The Effects of Instruction in an Inference Strategy on the Reading Comprehension Skills of Adolescents with Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teaching eight secondary students with disabilities, including seven with learning disabilities, a strategy for answering a variety of inferential questions. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was employed. Outcome measures included scores on researcher-devised comprehension quizzes, a standardized test of reading comprehension, a strategy use test, a strategy knowledge test, and a reading satisfaction measure. Fidelity of implementation, instructional time, and maintenance of skills were also measured. Results suggest that students with disabilities can learn to use a strategy to answer a variety of inferential questions, and mastery of its use can result in improved scores on criterion-based and standardized measures of reading comprehension. In addition, students' satisfaction with their reading improved.