1. EDUC8509
Intervention
Project Proposal
Annie-Rose Durack

2. Title
 Theeffectiveness of student directed
multimodal texts in improving the attitude
towards reading of a Year 2 student with
Autism.

3. Statement of the Issue
 Alex has been diagnosed to be on the
spectrum of Autism.
 He goes to extension for numeracy, however,
has enormous anxiety in regards to literacy.
 He has a very poor attitude to reading and
consequently will/does not do his set readers
for homework. Both his teacher and his
parents would like to see a shift in this.
 He has intense interests about a range of
science topics and enjoys to ‘google’ to learn
facts.

4. Research Question
 How effective are student directed
multimodal texts in improving the attitude
toward reading of a Year 2 student with
Autism?

5. Literature Review – Attitude to
Reading
 Debated overtime, whether reading proficiency impacts attitude to reading or whether attitude to
reading impacts reading proficiency and literacy skills.
 Rowell (1972)
 Investigated factors related to change in attitude toward reading by implementing a corrective reading
intervention, proving age, socio-economic status nor sex had any significant correlation to the change in
attitude to reading.
 It is not necessarily the most effective approach to target improving children’s literacy skills in order to
improve their attitude to reading.
 McKenna and Kear (1990)
 If children are not engaged in the text presented to them, or in reading generally, their skills will not show
considerable improvement.
 Engaging in text they are interested in will foster a far better opportunity for them to learn and strengthen
their literacy skills.
 Smith (1990)
 Attitude to reading stems from their reading experiences in early childhood.
 Educational professionals are must foster positive attitude to reading in the early years of schooling.
 Seitz (2010)
 Recurring failures to succeed in reading and literacy will cause self-concept issues and consequently
complicate a student’s ability to learn.
 Children are often given readers appropriate to their level which often will cause students to feel upset and
disengaged as though they are having to read ‘baby books’.
 Imperative that students are presented with interesting and cognitively challenging texts either orally or by
recording.

6. Literature Review – Autism
 Bennetto, Pennington, and Rogers (1996)
 Poor performance on measures of executive function (EF).
 EF is a term used by psychologists to refer to cognitive abilities
that control and regulate behaviour.
 Yirmiya, Sigman, Kasari and Mundy (1992)
 People with Autism often struggle to share and verbalise normal
emotional states and may show a range of behaviours
alternative to people without Autism.
 Baron-Cohen’s (1991)
 People with Autism do not actually understand emotion.
 Inability to form and establish emotional relationships.

7. Literature Review – Mobile
Technologies
 Naismith, Lonsdale, Vavoula and Sharples (2004)
 Provides the sufficient equipment to offer rich multimedia
experiences and for location-specific resources.
 Collaborative learning.
 Liu, Wang, Liang, Chan, Ko and Yang (2003)
 Enable teachers and students to utilise computing power at
anywhere at anytime.
 Research and gain information more freely.
 Howitt, Pegrum and Streipe (2012)
 Many benefits, including portability and immediacy
 Enable a new way of learning that can be tapered to suit and
motivate individual children.

8. Intervention
 Research Alex’s interests with him.
 Write and design a set of five books – both hard and soft
copy over the ten days.
 The soft copy will be created using a Macbook on
Powerpoint and will include information, images and Alex’s
voice reading the text.
 The hard copy will be printed A5 size and bound to make
books.
 At the end of the ten days, Alex will have a box set of five
‘readers’ that he is interested in, as well as a USB containing
all five ‘e-books’.
 Alex will take home the books throughout the ten days
once completed and will also be give him a chart to take
home where he will place a sticker each time he reads his
books.

9. Participants
 Me – Preservice Teacher
Alex
Alex’s Classroom Teacher
Alex’s Assistant

10. Data Collection and Analysis
 Attitude to reading test (similar to the McKenna
and Kear Elementary Attitude to Reading Test)–
mark his emotions in a response to a range of
questions about how he feels about reading.
 Attitude test at the end of the ten days similar to
the initial test, however, modified to suit the books
he has made.
 Interview/discussion with Alex about his attitude to
reading.
 Observations and anecdotal notes on his
engagement with the activity and the texts and
willingness to read them.
 Personal reflection on the data recorded.

11. Context
 Year 2 boy with Autism.
 Elite boys’ school in the western suburbs.
 Full time assistant.
 Very argumentative with both staff and
students.
 Has settled in this year more than previous
years.
 Peers are helping him and guiding him
with his social skills.

12. Materials
 Macbook
 Internet access for researching
 Printer
 Paper
 USB
 Binder
 Box
 Chart
 Stickers

13. Ethical Considerations
 Consent and information forms –
classroom teacher, Alex and Alex’s
parents.
 Alex will be aware that he does not have
to continue from any point if he chooses.
 If photos or work sample are to be
taken/used, permission will be sought.

14. References
Baron-Cohen, S. (1991). Do people with Autism understand what causes emotions? Child Development, 62(2),
385-395. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Bennetto, L., Pennington, B., & Rogers, S. (1996). Intact and impaired memory functions in Autism. Child Development,
67(4), 1816-1835. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Howitt, C., Pegrum, M., & Striepe, M. (2012). The impact of iPads on pre-sevrice teachers’ learning: Implications for
teaching and learning.
Liu, T., Wang, H., Liang, J., Chan., H, Ko, H., & Yang, J. (2003). Wireless and mobile technologies to enhance teaching
and learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, (19), 371-382. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.108
McKenna, M., & Kear, D. (1990) Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher,
(May), 626-639.
Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G., & and Sharples, M. (2004). Literature review in mobile technologies and
learning. Futurelab Series, (11), 1-44.
Rowell, C. (1972-73). An investigation of factors related to change in attitude toward reading. Journal of Reading
Behavior, 5(4), 266-272. Retrieved from Sage Journals.
Seitz, L. (2010). Student attitudes toward reading: A case study. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 3(2), 31-44.
Retrieved from https://journal.buffalostate.edu/index.php/soe/article/view/107/33
Smith, M. (1990). A longitudinal investigation of reading attitude development from childhood to adulthood. The
Journal of Educational Research. (83)4, 215-219. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Yirmiya, N., Sigman, M., Kasari, C., & Mundy, P. (1992). Empathy and cognition in high-functioning children with Autism.
Child Development, (63)1, 150-160. Retrieved from JSTOR.