This study examines the effect of a reading intervention aimed at improving the comprehension performance of three students with hyperactive behaviours in Hong Kong. Comprehension tasks, adopted from local exercise books based on Hong Kong Certificate Education Examination Paper I, were used to appraise three participants' reading performance, and their corresponding in-class behaviours were observed and recorded as a point of reference. A five-week reading intervention, introducing four major adjustments to the conventional drilling task, including pre-teaching vocabulary, providing visual clues, offering instructions on a separate piece of paper and encouraging productive physical movements, resulted in an improved reading outcome. Following the treatment stage, a two-week conventional comprehension approach was re-employed and results compared with those at the pre-intervention stage. A very slight improvement was shown, suggesting the effectiveness of the intervention. A similar pattern of improvement in students' behaviour was shown during the intervention. The results indicated that students made improvements in terms of both comprehension results and behavioural status. Implications for teachers facilitating students with hyperactive behaviours are discussed.
[Copyright of Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2011.545644]