Word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardation

This article assesses the state of the literature on word-attack skills and phonological awareness (PA) in individuals with mental retardation, in light of progress towards the development of effective teaching procedures. The literature contains promising findings. Studies have shown PA to be correlated with word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardation, as has been shown conclusively in typically developing children. This suggests that instruction in PA would facilitate the acquisition of word-attack skills in individuals with mental retardation, as it does with typically developing children. As of yet, however, very few experimental studies designed to demonstrate effective teaching procedures for PA and word-attack skills have been published. This research field might evolve most effectively and efficiently by following a two-step research program. First, test new teaching procedures in a series of small-N studies, each study incorporating modifications of teaching procedures based on the results of the previous study. Once procedures prove effective at this level, the resources necessary to pursue large-scale studies can be used to their best advantage.