Equivalence-based instruction to teaching reading by families and teachers students with autism and/or intellectual disabilities

The study evaluated the learning of computerized equivalence-based reading instruction in students with intellectual disability and/or autism who attend regular school when exposed to a teaching practices package (teaching practices programmed) conducted by different educational agents (parents, regular classroom teachers, and special education teachers) in school settings and at home. The students were exposed to teaching packages that were applied by educational agents. The study has two hypotheses. First, the involvement of teachers and families in implementing interventions, in the presence of the researcher, may contribute to their learning to read in inclusive classrooms and at home. Secondly, the teaching of reading in Portuguese language may be favored by the direct teaching of syllables. A multiple baseline procedure was used to evaluate the teaching of three sets of words. Students improved from zero reading skills in the pretest to an average of 80% correct responses out of 21 taught words.