Johns Hopkins Study Shows Audiobooks
Help LD Students
Students with learning difficulties
showed a 38 percent increase in content acquisition reading
scores after using RFB&D's
AudioPlus¨ textbooks on CD, a published study in Learning
Disabilities Quarterly reports.
The study was conducted by Johns
Hopkins University to evaluate the effectiveness of RFB&D's
recorded textbooks on the acquisition of content or the process
of learning the assigned material by secondary students with
learning problems, the majority of which were identified
learning disabilities.
RFB&D, a national nonprofit
with 28 recording studios nationwide, is the country's leading
provider of textbooks and educational materials in accessible
formats for students with disabilities that make reading
standard print challenging or difficult.
Special education students from
seven Baltimore County public high schools participated in
the eight-week study that focused on the accessibility of
the district's ninth grade American government textbook.
Students were assessed by short–and
long-term comprehension tests to determine whether content
acquisition increased. A pre-test and a post-test, developed
by the textbook test maker, were administered to determine
impact on total content acquisition during the course of the
study.
Students who had access to RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks
achieved a 38.1% increase in post-test scores compared to peers
in the control group, whose scores increased by 21%. Students
using both RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks and the complementary
learning strategy had a 39.4% increase in their post-test scores.
"Educating students with learning disabilities is particularly
difficult at the secondary level because the emphasis in the
classroom shifts from learning to read, to reading to learn," said
Shari Gallin Washburn, a co-author of the study findings. "There
exists a need to develop tools and strategies that stimulate
a student's intellectual aptitude without watering down the
curriculum. This is where RFB&D's recorded textbooks and
complementary learning strategies can bridge the gap between
a student's potential and performance." "The findings
are important because they demonstrate that students who need
alternative ways to access high content material can experience
success," said Michael Rosenberg, professor, Department
of Special Education, Johns Hopkins University.
"This kind of partnership between a national nonprofit
organization and a team of university reserachers enables
us to conduct applied reserach that directly impacts the lives
of children."
While the degree of content acquisition was slightly higher
among students using both audio textbooks and a learning strategy,
anecdotal reports from teachers and students indicate the demands
of the strategy may have been too challenging (i.e. too much
writing). To enhance the efficacy of the audio textbook technology,
the strategy, SLiCK (Set it Up, Look Ahead, Comprehend, Keep
it Together) will be redesigned, based on teacher-feedback
and tested in a future study.
Princeton, NJ-based RFB&D is the nation's educational
library for students who cannot read standard print effectively
because of a disability. Founded in 1948, RFB&D serves
more than 117,000 students from kindergarten to graduate school
and beyond with its library of 93,000 recorded textbooks.
More than two-thirds of RFB&D's
members have learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Johns
Hopkins University was the first research university in the
United States. Founded in 1876, its aim was not only to advance
students' knowledge, but also to advance human knowledge
generally, through discovery and scholarship. The university's
emphasis on both learning and research and on how each complements
the other revolutionized US higher education. Today, Johns
Hopkins has ventured from its home in Baltimore to countries
throughout the world China, Italy and Singapore, among many
others. It remains a world leader in teaching, patient care
and discovery.
The authors of The
Effects of Audio Texts on the Acquisition of Secondary Content
by Students with Mild Disabilities are Elizabeth Boyle, Michael S. Rosenberg
and Vincent Connelly at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
MD; and Shari Gallin Washburn, Loring Brinckerhoff, and Manju
Banerjee at RFB&D.#
