Use of Reading Pen Assistive Technology to Accommodate Post-Secondary Students with Reading Disabilities

Reading pens are a form of assistive technology that may be used to bypass weak word decoding and vocabulary skills of students with reading disabilities. Only two known studies have examined the effects of reading pens on the comprehension of school-aged students, and no known studies have been published regarding post-secondary students. The present study investigated the effects of reading pen assistive technology on the comprehension accuracy and rate of three post-secondary students with university-recognized reading disabilities. An alternating treatments design was implemented to compare the effects of (1) a reading pen decoding accommodation, (2) concurrent reading pen decoding and vocabulary accommodations, and (3) a no-accommodation control condition on the comprehension of the three participants when provided college level difficulty reading passages. Results indicate that use of a reading pen did not uniformly improve the comprehension of the post-secondary students. However, the student with the poorest reading skills benefitted the most. Discussion focuses on explanations for the results, practical implications for post-secondary students with reading disabilities, and future directions for study.