The use of Software Program Inspiration and its Effect on the Reading Comprehension of Students With Disabilities

Abstract

This study will use the software program Inspiration to determine if its use will help students with disabilities improve reading comprehension. Twenty two students from two sections of 10th grade English 15:1 special education classes participated in the study. The study consisted of comparing two sets of quiz scores using the same students. The study consisted of the students reading a short story then creating web maps of the story plot. Following the completion of the web map, the students took a ten question comprehension quiz. This was done for seven sessions. During another seven sessions the students took comprehension quizzes without the use of the web maps. The results of the quiz scores using web maps were compared to the results of the quiz scores that did not involve the use of a web map. A t test was used to analyze the data. Results from the t test indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the quizzes involving the use of the concept map versus quizzes that did not involve the use of a concept map.