Product Research Publications

Research That Led to The Development of The Reading Success Lab Software


Development of Cognitive Component Processing Skills That Support Skilled Reading. Gale M. Sinatra and James M. Royer, Journal of Educational Psychology, 1993, 85, 509-519.

This research had two purposes:

  • Develop support for a theory that skilled reading relied on the acquisition of separate component skills such as letter processing, word processing, and acquisition of word meaning
  • Provide evidence that a computer system that measured the speed and accuracy of performing component skills was a valid measure of reading competence

The research and what it found:

  • 112 students in grades 2-5 were measured on the speed and accuracy of component skills at the beginning of a school year
  • Fifty-nine of those students were measured again one year later
  • The results of two studies supported the component processing theory of reading competence
  • Follow up research not reported in the research article showed that performance on the tasks measured in the computer battery was strongly correlated with other measures of reading competence such as teacher judgements of competence and standardized test scores of reading competence. These results support the validity of the computer tasks (now part of the Reading Success Lab diagnostic component) as a measure of reading competence
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A Cognitive Theoretical Approach to Reading Diagnostics, by James M. Royer and Gale M. Sinatra, Educational Psychology Review, 1994, 6, 81-114.

This article describes the theoretical model that underlies the Reading Success Lab Diagnostic System, and then describes four criteria that a reading diagnostic system must possess. It then reports the extent to which our diagnostic system can satisfy those criteria. The theoretical model:

  • Skilled reading requires the development of hierarchically integrated component processing skills that must be developed to the point that they are automatic and can be performed without conscious thought
  • Specifically, the component processing skills are letter recognition, word recognition, concept activation, and comprehension skills
  • Poorly developed skills at any level in the hierarchy can block the development of skilled reading
  • Strengthening the development of skills that are blocking reading competence will improve reading performance

The criteria a diagnostic system must have:

  • The system must provide reliable and valid measures of reading competence
  • Performance on the diagnostic system must be consistent with predictions from a theoretical model
  • The diagnostic system must provide specific information about the nature of reading difficulties
  • Diagnoses provided by the assessment procedures must lead to prescriptive procedures that alleviate the reading difficulty a given student is experiencing
  • Evidence supporting the diagnostic utility of the Reading Success Lab Software:
  • Evidence from three research studies is reported that indicate that the Reading Success Lab software satisfies all four of the above criteria
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A Developmental Review of Response Time Data that Support a Cognitive Component Model of Reading, by Barbara A. Greene and James M, Royer, Educational Psychology Review, 1994, 6, 141-172.

This article describes the theoretical model that underlies the Reading Success Lab Diagnostic System, and then describes four criteria that a reading diagnostic system must possess. It then reports the extent to which our diagnostic system can satisfy those criteria. The article examined research on:

  • Time to identify single letters
  • Time to identify multi-letter units (e.g., syllables)
  • Time to identify words and nonwords (e.g., luft)
  • Time to understand the meaning of a written word
  • Time to understand phrases and sentences
  • Time to understand text samples beyond single sentences

The article concluded that:

  • A review of evidence from the research literature supported the Cognitive Component theory of reading competence
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Can the Computer-Bases Academic Assessment System (CAAS) Be Used to Diagnose Reading Disability in College Students?, by Cheryl A. Cisero, James M. Royer, Horace G. Marchant, and Stanley J. Jackson, Journal of Educational Psychology, 1997, 89, 599-620.

This article addresses the question of whether an early version of the Reading Success Lab diagnostic system (called CAAS) can satisfy the four criteria that Royer and Sinatra (1994, see article described above) suggested that a diagnostic system must have. The context for the reported studies was an examination of normal and reading disabled college students. The Research Article Reports Four Studies:

  • Study one addressed the question of whether the diagnostic battery would differentiate between college students who were formally diagnosed as either being learning disabled or reading disabled, and a group of students who did not have a disability
  • The results of the study showed that disabled students had distinctly different patterns of performance than did nondisabled students
  • The second study replicated study one but this time with a battery of diagnostic items that were specifically prepared to be suitable for college students
  • Again, the results showed that disabled students had distinctly different patterns of performance than did nondisabled students
  • Study 3 asked the question of whether the diagnostic battery would identify students who had the specific diagnosis of having a reading disability
  • The results of the study indicated that the diagnostic battery was successful at doing this
  • Study four asked the question of whether reading interventions derived from information in the diagnostic battery could improve reading performance
  • Case studies reported from several individuals showed that interventions targeted at weak reading skills identified by the diagnostic battery were shown to strengthen the weak skills and lead to an overall improvement in reading performance
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Uses for the Sentence Verification Technique for Measuring Language Comprehension.  Unpublished Review Article by James M. Royer

The Reading Success Lab diagnostic software utilizes a technique called the Sentence Verification Technique (SVT) to measure listening and reading comprehension.  James Royer invented this technique and published 18 research articles documenting that the technique was a reliable and valid means of measuring both reading and listening comprehension.

  • This paper provides and extensive review of SVT research along with various uses for SVT tests
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Automaticity Training as a Reading Intervention for Adolescents with Attentional Disorders, by James M, Royer, Kenneth A, Rath and Loel N. Tronsky, 2001, Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disorders, 15, 3-16, JAI Press.

The intervention software contained in the Reading Success Labs package of programs has been shown to be successful with students who have a variety of reading difficulties

  • This article reports the effectiveness of the Reading Success Lab intervention software with adolescents who have an attentional disorder
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Fluency Training as an Alternative Intervention for Treatment Resistant Readers.  Chapter 16 in Single Word Reading, Biological and Behavioral Perspectives, 2008, by James M. Royer and Rena Walles, Hillsdale, NJ, L. Erlbaum

This book chapter:

  • Introduces the concept of treatment resistant readers. These are readers who are not responsive to “best practice” reading interventions
  • Best practice interventions are typically phonics-based interventions
  • Reports the results of efforts by James Royer’s University of Massachusetts laboratory in developing techniques designed to be effective with treatment resistant readers
  • The article documents the fact that treatment resistant readers do improve using the methods Royer and his colleagues devised
  • The methods described in the article are the same as those that form the intervention component of the Reading Success Lab software
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