as described in the instruetion manual, OnLevels 2 and 3, hc made usc of exclusion, using his hands or fingers to cover syllables
or indieate syllables to bc read, and also used thinking-aloud strategies. On the
following bridging task, he traced the Iines with his eyes and guessed at the words,
spelling thom out, in addition to using line color cues or manual manipulation. Onthe Shapes and Objects task, which was the last task of his J-PREP remediation, hedeveloped the strategy of sounding out the categorizing process on the global taskand then used it also on the bridging task.
At the beginning of his J-PREP remediation, the strategies that he used were not
necessarily reasenable and eflbctive tbr accomplishing tasks. Rather, he did not even
attempt to use strategies at first, But during the J-PREP sessions, the varicty of hisstrategy use gradually developed, and by the end of the remediation, more appropri-
ate strategies for conducting the tasks came to be choscn.
Conclusions
The results of the present study suggest that J-PREP may bc eflective forimproving word reading in Japanese children with reading difficulties. This was
supported by both statistical analyses and the observed improvement in individualreading-related skills and abilities after remediation.
The observed improvement in word reading might possibly be based on
improvement in the cognitive base that underlies the reading process, such as
successive processing. Enhancement of cognitive functioning could be postulated tobe due to the development of information processing strategies. Ifso, then the method
tbr evaluating strategy development should be examined further to ensure that, Also,further investigations should be done that include a control group that does not
receive remediation. Such an experimental comparison is strongly needed to confirm
the present results,
Anecdotal observations of one of the participants in the present study suggested
that his strategy use developed in terms of variation and appropriateness.
In conclusion, J-PREP may be useful for remediation of reading diMculties in
Japanese children. Although some mincr issues remain befbre J-PREP could be used
extensively, many children with reading difficulty may benefit from J-PREP which.
might enhance their reading ability through the interaction bctween the children and
the administrator, mediated by J-PREP.
Acknowledgements
We are very gratefuI to members of Project J-PREP at the Maekawa Lab at the
University of Tsukuba. For several years, more than 30 meinbers have engaged insuch processes as manual translation, preparation ofJ-PREP materials, and remedia-
tion of children with reading difficulty.
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References
American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mentat czasorders
(4th ed.). Author: Washington, DC.Carlson, J. S, & Das, J. P, (1997) A process approach to remediation word decoding
deficiencies in Chapter 1 children. Learning DisabiliCJ, Qptarterly, 20, 93-102.
Catts, H. W., Hogan, T. P., & Fey, M, E, (200S) Subgrouping poor readers un the basis of
individual differences in reading-relatcd abilitics. .lburnal of Leaming Disabilities, S6, 151-164.Das, J. P. (1999) llt4ss reading' enhancement Pragram. Sarka Educational Resources, Deal, NJ.Das, J. P. (2000) PREP: A cognitive remediation program in theory and practice. Deeveiop-
mental Disabitilies Butletin, 28, 83-96,Das, J. P., Mashra, R. K., & Pool, J. E. (1995) An experiment on cognitive rcmediation of
word-reading dirnculty. .lhumal of Learning Disabilities, 28, 66-79.Das, J. P., Naglieri, J. A., & Kirby, J. R, (1994) Assessment of cagnitieve precesses: 7-he Pt4ss
theonyy of inteUigence. Allyn & Bacon, Boston, Massachusetts.Hayward, D., Das, J, P., & Janzen, T. (2007) Innovativc program for improvement in
reading through cognitive enhancement: A remediation study of Canadian First
Nations children. JTburnal of Learning Disabilities, 40, 443-457.Hosokawa, M,, Muroya, N., Futakami, S., & Maekawa, H. (2004) Phonological and
auditoTy infbrmation processing in children with rcading dienculties. .laPanese .lburnal of Learning Dtgabiklies, 13, ]51-162. (in Japanesc)Kaufman, A. S. & Kauiman, N. L. (198B) thofman Assessment Batte,:y -for C;eildren Cil-ABq. Circle Pines, Minnesota, Ameriean Guidance Servicc, Inc. Oapanese edition)Kitao, N, (1984) TKLslyle Reading Abik'ty Diagnostic Tlast. Taken Publishing, Tokyo. (in Japanese)Makita, K. (1968) The rarity of reading disability in Japanese children. American Jburnal of Orthopsychiatrp, 38, 599-614.Naglicri, J. A. & Das, J. P. (1997) Das-JVlr,gtien' Cl)gnitiwe Assessment opstem. Riverside
Publishing, Itasca, I-nois.
Parrila, R. K., Das, J, P., Kendrick, M. E., Papadopoulos, T. C., & Kirby, J. R. (1999) Eflicacy of a cognitive reading rernediation program ibr at-risk children in grade 1.
Devetopmental Disabilities Bulletin, 27, 1-38.Rack, J, P,, Snowling, M. J,, & Olson, R. K. (1992) Thc nonword reading defieit in
developental dysLexia. Reading Research Q4arterly, 27, 28-53.Wolg M. & Bewers, P. G, (1999) Thc double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental
dyslexias, JIburnal qf' Educational Il!ychotogy, 91, 4・15-438.
