Psychological behaviorism's reading therapy program: parents as reading therapists for their children's reading disability.

The study presents data on the effectiveness of a parent-administered behavioral reading therapy program. Ten parents administered the therapy program to their second- to fourth-grade children with reading disability. All 10 children received 70 therapy sessions (30 minutes per session), with 5 of the 10 children receiving approximately 51 additional sessions, for a total of 121 sessions. Parents were able to administer the program effectively, and the children participated in an enthusiastic manner. Detailed records from the therapy sessions showed a high degree of mastery of the reading materials, and the children also showed significant and clinically meaningful improvements on standardized reading measures. Although the results must be viewed cautiously given the absence of a control group, the potential of the parent-administered reading therapy program for the remediation of reading disability seems good.