The Use of Colored Overlays in Reading with Sixth Grade Learning Disabled Students

Abstract

The use of clear, colored overlays has been proposed to improve reading skills by filtering out portions of the visible light spectrum with which learning disabled individuals may experience difficulty while reading. This study investigates whether a significant relationship exists between the use of colored overlays and reading performance in sixth grade learning disabled students. Ten students from a rural school district were selected to participate. Participants were given a word recognition pretest as well as a word matching task. The following day, they were asked to observe a series of reading samples displayed beneath a colored transparent plastic overlay. After completing this task, the students were again tested and given the word matching task. The author found the results to be inconclusive in determining a significant relationship between the use of colored overlays and reading performance. Some individuals had benefitted from the use of the overlay, and there was a noted increase in performing the word matching task. The use of colored overlay may help students perceive the written word with more clarity, though it doesn’t appear to help with the more complex reading test.