Appendix
DescriPtion of Global and Bri(iging 71asks (modified from Das et al., 1995)
Each item has three levels of prompts; each task has a criterion Ievel, with a
parallel form to administer if the criterion is not met; and each item is followed by
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discussion of the strategies used.
.lbining shopes-GlobaL In this task, the students use a printed arrangement or
shapes: rows of triangles, squares, and hexagons alternating with rows of circles. They
have four rules to fbllow, one being that straight lines must always pass through a
cirele. They listen to directions instructing them to join specific shapes and then jointhem, fbllowing the rules. The Level I task begins with threc rows of geometric figures
and one set of instructions, changing by the end of Levcl 3 to seven rows of geometricfigures and three sets of instructions.
JIbining shmpes-Bridiging. This task parallels the global task and looks much like a
word-search puzzle. The students tbllow rules similar to those for the global task,
joining lettcrs diagonally to form words. Again, they are asked to identify the word.
mandbzv seguencing-GlobaL In this task, a series of colored circles and squares is
shown to the students one at a time, through a window. Using the required shapes
with no distracters, the students then reproduce the sequence, Level 1 has only one
color, Levcl 2, only one shape, and Level 3, variation in both color and shape.
uando[v seeuencing-Britiging. The identical fbrmat is used tbr this task, with
students seeing the syllables of a word in sequence through the window, They then
reproduce the word with the individual syllables and identify the word.
(]Z}nnectitzg letters-Global and bndging. This is described in Table 3.
71ransportation-GlobaL In this task, students are shown a strip of pictures of
diflerent vehicles. After they look at thc full strip, and then at each picture individu-
ally in its place on the matrix, the pictures are covered. Students must reproduce the
order with individual pictures on a blank matrix. The cQrrect pictures are mixed in
with five distracters. Level 1 eontains six items, with ibur pictures per item. Level 2contains six items, three with four pictures and three with six pictures. Level 3
contains six items with six pictures fbr each. Patterns change from simple to more
complex, with type of vehicle and color creating a pattern.
ftansportation-Britiging. In this task, a series of carcls with individual words is
placed in front of students. Related words are arranged in alternating or more
complex patterns. The students are helped to read the words, if necessary; then they
repeat them a number of times. After the words have been removed, the students
repeat them in order, Early items contain four words, increasing to a maximum of
eight at the end of Levet 3. The students look at the word cards in order, fbllowing
each item, and pick out the related pairs, with discussion of the pattern used,
Related memot:y set-Global, In this task, outlines of the front ofthree anirnals are
displayed, The students are then shown the back of one of the animals, with an
intervening space, and must verbally identify and justify which animal front matchcs
that back. At Level 1, animals with stripes and spots are included; by Level 3, many
animals that look very similar are used.
RelaIed memozy set-Britiging In this task, students are shown three word begin-nings on one side of a page, with one word ending on the other side of the page. The
studcnts verbally identify which beginning fits with the ending letters to make a word,
without physically putting the front and back units together. The words are separated
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into onset, rhyme units, and syllable units,
TYacking-GlobaL A map containing identical houses with numbers, identical
trees with Ietters, and a street grid is displayed about an arm's length from the
students. The students are then given three cards, each containing a picture of a
difi'erent house and the minimal street grid necessary to allow identification of a
specific house. The time required by students te identify the house number or tree
letter for all three cards is recorded. Three sets of three cards are presented in this
format. Children then go through a training process involving three different strat-
egies and, after that, repeat the process with the nine original cards. Levels 1 and 2use houses and trees, respectively. In Level 3, a map with only squares containing
Ietters and lines connecting them to the starting point is displayed. The cards the
students see have the same line and box configurations, but with the letters rnissing.
They identify the letters.
7'blacking'-BriZigiirg. In this task, a map of the West Edmonton mall, is displayed
with various symbols, such as book stores being identificd by a colored book symbol.
The students arc given a story card containing a list of tasks to be accomplished.
They are required to cornpletc the imaginary tasks by planning and demonstrating
the most efltictive route. Level 2 involves a line drawing ofa playground. The students
read a story about three boys at the playground and have to identify from various
positional cues where one of the boys is hiding, Level 3 uses the West Edmonton mall
map again, with more complex tasks.
Shope design-Clobat. In this task, an arrangement of geometric shapes is dis-
played for 5 seconds. Students are given the shapes, and is then asked to reproduce
the design. Each level consists of' six items.
S)hope design-Britilgitzg. Students read cards describing animals in diflbrentrelational positions. They then position the anirnals in the correct configuration. Level1 has positions on one plane, Level 2 on two planes. In Level 3, a picture setting is
displayed fbr the students, They listen to a story, and then place the animals in the
correct position in the setting, based on the description in the story.
shopes and objects-Global and briciging. [l]his is described in Table 3.
-Received
December l2, 2007; Accepted February 23, 2008-
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